Cal State Fullerton Notebook / Robyn Norwood : Nevin Tells the Titans He Doesn’t Bleed Dodger Blue

Phil Nevin was measured, tested and stretched along with the other rookies on Cal State Fullerton’s football team Monday, the first day of preseason camp. That might seem a small enough thing, but Coach Gene Murphy, badly in need of a kicker, can take a bit of comfort in Nevin’s presence.

Nevin, the former El Dorado High School kicker whose 57-yard field goal set an Orange County high school record last fall, is sitting on an offer from the Dodgers, who made him a third-round draft choice in June, shortly after he helped lead El Dorado to the Southern Section 5-A championship.

So far, Nevin has said he will not turn professional, that he wants to kick and play baseball for the Titans. But none of his answers are final until he attends his first class at Fullerton on Aug. 28, after which the Dodgers lose their rights to him.

That leaves Murphy to fidget, uncertain whether Nevin is his for three or four years, for one year or at all.

The Dodgers have been Nevin’s favorite team since he was hardly taller than a baseball bat, but he has told them no. The Dodgers are offering a signing bonus believed to be in six figures. The Dodgers, sensing a draft choice that is about to slip away, invited Nevin to Dodger Stadium about three weeks ago and let him take batting practice with Mike Marshall and Mike Scioscia. And Nevin said thank you for a wonderful afternoon, but no.

“My baseball friends say, ‘Sign,’ ” said Nevin, who played shortstop and hit .341 with seven homers last year. “They say, ‘You got to be crazy to turn down that kind of money and the opportunity to play in Dodger Stadium.’

“That’s what makes it so hard. I’ve grown up a Dodger fan. It’s hard for me to say no to my all-time dream someday.”

Someday. For now, he says, he wants to kick and play baseball.

“It wasn’t really a money decision,” Nevin said. “I made a decision (earlier in the year) to play both sports, possibly have a future in both. And I can’t have a future in football if I don’t keep kicking.”

Still, the Dodgers are offering a considerable sum of money and Murphy is offering about a month’s room and board for preseason camp at Pacific Christian College and a season opener at DeKalb, Ill.

Of course, this is not strictly a choice between Dodger baseball and Titan football. National Collegiate Athletic Assn. rules would not prohibit Nevin from playing college football if he signed with the Dodgers, only baseball.

But Murphy said he believes the Dodgers would not want Nevin to kick, perhaps because of the risk of injury.

“Maybe they know something about our offensive line,” he said, laughing.

Nevin said that if he were to sign--”and I’m not”--he would be able to kick during his freshman year, but not thereafter. The conflict, he said, is that it would be difficult if not impossible to take the academic load necessary for eligibility.

But for all his assurances, there is still uncertainty. Others wonder, and Murphy must, too.

“Hopefully, I can change that during camp,” said Nevin. “Show him I am the guy he expects me to be, do everything he expects me to do. I think I’ll be the guy he believed me to be.”

Murphy needs a kicker, after losing two-year starter Stan Lambert. He also needs a punter, after losing four-year starter Jim Sirois. Nevin could fill both roles.

Already Nevin is preparing for one of the rule changes in college football this year. He is kicking without a tee, as tees will no longer be allowed. To adjust, he has gone back to kicking the way he did before high school--barefooted.

“It’s easier for me. When I first started kicking off the ground, my cleats were hitting.”

So Nevin proceeds, seeming fully intent on the college football season.

Aug. 28 will tell.

If he were going to sign, said Nevin, Murphy would find out soon as anyone.

“He’d know,” Nevin said. “Of anybody, he’d be the first to know. I’m going to be around him every day the next five weeks or so. If they want me, they would probably have to go through him.”

As for Murphy, he has been through this before. In 1984, the Detroit Tigers drafted his quarterback, Damon Allen, taking him in the seventh round. Preseason camp started, and Allen was still there. To Murphy’s discomfort, so was a Tiger scout. Perhaps Dodger personnel should take heed. Murphy, in anger, found a Tiger cap and burned it.

But on the first day of camp this season, no one was around but the Titan coaches and this year’s rookies, Nevin in the midst of them.

“I’m having fun already,” Nevin said. “And I haven’t even been able to kick yet.”

Titan Notes

Among players who will not be on the Fullerton team are cornerback Roosevelt Beasley (no community college degree), running back Khybdeed Hairston (Prop. 48), offensive lineman Wade Hogg (Prop. 48), defensive back Howard McCrary (Prop. 48), defensive back Jason Neben (decided not to walk on), cornerback George Sykes (no community college degree), fullback Ken Webb (academically disqualified) and defensive end Darren Emery (academically disqualified).