CATCHING A BREAK

Junior receiver Andrew Baumgartner is living his “Rudy” dream at UCLA this football season, except he has far exceeded the fabled Notre Dame walk-on’s feats.

Two years ago, Baumgartner and his roommate, Griffin Barash, attended Bruin games at the Rose Bowl, like other students. They wore blue clothes, sat with friends and cheered for UCLA.

When the team played well, everything was great. But when the Bruins struggled, Baumgartner felt a need to help.

“Yeah, he would talk about how cool it would be if he played,” said Barash, Baumgartner’s friend since high school. “He would wonder how it would feel if it was him catching a touchdown pass.”

Baumgartner, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound former standout at Marin Catholic High, a small private school in Kentfield, Calif., missed playing football and it bothered him to just watch. So in the spring of 2004, he decided to try out.

“I wanted more than just being a student going to class,” he said. “When I first joined the team, I didn’t think I would ever get a chance to step on the field. I joined for the camaraderie, because being part of a team is the one thing that I missed.”

Baumgartner had always wanted to play Division I football but no major programs were interested in him after high school. He enrolled as a UCLA freshman in 2002 to study engineering. But it pained him not to play. After a year of concentrating on academics, Baumgartner tried intramurals, which helped for a while.

After helping his team to a flag football school championship in 2003, though, Baumgartner decided to try out for the varsity. His friends supported his decision, even if most thought it was a long shot.

“I didn’t think he would really get any playing time because of all the great receivers you hear about at UCLA,” Barash said. “You see how big they are and how good they’re supposed to be. I thought it was definitely a far stretch.”

After a decent spring practice in 2004, Baumgartner suffered a setback last fall when a high-ankle sprain sidelined him, prompting him to sit out as a redshirt.

Then, last spring, Baumgartner began to turn heads with his relentlessness. He hustled on every play and caught nearly every pass thrown his way, which impressed Coach Karl Dorrell.

“Andrew came from a very solid football background and I saw some things in him, in terms of his work ethic and how smart he was on the field,” Dorrell said. “Guys with that type of fortitude, who always have a great passion to do great things on the field, usually find a way to be productive within your program.

“I just identified with that and told him that he had a lot of potential. He just took it and ran with it.”

Inspired, Baumgartner, lost 15 pounds and his 40-yard time improved from 4.7 to 4.5 over the summer. In training camp, his consistency and versatility made him a favorite target for Bruin quarterbacks.

The UCLA media guide does not include his photo or biography, but Baumgartner earned a scholarship before the start of the season. In an unexpected team meeting, Dorrell awarded scholarships to quarterback Brian Callahan, safety Charlie Schuh, linebacker Christian Taylor and Baumgartner.

“It was Saturday, Aug. 27, and no one knew that he was giving scholarships out,” said Baumgartner, who has switched his academic program to a double major, mathematics and economics, because his engineering labs conflicted with football practice times.

“I really didn’t think that I had any chance of earning a scholarship,” he said. “I thought that he may give out one or maybe two. Not four.”

As a regular in the receiver rotation, Baumgartner played in the Bruins’ blowout victories over San Diego State and Rice. He caught two passes for 40 yards and threw a couple of good blocks.

Then, in the Bruins’ 41-24 victory over Oklahoma, Baumgartner stepped up with two catches for 41 yards and a touchdown. He has four catches for 81 yards in three games

“It’s just been an amazing experience,” he said. “Halfway in the Rice game, things finally began to slow down for me to where I’m getting comfortable. The first couple of reps, my head was just flying around.”

Over the years, there have been numerous successful walk-ons who became college football stars, from UCLA’s Mike Sherrard -- one of the school’s all-time best receivers -- to Washington Coach Tyrone Willingham, a walk-on quarterback at Michigan State.

But in most cases, they began as freshmen and worked their way from inside the program. Rare is the athlete who plays for an intramural flag football title one day, then less than two years later catches a touchdown pass on national television.

“It’s pretty unreal, to hear someone talk about it and then see it happen,” said Barash, a senior. “I’ve seen him try out for the team, actually get playing time and then score a touchdown against Oklahoma on national television.

“We were all talking about it recently. He really has stepped up and earned it. It is like a Rudy story. We used to hear him get up at 4:30 or 5 in the morning to go practice. He really worked hard. It’s not like some fluke that can happen to anybody.”

For Baumgartner, it’s a dream he doesn’t want to end.

“How could I?” he asked. “I’m able to realize my goals through hard work and I’m making my parents proud.... This is where I want to be.”