Neuheisel Blending In, Funny Pants and All : Former UCLA Quarterback Is Looking Good in ‘Long Shot’ with Chargers

It was Picture Day at Charger training camp and Rick Neuheisel was getting a hard time about his shiny uniform pants.

It seems he’d gotten the odd pair in the barrel. Neuheisel laughed along with the players who teased him and admitted he would rather be in the plain white pants everyone else was wearing.

“You like to blend in,” he said.

Neuheisel, 26, is still trying to look a little taller, a little quicker, a little more like the kind of guy you’d entrust to direct your offense in the big game.

Four years ago at UCLA, Neuheisel managed not only to blend in but to emerge as a star. He overcame what he considers a lack of height (the Chargers list him at 6-feet, 1-inch, but he says he’s shorter) and the fact that he had been a walk-on as a freshman, to set an NCAA passing record and lead the Bruins to a Rose Bowl victory.

Neuheisel is in Charger training camp, an underdog again, to compete with four other well-equipped quarterbacks for a spot on the team behind starter Dan Fouts and backup Mark Herrmann.

“I’m the ugly duckling again,” Neuheisel said, smiling. “Realistically, I’m a long shot.”

Given Neuheisel’s history, those humble words should strike fear into the hearts of his competition--Tom Flick, Mike Moroski and Mark Vlasic.

Flick, last year’s third quarterback, did well in his three NFL starts. Moroski has proved himself as a valuable backup with the Atlanta Falcons and the San Francisco 49ers. Vlasic’s performance at Iowa made him the Charger’s fourth-round draft selection.

But they haven’t thrived on the underdog role the way Neuheisel has throughout his career.

And he’s doing it again.

Last Thursday, in the Chargers’ scrimmage against the Rams, Neuheisel outperformed the three other quarterbacks.

In the 11-on-11 matchup, Neuheisel was 5 for 5 for 77 yards. In the 7-on-7 scrimmages, he was 5 for 8 and finished with 124 passing yards and no interceptions.

“I think I bought myself another week,” Neuheisel said.

He also bought some praise from Coach Al Saunders.

“In 11-on-11, he never had a third-down situation,” Saunders said. “He showed he has the spark to lead a football team. He showed leadership and ingenuity.”

Saunders could have been reading a page out of the Terry Donahue quote book. By the time Neuheisel was leading UCLA to victory as a fifth-year senior, the Bruin head coach had come to respect Neuheisel’s leadership.

“Rick is an extremely intelligent player,” Donahue said. “And his leadership qualities and charisma are as strong as anyone we’ve ever had.”

Neuheisel, who starred at McClintock High School in Tempe, Ariz., passed up offers from other colleges and decided to take his chances with UCLA. After making the team as a walk-on freshman, he redshirted his sophomore year. He had little playing time in two years as a backup, but finally got his break in 1983, when starting quarterback Steve Bono was injured.

Neuheisel set an NCAA single-game record for completion percentage when he hit 25 of 27 (92.6%) for 287 yards against Washington that season. In the 45-9 Rose Bowl victory over Illinois, he was named player of the game.

He signed a two-year contract with the San Antonio Gunslingers of the USFL. After two seasons, he signed a three-year contract with the Arizona Outlaws, but the USFL went out of business before he ever played with the team.

Neuheisel met Roger Theder, the Chargers’ quarterback coach, during his two mini-camps in Arizona, when Theder was the Outlaws’ offensive coordinator.

“I thought he had real talent and was very bright,” Theder said. “I thought he’d be ideal for the offense.”

Theder didn’t think Neuheisel’s height necessarily limited him.

“He makes up for it with the great mind he has,” Theder said. “And he has a much stronger arm than I had thought.”

Donahue said Neuheisel’s only liability is a lack of mobility.

“But he has a nice throwing arm. He can put the ball into pockets and tight spots,” Donahue said.

Last year, Neuheisel was in his second year at USC law school and was a volunteer coach at UCLA.

In the spring, Neuheisel got a call from Theder. The Chargers sent receiver coach Charlie Joiner to Los Angeles to critique Neuheisel. Joiner liked what he saw, and the Chargers flew Neuheisel to San Diego to learn the team’s offense.

Neuheisel plans to finish law school, but he thinks a career in coaching may be ahead of him. So any extra knowledge he picks up, even knowing how it feels to get cut from an NFL team, will come in handy.

“Football is a great career, but I’m not going to chase it to the extreme,” he said. “Regardless of what happens, this experience is a valuable one.”

What he wants to do right now is make the Chargers.

“I’ve been a long shot before,” Neuheisel said. “That’s when I’m dangerous.”