CSUN NOTEBOOK: FRESHMAN GETS NOD AT LINEBACKER.

Byline: Brian Dohn Daily News Staff Writer

If Cal State Northridge had a scholarship to offer, freshman linebacker Lewis Blanton would get it. The coaching staff thinks that much of him.

However, none are available this year, so Blanton will wait until 1999 for one. In the meantime, he expects to work his way into this week's starting lineup as the Matadors (1-1) host defending Big Sky champ Eastern Washington (0-2) at 3:05 p.m.

``Blanton gives us a very good athlete at the Mike (middle) linebacker spot,'' CSUN coach Ron Ponciano said. ``He was a player we got lucky with because he wanted to stay close to home.''

Even if linebacker Quinton Reed gets the start, Blanton, who is sixth on the team with 10 tackles, will see his playing time extended markedly because of the loss of starter Cos Abercrombie with a broken jaw.

``I don't even see myself playing up to Cos' level now, but hopefully one day I'll get there,'' said Blanton, a Murphy High graduate. ``He's like my mentor and he always calls me his prodigy. I look up to him.''

The word on Brady: Eastern Washington coach Mike Kramer said he's received calls from numerous Big Sky teams about the exploits of CSUN quarterback Marcus Brady.

``They want to know how good he is because we've now seen him on film,'' Kramer said.

Brady pushed himself into the Big Sky limelight by going 20 of 26 for 236 yards and three touchdowns last week against Northern Arizona, and he did so by demonstrating great scrambling ability.

``He's nasty on turf because he can really cut, but we haven't seen him on grass,'' said Kramer, pointing out North Campus Stadium has real grass. ``We've been trying to catch chickens, and we took our most slippery athlete (defensive back Mario Sweet) and put him in the backfield.''

Date in Dallas? It's a complex ordeal trying to fit a team into one open date on the schedule, but the latest talks have moved away from Wisconsin and toward Southern Methodist as CSUN tries to secure a substantial guarantee to play against a Division I-A opponent next year.

However, instead of it being an early-September, premiere game for SMU, not to mention a litmus test for CSUN, the game might be played in November.

The two sides have discussed it and agreeing on a guarantee price could be the last obstacle. CSUN's other two nonconference games next season are set to be at Southern Utah and home against Southwest Missouri State, both return games from this season.

Short yardage: Ponciano said safety Hassan Abdul-Malik's shoulder is better and he will play against Eastern Washington.