Bruins Make Adjustments for Humidity

The Bruins will be in a sticky situation Saturday at Alabama, regardless of the score.

Temperatures for the 4:45 p.m. PDT kickoff should be in the low 80s, but the humidity will be about 95% and scattered thunderstorms are forecast.

“We are planning on it being hot and humid and raining and miserable and all those things,” UCLA Coach Bob Toledo said. “We will use a lot of players. The more people we can throw out there, the better we’ll be.

“A lot of guys have shown they can play during training camp. So we feel good about putting them in the game.”

Barring injury, about the only player who won’t get a respite will be quarterback Cory Paus. But Paus grew up near Chicago and is familiar with extreme humidity.

“You never really get used to it,” Paus said.

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Tight end Mike Seidman’s recovery from arthroscopic knee surgery is nothing short of remarkable.

The junior from Westlake High was running and cutting at full speed the first day he returned to practice.

Seidman, 6 feet 5, 245 pounds, possesses the soft hands and athleticism of a wide receiver. He had six catches for 80 yards last season, but coaches insist the tight end will be a more frequent target.

“I’m ready for that,” he said.

Senior Bryan Fletcher, considered a superior blocker, will start at tight end.

But Fletcher, who had 10 catches for 144 yards and two touchdowns, wants the ball too.

“I’ve been getting open and Cory [Paus] is looking for me,” he said.

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Tailback DeShaun Foster, safety Marques Anderson and linebacker Robert Thomas were voted captains by the team. All are seniors.

Each week, coaches will select a fourth captain. Against Alabama, it will be senior center Troy Danoff.

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Today’s practice will be the most rigorous of the week, lasting nearly three hours. Wednesday’s practice will be less than two hours, and Thursday players will work out in shorts and helmets for 1 hour 45 minutes before boarding a charter flight for Birmingham, Ala.

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UCLA will open its 83rd season of football, but the Bruins are babes compared with the Crimson Tide, which will begin its 107th.

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Jerry Owens, the oft-injured receiver who quit last week, has accepted a baseball scholarship to The Master’s College, an NAIA school in Newhall.

Owens is a left-handed pitcher who has not played baseball since his sophomore year at Newhall Hart High in 1997.