UCLA’s Abdul-Jabbar Sees His Stock Rising : College football: Tailback’s rushing performances have captured attention of Heisman voters.

See Karim run.

Into the UCLA record book.

Into the lead among Pacific 10 Conference rushers.

Into the top five among the nation’s collegiate ballcarriers.

And now, with three games to go, into consideration for the Heisman Trophy.

Few, if any, Heisman voters across the country were thinking of UCLA tailback Karim Abdul-Jabbar as a contender when the season began. Oh sure, he rushed for 1,227 yards last season. But in terms of being a national figure, he was mainly a curiosity because of his name change, from Sharmon Shah to a name one letter from being identical to that of one of basketball’s all-time greats.

Abdul-Jabbar opened the season impressively, rushing for 180 yards against Miami.

But then, after severely bruising his back in the Bruins’ second game, he started backing up on the rushing charts, his totals dropping each game for six consecutive weeks.

There were other factors--injuries in the offensive line, instability at quarterback and a struggling team that dropped its first two conference games.

Against Arizona, Abdul-Jabbar hit a season low, rushing for 67 yards.

Then came Stanford. Then came California. Then came national acclaim.

Abdul-Jabbar rushed a school-record 42 times for 261 yards against Stanford, then gained 217 against California. He has also scored five touchdowns in the last two games, run for 350 yards in the second halves of those games and gained 229 yards in the fourth quarters of those games.

With a 151.5-yard rushing average, Abdul-Jabbar has moved from 19th in the nation two weeks ago to fourth.

“He’s definitely a blip on the radar screen now,� said Ivan Maisel of Newsday, president of the Football Writers Assn. of America. “He’s not on the A list yet, but he’s not out of the running.�

The front-runner for the award, which will be announced Dec. 9, appears to be Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier, who was a key performer in the Cornhuskers’ victory Saturday over Colorado.

Two other quarterbacks, Florida’s Danny Wuerffel and Florida State’s Danny Kanell, remain strong contenders. Others are USC receiver Keyshawn Johnson, Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning and Ohio State running back Eddie George.

Abdul-Jabbar has moved onto a secondary list that has some voters raising their eyebrows and reconsidering, a list headed by Iowa State’s Troy Davis, who is leading the nation with an average of 190.8 yards a game and has rushed for 1,526.

“Davis is setting himself up to be the first guy to gain 2,000 yards in a season and not be a shoo-in for the Heisman,� Maisel said.

Dave Torromeo of the National Football Foundation, another Heisman voter, has become an Abdul-Jabbar believer.

“People in the East didn’t know that much about him,� said Torromeo from his Connecticut home. “These two games have certainly helped him, along with his style. Those are the kinds of things that open people’s eyes.�

Abdul-Jabbar still has huge chunks of yardage to cover before he can be considered a finalist.

He will probably have to continue averaging 200 yards in each of his three remaining games--against Arizona State,, Washington and USC--if he hopes to catch Davis. That’s asking a lot.

And, although he plays in a major media center, Abdul-Jabbar is not on a top-10 team featured on national telecasts, limiting his visibility among the 921 Heisman voters who don’t live in this region.

Ironically, Abdul-Jabbar’s national exposure was helped considerably by a run that wasn’t a run.

Against Arizona, he took a screen pass from quarterback Ryan Fien and scored from 14 yards out. But before going in, he ran back and forth across the field three times, covering perhaps 90 yards on a tackle-breaking, eye-catching dash that made highlight films and play-of-the-week clips all across the country.

When Abdul-Jabbar was a youngster, he dreamed of being in the position he now is in. But now that he’s there, it’s not the same.

“As I get older, it doesn’t mean as much,� he said. “I guess it’s part of growing up. [The Heisman winner] is supposed to be the best athlete in the nation, but it turns out to be who has the best team or the best supporting cast or the best sports information director.�

Maybe so, but the best way for Abdul-Jabbar to stay in the running for the Heisman is simply to keep on running.