American quarterback Jerry Neuheisel made his debut with the Obic Seagulls, a powerhouse Japanese football squad, on Saturday in a Pearl Bowl spring tournament game against the All-Mitsubishi Lions.
Neuheisel, a former UCLA Bruin, threw a 67-yard touchdown pass on his very first play, but threw a pair of interceptions afterward. Overall, he struggled to get on the same page as his receivers and completed just six passes in 14 attempts for 116 yards in a 43-3 win for the Seagulls, the eight-time X League champions, at Fujitsu Stadium Kawasaki.
Playing for a new team in a new country, Neuheisel, whose father Rick was the head coach for the University of Colorado (1995-98), University of Washington (1999-2002) and UCLA (2008-11), admitted he's got plenty of room for improvement. Yet he kept his head high, saying, "I'm excited to get back to practice and get to work, I know it will never happen again if I get it corrected for the next game."