ESCONDIDO -- Remember the show "Family Ties" from the 1980s, the one in which Michael J. Fox played a conservative, smart teenager?

Scott Eveland is that guy.

Though he's only 17, Scott is a kid always up for a political tete-a-tete, whose self-professed hero is Ronald Reagan and whose MySpace page sports Bill O'Reilly wallpaper.

The honors student wears Polo designer clothes, even down to his sweat pants, and keeps his Polo shirts hanging "just perfectly" in his closet, his mom, Diane Luth, said.

And when he was 16, Scott invested in a mutual fund because he didn't like the return on his money from savings. He also bought Costco stock.

Not old enough to vote, in his heart he is a staunchly conservative Republican.

"His friends said, 'Won't it be funny if Scotty comes back as a Democrat,' " Diane Luth said, a smile momentarily erasing exhaustion from her face Saturday morning as she sat with her husband, Paul, in the cafeteria of Palomar Medical Center in Escondido.

The couple and their family -- including Scott's brothers, Craig, Ronnie and Robert -- have kept a vigil at the teenager's bedside for more than a week, since Scott staggered off the football field during a game at Mission Hills High School and fell into a coma Sept. 14.

The popular varsity linebacker suffered a severe brain injury during the football game, his mother said. School officials said they scoured video tapes of the game but could not pinpoint any single play as the likely cause.

Scott remains comatose and in critical condition. His family holds on to hope that he will recover.

'People have made us feel so good'

In the days that followed his collapse in front of the home crowd, the school and the community rallied behind the young man who loves sushi, James Bond and '80s rock band Journey.

Across the town and across North County, messages of support pour in.

"People have made us feel so good at such a bad time," Scott's stepfather, Paul Luth, said.

About 24 hours after Scott was rushed to the hospital and into surgery, the Luth couple finally made their way home -- and found his son's friends had been there. They'd decorated his bedroom with signs of support.

"It looked like a pep rally in there," Diane Luth said.

Dozens of teenagers fill the waiting room daily. On Friday night, his parents returned to the hospital to find 15 of Scott's classmates outside of his room, hoping to be escorted in to hold his hand or tell him a joke.

Scott's 17-year-old girlfriend of nine months also sits at his bedside. Amanda Tucker's voice quivers as she talks about the boy who surprised her at school when he covered her car with dozens of sheets of paper -- he'd scrawled "Prom?" on each piece.

"He is never is in a down mood," the Mission Hills senior said. "He's always jumping around, joking around with his friends. He's a sweet boy."

'I just wanted to be like him'

Classmates say the campus seems far less joyous without Scott.

"You can't be around him and not be happy," senior Jannelle Webb said Friday, not far from the field where Scott's varsity football teammates practiced. "He's always cracking jokes. He's just quick-witted. He's a real first-class guy."

It's a sentiment fellow classmates echoed a week after Scott's collapse jarred the campus and the community.

Sophomore Sam Nui transferred to the high school from Oceanside last year. He said he quickly found a friend in Scott, who Sam said welcomed him to his new school digs.

"He was inspirational," the 15-year-old said. Pausing for a moment, Sam added, "The things he did, his attitude. I just wanted to be like him."

On Friday, with large hand-painted posters in honor of Scott plastered on campus walls and courtyards, Sam was one of hundreds of Mission Hills students who wore a polo shirt to school in honor of the senior known to stimulate classroom lessons with lively and knowledgeable debate.

"He's the man of the school," Charity Paquette, a 16-year-old junior, said as she and classmate Gianna Dossa headed to the hospital to visit Scott.

The girls, both sporting T-shirts with Scott's No. 54 on the back, left the campus after school in a car adorned with a message for Scott and his classmates: "Stay Strong."

'We just want him to come back'

"The way Scott supported people, now it's coming back to help him," stepfather Paul Luth said of the outpouring.

His parents say they plan to attend a vigil at 4 p.m. today at Mission Hills football stadium.

At home, Scott is just one of those kids who always asks if he can help out around the house, his mom said.

Like his clothes, like his room, he keeps his car immaculate. He even has his own special bucket of cleaning supplies in the garage, and after each car wash, he is sure to carefully fold up 10 clean car towels so he'll be prepared to wash his vehicle again the following week.

And organized? Oh yes. How many 17-year-old boys keep a file cabinet in their bedroom? Or make their bed every day?

But his love for all things Polo, and more so his penchant for ordering the clothing online, finally got him into trouble. After a few packages of new clothes came to the home, his parents put an end to it.

Or so they thought. He had one last package delivered to the home of his friends.

Scott had hoped to maybe attend UC San Diego after graduation and eventually study medicine. Told his parents he wanted to be a pediatrician.

"When Scotty gets out of here, he can do anything he wants to do," his stepfather said, turning away as he fought tears.

Scott's family waits for any sign of improvement. His mother, worry and stress draining her, sighed as she spoke of her son's ordeal.

"We just want him to come back."

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 631-6624 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.