Arizona Wildcats quarterback Matt Scott expects to play Saturday against UCLA, even as questions swirl about the way he was handled in the waning minutes of last weekend's win over USC.
"I was feeling good then and I'm feeling good now," Scott said today.
Scott vomited a handful of times on the field after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit on Arizona's second-to-last drive Saturday, but stayed in the game.
He threw a touchdown pass to David Richards, giving the UA an 11-point lead with 5 minutes remaining. Scott did not return for the final drive, though; backup B.J. Denker played instead.
Coach Rich Rodriguez said today that trainers properly evaluated Scott following the hit. Rodriguez talked to Scott during two timeouts during the drive, after Saturday’s game and again before Sunday’s walk-through on campus. Scott seemed fine, the coach said.
Players who suffer concussions are frequently nauseous. If Scott suffered a concussion — and the UA did not say that was the case — he would have had to pass the team-mandated ImPACT test before cleared to practice. Scott took part in the team's Sunday walk-through, and is expected to practice all week.
Asked about his vomiting, Scott said he was sick because of the heat — and his workload. The Wildcats’ quarterback ran 15 times for a season-high 100 yards in the UA’s first win home win over USC since 1999.
“I really don’t think I had a concussion,” he said. “I got winded, honestly — that’s why I threw up.”
Scott said he felt nauseous three or four plays earlier, but managed to keep it down.
“But eventually,” he said, “it came up.”
The 24th-ranked Wildcats (5-3 overall, 2-3 Pac-12) will face No. 25 UCLA (6-2, 3-2) Saturday night at the Rose Bowl.
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