Freshman

HOUSTON — Jordan Adams still hears the question from time to time, just as he did so often before: Why come to UCLA when more touted freshmen such as Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson might hog the spotlight, the ball, playing time? Why not go elsewhere? His answer: a laugh. Not one to brag, what could he really say? So he lets his actions speak for him. Though overshadowed in a UCLA 2012 recruiting class that was considered the best in the nation — he was the only one among the four signees who was not a McDonald's All-America choice — Adams has been the Bruins' most productive player.

UCLA defensive end Ellis McCarthy's freshman season ended last week when he underwent surgery on his right knee. He will miss the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27. McCarthy was considered the top prospect in the Bruins' 2012 recruiting class. He was the No. 2-ranked defensive tackle nationally as a senior at Monrovia High last season. But his freshman season has been difficult. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee before summer training camp, which cost him three weeks, delaying his development.

Quarterback Johnny Manziel, the frenetic playmaker who led Texas A&M to an upset of then-No. 1 Alabama, became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy. The 6-foot-1, 200-pounder from Kerrville, Texas, was honored with the coveted award Saturday night at the Best Buy Theater in New York. The only other Texas A&M player to win the Heisman Trophy was running back John David Crow in 1957. Previously, the closest a freshman came to winning the award was Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson in 2004, when he finished second by USC quarterback Matt Leinart.

When: 7 p.m. Where: Honda Center. On the air: TV: ESPNU; Radio: 570. Records: UCLA 5-2, No. 23 San Diego State 4-1 Update: Bruins freshman center Tony Parker (back spasms, sprained left ankle) is questionable, as is Aztecs guard Chase Tapley (knee) and forward DeShawn Stephens (hip). San Diego State has won 25 consecutive games against teams from California. UCLA is 11-4 in its last 15 games in the John R. Wooden Classic. - Baxter Holmes

The greatest quarterback show I have personally witnessed this year occurred not on a football field, but in a banquet room. Last summer, I was emceeing a charity event for Catholic Big Brothers Big Sisters at the Galen Center on the USC campus. At the end of the evening, in an unscripted surprise, organizers brought up this giant smiling kid who wore a crew cut and seemed to be suffocating under an ill-fitting suit. The kid was carrying a bag of footballs. For a $200 donation, he would throw you a football from the podium.

Max Wittek is a redshirt freshman without a college start on his resume. But USC's 19-year-old quarterback said his inexperience gave him at least one advantage going into Saturday's game at the Coliseum against top-ranked Notre Dame. "Not being able to have seen me before," Wittek said of the Fighting Irish, "they don't know that to expect. " Talk about unexpected: It's been a season of surprises. In August, USC was ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press media poll, Coach Lane Kiffin was hailed as the savvy architect of a program unbroken by severe NCAA sanctions, Matt Barkley was a Heisman Trophy front-runner and the Trojans envisioned a trip to South Florida for the Bowl Championship Series title game.

Kevin Prince has left pieces of himself here and there while playing quarterback for UCLA. He has been in the training room almost as much as team trainers. On Saturday, his career winds down when the Bruins play Stanford. His will be a Senior Day a little different from others. Prince spent the last three years as UCLA's starting quarterback, when he wasn't injured. He returned from a shoulder injury to push the Bruins to a bowl bid last season. His senior season has been spent mostly as a spectator, but not an unhappy one with the Bruins (9-2 overall, 6-2 Pac-12 Conference)

Much of the focus in USC's game against top-ranked Notre Dame on Saturday will be on Trojans quarterback Max Wittek, a redshirt freshman starting for the first time in place of injured Matt Barkley. But don't forget about Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson. USC certainly hasn't. Golson, a redshirt freshman, passed for 346 yards and three touchdowns in less than three quarters last week in Notre Dame's 38-0 victory over Wake Forest. "He's throwing the ball really well," Monte Kiffin, USC's assistant head coach for defense, said Wednesday.

Max Wittek and Matt Barkley huddled briefly Tuesday after practice, the USC quarterbacks sharing a laugh and perhaps strategy before facing a phalanx of reporters and camera operators in separate interviews. Wittek wore a grin on his bearded face, Barkley a black sling on his injured right arm. For Wittek, a redshirt freshman who will start in place of Barkley on Saturday against Notre Dame, it was a first turn in the spotlight. While Barkley met with reporters, Wittek did a radio interview.

NEW YORK — The NCAA is investigating a conversation pertaining to UCLA basketball player Shabazz Muhammad that a Memphis, Tenn., attorney said she overheard on an Aug. 7 commuter flight. The attorney, Florence Johnson Raines, said she heard a man who said he was dating "an NCAA attorney" loudly telling people around him that his girlfriend had said Muhammad would never play college basketball this season because he broke rules. Raines emailed a letter to Dennis Thomas, then a member of the NCAA infractions committee, saying she was concerned that what should have been a confidential matter was being discussed in such a way. Muhammad, a highly recruited freshman swingman, was declared ineligible Nov. 9, just hours before UCLA opened the season against Indiana State.