UCLA NOTEBOOK: RECEIVER GETS HIS CHANCE.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

It's about this time each summer that college football players, after a few days of practicing in the heat, look at the depth chart and lose sight of the big picture. They see themselves not only buried behind upperclassmen but also being passed by freshmen.

A year ago, Ryan Smith was one of those players.

Smith, a redshirt freshman receiver, was told after the first week of practice last year that he wasn't in the five-receiver rotation or on special teams. He was relegated to the scout team.

So Smith walked into UCLA coach Bob Toledo's office to announce he was quitting. Smith decided to return to his family in Flower Mound, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, and figure out where he'd go from there.

``I was frustrated,'' Smith said. ``You're used to being the star (in high school) and when you come here and not only are you not starting, you're not playing, it's very hard.''

Yet, the night he told Toledo he was quitting, he called home. His family prodded him to stick it out and reminded him how badly he'd wanted to go to UCLA.

Smith grew up in Thousand Oaks until his family moved to Texas after the ninth grade. He was a childhood friend of both his current roommate, Mike Seidman, and the son of former defensive coordinator Bob Field. He was also in the same elementary-school class as Terry Donahue's daughter.

Two days after walking away, Smith went back to Toledo and asked to rejoin the team. Toledo agreed and by the second half of the season, Smith had worked his way onto special teams.

With the early departure of Freddie Mitchell, the graduation of Drew Bennett, the failure of top recruit Junior Taylor to qualify, and an injury that will force Jon Dubravac to redshirt, the depth chart isn't as crowded as it was last year. Smith has taken full advantage of the opportunity.

While he's yet to catch a college pass, Smith has been the Bruins' most dependable receiver early in camp and will be on the field when UCLA goes to its three-receiver sets. At 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, he gives UCLA a physical receiver who finds the ball.

``He has a knack for getting open,'' said receivers coach Ron Caragher. ``You just watch him in practice and he's making a lot of plays.''

--Captain hook: You won't see tailback DeShaun Foster wearing any pinkie rings on his left hand. Last spring, he had the last two joints on the finger fused because of a chronic dislocation. The finger is now permanently in a hooked position.

It doesn't bother Foster on the field and rarely off it. ``I only notice it when it's cold,'' he said.

UCLA WATCH

Notable: The Bruins practiced just once Tuesday, the day before they begin full-contact work. But the practice was also their first at mid-day, a day that was hot only by Westwood standards. Temperatures were in the upper 80s, but there was a breeze. UCLA coach Bob Toledo isn't worried about replicating the heat and humidity of their first two games, at night against Alabama and a mid-day encounter at Kansas. ``You can't prepare for that heat,'' Toledo said. ``We don't have enough sauna baths.''

Player watch: The little brothers of two projected starters, guard Shane Lehmann and defensive tackle Ken Kocher, are walk-ons. However, they're little in name only. Redshirt freshman Matt Kocher, a defensive tackle, is 6-foot-1, 264 pounds, and true freshman Randy Lehmann, an offensive lineman, is 6-foot-5, 309 pounds.

Today: Practice at Spaulding Field, 9:40 a.m-11:35 a.m. and 4:10 p.m.- 6:30 p.m.

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UCLA WATCH (see text)