Klatt Goes to the Head of the Class

Tye Waller, the San Diego Padre director of player development, was clicking through the channels on the first full Saturday of the college football season when he went right past the biggest player development of the day.

Joel Klatt, a former Padre minor leaguer, started at quarterback for Colorado and passed for 402 yards and four touchdowns in a 42-35 victory over Colorado State.

“It never even dawned on me,” said Waller, who watched something else. “He’s a great kid. He had that in the back of his mind, and it looks like he made a good decision.”

UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell probably wishes Klatt were still struggling his way through Class A. (Klatt batted .208 for Idaho Falls in 2001.)

“We were surprised and very impressed with what he showed Saturday,” said Dorrell, who takes the Bruins against Colorado on Saturday in Boulder in his first game as UCLA coach. “He had tremendous poise under pressure and was able to make the big throws at the end.”

Klatt, an infielder, was drafted by the Padres in the 11th round in 2000. He had college enough on his mind even then to get the Padres to commit to pay for part of his education.

Three seasons in the minors were enough to convince him to get serious about college football before he found himself in his mid-20s, still knocking around the minors.

“He was a good athlete, a young guy with a ton of ability, but for a young player it takes time, and he was kind of in a hurry,” Waller said. “He understood what was at stake.

“He was a big strong guy who showed some power. We hoped he’d develop into a run-producer, like a Scott Rolen type.”

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Fair warning to UCLA quarterback Matt Moore, who will make the second start of his career Saturday and can expect the Buffaloes to blitz.

“They are more inexperienced on offense, putting in a new system and have a young QB,” Colorado Coach Gary Barnett said. “I would hope our defense has a fair chance of going toe to toe.”

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The Bruins left for Boulder on Thursday after practice -- a day earlier than the typical trip -- to better acclimate themselves to the altitude.

“We’ll try to get a little conditioning in so they understand what it feels like,” Dorrell said.

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UCLA coaching assignments for Saturday: Offensive coordinator Steve Axman will be in the press box coaches’ booth along with tight ends coach Gary Bernardi, secondary coach Gary DeLoach and Brian Schneider, who handles the outside linebackers and nickel backs.

Defensive coordinator Larry Kerr, defensive line coach Don Johnson, receivers coach Jon Embree, running backs coach Eric Bieniemy and offensive line coach Mark Weber will be on the field.