BRIEFLY : SHULER EXITS WASHINGTON.

Heath Shuler, the former first-round draft choice who lost the starting quarterback job to Gus Frerotte before last season, will invoke a clause in his eight-year, $19 million contract that allows him to leave the Washington Redskins as a restricted free agent.

Heading the list of teams shopping for quarterbacks are New Orleans and Atlanta.

Also in the NFL:

Jim Hanifan, the St. Louis Cardinals' head coach from 1980-85, has been hired by Dick Vermeil as the St. Louis Rams' offensive line coach.

Meanwhile, Atlanta hired the Rams former head coach, Rich Brooks, as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator, and the New York Giants added Rod Dowhower as its quarterback coach.

BOXING: David Reid, America's only gold-medal winner in the Atlanta Olympics, is scheduled to make his pro debut as a junior middlweight on March 21 on HBO. His opponent and the site have yet to be determined. Reid recently had surgery for a droopy eyelid.

Also in boxing:

WBO junior bantamweight champion Johnny Tapia was sued by former manager Paul Chavez, who claims he hasn't been receiving his share of Tapia's earnings.

TRACK AND FIELD: Ulis Williams, a member of the gold medal-winning United States 1,600-meter relay team in the 1964 Olympics, was appointed president and superintendent of Compton Community College.

Williams, 55, has served as interim chief executive of the college since last March. He started as a part-time instructor at the college in 1970, and was later appointed associate dean.

Williams graduated from Compton High in 1961 and then attended Arizona State. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in recreation and physical education from Cal State Los Angeles in 1970.