BOLLER: RIGHT GUY, WRONG TEAM.

Byline: Karen Crouse

Kyle Boller will assume Gwyneth Paltrow's role in a local adaptation of ``Sliding Doors.'' For a few fleeting hours this weekend the former Hart High standout will see his life as it might have been had he managed to push his way aboard before UCLA's recruiting train left the station last year.

As fate would have it, Boller was left standing on the platform after J.P. Losman swept through the sliver of an opening and the door swooshed shut behind him.

With Losman, Cory Paus and Drew Bennett aboard, the Bruins' quarterback car was rush-hour crowded. So Boller waited for the next train and wound up in Berkeley.

His two tracks of destiny will converge Saturday at the Rose Bowl when he makes his Southern California collegiate debut as the Bears' No. 1 quarterback. It didn't have to start this way, with Boller a visitor in his own backyard, playing in front of a crowd that'll include 160 friends and family members, some of whom are torn between their loyalty to UCLA and their love for Kyle Boller.

``It's crazy,'' said Boller's father, Bob. ``Other people are more into the what-ifs and should-haves than we are. I run into people all the time who say, `I sure wish your kid went to UCLA.' It's always going to be a topic.''

Bruins coach Bob Toledo unwittingly opened himself up to criticism when he promised Losman that UCLA wouldn't sign another quarterback in the Venice High recruit's class. Toledo held his end of the bargain, but Losman transferred to Tulane before the start of fall practices, leaving open the seat Boller had coveted.

A few football fans in the San Fernando Valley were so upset by Toledo's snub of Boller, they wrote him pointed letters. Rather than rail at Toledo and his staff, these fans ought to fire off letters to the NCAA, calling for the abolition of the early-signing period that is making a high school athlete's senior season all but irrelevant.

As long as kids are being scouted in the eighth grade and signed in the 11th, late-bloomers such as Boller are bound to fall through the cracks. Who has time to reward patience when there are so many prodigies?

``Kyle's a great kid,'' Toledo said Monday, ``and I'm sure he's going to be an outstanding quarterback.''

The bottom line? Losman might have divorced UCLA after the shortest honeymoon on record, but the Bruins have another quarterback who signed before his senior year in high school who is working out just fine.

Said Toledo, ``If Kyle were here or J.P. Losman were here, they'd be backing up Cory Paus.''

Boller said he's looking forward to playing UCLA. After all, it's the next best thing to attending school there.

``It would have been nice to be in my hometown and play in front of my family and friends,'' Boller said. ``I'm really close to my family, so it was kind of hard to go away. I always wanted to go to UCLA, but when they signed Losman I was out. I understand that.''

Pushed out of the nest by circumstances, Boller believes everything happened for the best.

``There wasn't even a sigh like, `Oh, man,' when Kyle heard about J.P. Losman,'' Bob Boller said. ``Once he signed at Cal, that was it. Since then, I haven't heard him say one what-if.''

Boller sure sounded sincere when he said, ``I'm happy the way things worked out. The coaches at Cal are great, the player relationships here are unbelievable and I see the team as having a lot of potential.''

Cal's defense is fully developed; it's the offense that's in the embryonic stages.

You have to learn to block before you can run or pass. The Bears' young offensive line has protected Boller about as well as a busted lock since he replaced starter Samuel Clemons in the third game.

In the past two games - losses at Washington State and BYU - Boller has been sacked seven times. Those footsteps Boller keeps hearing are making him understandably jittery.

Against BYU, Boller hurried his passes and threw so hard you needed a radar gun to track them. He completed 11 of 33 attempts in the Bears' 10-point defeat. He saved his best for last, connecting with receiver LaShaun Ward on a 55-yard scoring pass with 2 seconds left in the game.

``I did throw a lot of hard passes that needed to be softer,'' Boller said. ``I was trying to force stuff. I was anxious. I was really disappointed in how I played.''

Boller would feel better if he'd just remember he's not in the Foothill League anymore.

Pitted against players who will be in the NFL next fall, it's unrealistic to expect the instant success he had at Hart. Boller passed for 4,838 yards and 59 touchdowns despite not starting at quarterback until his senior season (he backed up David Neill as a junior and played safety).

Rick Neuheisel, then the coach at Colorado, was so impressed by Boller's bionic arm he offered the player a scholarship after his first Hart start. Before his senior season was half over, Boller was being heralded as the greatest quarterback prospect in the San Fernando Valley since John Elway in the late 1970s.

Like Elway, Boller throws the ball hard enough to break his receivers' fingers. Unlike Elway, he's not getting a chance to leave the high school game and merge into the Pacific-10 at a leisurely speed.

It has been snap-your-neck-back fast for Boller. Elway had the advantage of playing behind Turk Schonert for most of his freshman year at Stanford. He completed 50 of 96 passes that first year, averaging 10.9 yards a completion and one interception every 32 passes. Boller has attempted 123 passes and completed 51 for 612 yards. He is averaging 12 yards a completion and one interception every 31 passes.

The transition from high school to college hasn't been a snap for Boller, on the football field or in the classroom. He spoke Sunday of feeling ``time-robbed.''

Boller might not feel like there are enough hours in the day. In the master schedule, though, time is very much on his side.

PASSING GRADE

Through five games, former Hart High star Kyle Boller has passed for 612 yards with four touchdowns for Cal. Here's a game-by-game look:

Opp. Com Att Yds TD

Rutgers 8 15 89 1

Nebraska 2 10 21 0

Arizona St. 17 32 213 2

Wash. St. 13 33 116 0

BYU 11 33 173 1

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

PHOTO (color) no caption (Kyle Boller)

Brian Fitzgerald/Associated Press

BOX: Passing Grade (see text)