Fair Catch Is Not an Option for Scott

Eric Scott paused a moment, then decided that if he had it all to do over again, he might have done things a little differently.

“I didn’t really press the issue,” he said about returning punts for UCLA. “I didn’t speak up. Others spoke up for me.”

The others talked with coaches about having Scott, a wide receiver who is a senior player and graduate student, return punts as he had as a freshman at Northwestern.

UCLA had tried six other players as punt returners, running into fumble problems and a lack of production, before sending Scott back against Stanford on Nov. 1.

Three games later, he leads the team in returns with an average of 9.8 yards and a long runback of 44 yards. The average was seventh in the Pacific 10 Conference, and the six in front of him returned punts all season.

“I wish I had said something earlier,” Scott said.

Along the way in those last three games, two things have happened:

* The return unit has blocked better for what the players perceive as a return man more capable of making a big play.

* Coaches have gotten a little more gray hair. Scott isn’t fond of fair catches.

He has made one.

“It was a pooch kick, and I caught it on the 10,” he said. “After I did it, I saw quite a bit of room to run.”

To him, a fair catch means an opportunity lost.

“It’s in my head,” he said of raising a hand to keep from getting hit on a punt return. “I’m thinking about it when I go out there. But then I think, ‘I only have one or two players to beat.’ ”

And so he tries to do just that.