Former Sailor makes good on goal of scholarship

Whenever Trevor Theriot logs on to his personal computer or most of his favorite websites that require a password, he uses some variation of two words to gain access.

Those two words provide an indication to what’s been on his mind since 2005, when he became a part of the UCLA football team as a walk-on. Those two words?

Full ride.

Theriot, a former Newport Harbor High standout, accomplished a goal he actually had since he was a boy. He learned Tuesday that he had earned a full-ride scholarship to play football for the Bruins.

“I’m really happy to get recognized for what happened this season,” said Theriot, a redshirt sophomore who has been UCLA’s starting fullback this season. “Getting a scholarship is such a huge honor.”

Theriot said former head coach Karl Dorrell had promised him a scholarship at season’s end.

“At the beginning of the season I felt I would get a scholarship because I was a starter,” Theriot said. “But I was just happy that I was the starting fullback for the team. I just contributed and was taking pride in playing over taking pride in a scholarship.”

Theriot, who was named the CIF Southern Section Division VI Co-Offensive Player of the Year in 2004, kept his cool this regular season with three receptions for 11 yards. He has no carries, yet has helped paved the way for 1,801 rushing yards (150.1 per game).

UCLA (6-6) will play against BYU (10-2) Dec. 22 in the Las Vegas Bowl. That’s where the Theriot family will continue to celebrate, said Theriot’s father, Brian, who competed on the track and field team at UCLA in the late 1970s.

“This was a long time coming,” said Brian Theriot, who was a football and track and field star at Newport Harbor. “We are really excited. It represents his hard work since age 6.”

Trevor Theriot said he had been thinking about the scholarship plenty throughout the season. On Tuesday afternoon, he was on the phone with his grandmother, Edna Theriot, when Bob Lopez, in charge of UCLA football operations, called Trevor with the scholarship news on the other line.

Grandma Theriot had been asking about the scholarship before the call from Lopez came in.

— Steve Virgen