Jason Thomas

After a misunderstanding with Coach Ed Burke earlier this week, it appeared the chances of Jason Thomas having an impact in Saturday's 47th Annual Shrine All-Star Football Classic were diminished. Burke said he believed Thomas, a Parade All-American quarterback from Compton Dominguez High, had left training camp after curfew and demoted him behind starter Carson Palmer of Santa Margarita.

The last five months have been a learning experience for USC freshman Jason Thomas, and this week might be his toughest challenge as he prepares for his first batch of college final exams. Instead of worrying about his position on the Trojans' quarterback depth chart or his athletic future as a whole, Thomas was more concerned Tuesday with studying for an upcoming test in natural geography.

More than 320 college football players traveled to Indianapolis for the NFL's annual scouting combine this week, but quarterback Jason Thomas was not one of them. It wasn't that he didn't want to be there. It's just that he wasn't invited after a dismal senior season at Nevada Las Vegas, which finished with a 5-7 record.

A part-time playground counselor at a Costa Mesa elementary school has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a man who was attending a party at his home, police said Saturday. Police said they found Michael Joseph Caristi, 23, of Orange lying unconscious in the street when they responded to a loud-party complaint about 10 p.m. Friday in the 1200 block of Londonderry Street. Caristi had a severe head injury, officers said.

Jeremi Rudolph and Kevin Brown each topped the 100-yard mark in rushing and quarterback Jason Thomas added 126 yards on the ground as Nevada Las Vegas hung on Saturday to defeat Hawaii, 34-32, and assure itself of a postseason bowl game. With the victory, the Rebels (7-5) will play Arizona State in the Las Vegas Bowl. It was a dominant offensive show displayed by UNLV, which finished with 431 yards on the ground. Thomas rounded out the attack with 124 yards passing.

Many consider the high school players who signed with USC recently among the best recruiting crops in the country. One of the players missing from the list of signees is 6-foot-5 forward Jason Thomas from Compton Dominguez. Thomas, who has earned All-American honors while playing quarterback for the Dons' football team, is expected to sign a letter of intent in February to attend USC on a football scholarship.

Narbonne has averaged 48 points in its last three football games. . . . Long Beach Poly running back-linebacker Akka-ra Moses sprained his knee during the second play of the Jackrabbits' 40-14 victory over Huntington Beach Edison and is questionable for this week's game against Capistrano Valley. . . . Jason Thomas scored on runs of 32 and 69 yards, returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown and had a key interception with two minutes to play in Dominguez's 21-10 victory over Quartz Hill. . . .

New USC Coach Paul Hackett's early pick for No. 1 quarterback is Mike Van Raaphorst, the sophomore who unseated John Fox after seven games last season only to sit out the last two games because of an ankle injury. "Our feeling was, it's very, very close, but we felt Mike's grasp of the things we were doing and the way he handled the huddle was a little ahead of the others," Hackett said.