Freshman

Pervis Ellison never was a secret, exactly. But he wasn't a national campaign, either. Even now, with his team in the Final Four, the University of Louisville's 18-year-old starting center is going low profile all the way. Well, as much as is possible for someone whose profile stands 6 feet 9 inches. Let everyone else debate whether he should be compared to Sam Perkins or Bill Walton or Keith Wilkes. It's not going to affect Ellison one way or the other.

They used to say you lost a game for every freshman you started, but that game has changed. Did you see UCLA's Brett Hundley on Saturday? "Did he even look like a freshman?" senior receiver Joseph Fauria asked. The nerve of these kids playing today. Hundley is technically a redshirt freshman, which meant he was around campus last year to hold a clipboard. UCLA has a new head coach and offensive coordinator, however, so Hundley really was starting from scratch. Hundley was simply brilliant in Saturday's 38-28 victory over USC at the Rose Bowl, outplaying Trojans senior quarterback Matt Barkley in every way, shape and form.

Seven months into his college basketball career, Shabazz Muhammad is glad he waited to turn pro. The UCLA freshman has used his time in Westwood to improve on defense and make a few All-Star teams. He has learned a thing or two about living on his own. "I'm giving it a thumbs-up," he said. "The college experience is good. " That doesn't mean it will last much longer. Muhammad is expected to leave school for the NBA draft this summer, joining the ranks of the "one-and-dones.

Every time USC running back Dillon Baxter sees a would-be tackler out of the corner of his eye, instinct kicks in. "I want to cut back so bad," he said Saturday. The sophomore tailback, however, is attempting this spring to move straight ahead — on and off the field. Baxter's freshman season was, in his words, "a mess. " Quarterback Matt Barkley finding a comfort zone Part of the problem was a spectacular run he made last spring against a defense that would later prove to be subpar in tackling.

Shabazz Muhammad wears a goofy smile and nerdy glasses, but beneath them pumps the cold blood of a basketball player who proudly calls himself a "killer" on the court. David Halberstam saw something similar in Michael Jordan: a ferocious competitive rage. It's this quality that Muhammad says defines him most, the trait the UCLA freshman star says made him who he is today. "I've always had a killer instinct," Muhammad says, "and that's what separated me. " When Muhammad was in third grade, his father, Ron Holmes, worried that it might hinder his son. "But my wife said, 'Ron, you have to let him alone.

Santa Monica College landed four players on the 1985 All-Western State Conference football team: freshman defensive lineman David Ryan and sophomore linebacker Ron Banks and two other sophomores, offensive lineman Richard Mace and wide receiver Eddie Fletcher. Three SMC freshmen were second-team selections: running back Ken Williams, linebacker Todd Deeds and defensive back Randy Johnson.

The Cal State Northridge women's swim team, which won the NCAA Division II national championship last season, has received commitments from seven athletes for next year. The men's team, which was third in the nation, has recruited 12 new members.

Arthur Hemingway Jr. is happy just to be around football again. Although he is confined to a golf cart or wheelchair, he still assists in the coaching of Rancho Buena Vista High School's football program in Vista. It's a good way to stay close to the game. But he remembers when his role was different. On Aug. 23, 1978, Hemingway's life was just were he wanted it to be. As an 18-year old freshman fullback in his first week of practice at USC, Hemingway was fulfilling a lifelong dream.

Tennessee's top basketball recruit did not meet requirements on his Scholastic Aptitude Test and will be ineligible as a freshman, according to published reports. The Knoxville Journal reported today that Norman Marbury, a 6-foot-3 guard from New York City, did not qualify for freshman eligibility under NCAA standards.

Yvonne Ulrich has been named winner of the Harvey Mudd College Aerojet Scholarship. Ulrich, a freshman, will receive a $5,000 scholarship from Aerojet Electronics Systems Division, a subsidiary of GenCorp Inc. She plans to major in biology.