SAN DIEGO “”mdash; Even after Saturday’s game, UCLA’s
Mike Seidman was being sought out.
Offensive coordinator Kelly Skipper made his way across the
locker room, found his tight end all alone and connected with him.
Skipper pointed to Seidman and nodded his head.
“Good job,” he said.
And Seidman smiled, realizing he was no longer simply a
sideshow.
Earlier in the day, Seidman had contributed six catches for 134
yards and a touchdown in UCLA’s 43-7 rout of San Diego State.
He was also the first Bruin this season to break the 100-yard
receiving mark in a game as well as the bonds of a usually
blundering passing game.
“I’m hoping the coaches saw that if they come to me,
I’ll make something happen,” Seidman said.
Point taken. “We know Mike’s a good player,”
head coach Bob Toledo said.
“Maybe we have to throw him the ball a little bit
more.”
Seidman, who was recruited out of high school as the No. 1
pass-catching tight end in the nation, has heard that for a long
time as the 6-foot-5, 254-pounder was buried under the Bruin depth
until this year.
After seeing only three passes thrown his way in last
week’s 31-17 loss to Colorado, however, the senior starter
got sensitive. After three years and three games of catching little
except for compliments, the celebrated cog in the UCLA offense
complained to a local newspaper.
“When I can’t contribute and we lose, I do get
frustrated,” Seidman said.
“But if I was selfish, you would have heard me complaining
for the past three years.”
“If I was a horse like him, I’d want the ball
too,” quarterback Cory Paus said.
The UCLA coaches, apparently, also saw Seidman’s side of
things and finally gave him the damn ball.
With San Diego State playing single coverage on him in the
second quarter, Seidman beat his man down the middle of the field
and caught a pretty play-action pass from Paus for a 64-yard
touchdown. The longest reception of Seidman’s career, coming
only 25 seconds after the Aztecs had scored their first points,
gave the Bruins a 30-7 lead and put the game out of reach.
“Mike ran a good route, and there was good protection on
the line and a good throw,” Paus said. “Put that
together, and you have a touchdown.”
It sounded easy enough, but Seidman only scored two touchdowns
in his first three years at UCLA. So forgive his feistiness earlier
in the week.
After catching career highs in receptions and yards on Saturday,
Seidman wanted to clarify:
“I don’t care about catching any balls as long as we
win. As long as I can be a contributing factor like I was today,
this is icing on the cake.”