Like a little kid waiting to be called on in class, Tyler Ebell
was antsy. “Pick me! Pick me!” he said with a 53-yard
punt return and 44 yards rushing on nine carries last week in a
43-7 win over San Diego State. At Oregon State Saturday, UCLA head
coach Bob Toledo finally called on Ebell. He answered with 203
yards, the second-best rushing game ever for a Bruin freshman.
“Guys have to wait for their opportunity and take advantage
of it when it comes. He did that,” Toledo said. Ebell felt
like he had been raising his hand forever. Generously listed as
5-foot-9, he sat out as a redshirt last year, biding his time. This
year he found himself on a five-tailback committee where the
majority of the carries were split between sophomore Manuel White
and junior Akil Harris. “Tyler has wanted this a long
time,” sophomore free safety Matt Ware said. Although White
was expected to be the featured back of the day after netting 76
yards rushing last week, he went down with a pulled hamstring in
the first quarter. Harris was called on, but he only gained six
yards on five carries. Battling hand injuries, he struggled for the
third game in a row. It was Tyler’s turn.
“I had to make something happen because nothing was going
on as far as the running game goes,” Ebell said.
UCLA had 15 rushing yards in the first quarter. Ebell nearly
matched that on the first play of the second quarter with an
11-yard carry.
He pounded ““ well no ““ the tailback nicknamed
“Mighty Mouse” cut, burst, bobbed and juked his way
through the second quarter for 45 yards. The knock on Ebell has
always been his size. At 175 pounds, he could get beat up, but you
can’t beat him down if you can’t catch him. “When
I hit the scales, some of my teammates were like, “˜You were
good in high school but what can you do here?'” said
Ebell, who set national records with 4,495 yards rushing as a
senior at Ventura High School. So Ebell had a show and tell
performance in the second half. He had 79 yards by the end of the
third quarter, and put UCLA up 19-14 with a 5-yard touchdown run
that gave the Bruins their first lead of the night. “That
little back ran well,” Oregon State Head Coach Dennis
Erickson said. In case anyone still doubted Mighty Mouse, he showed
he could fly like a super-hero, zipping by the Beaver defense for a
73-yard run down to the UCLA one yard line in the fourth quarter.
Ebell may have been too fast ““ he nearly ran down the
official, who appeared to get in his way of a touchdown.
White’s injury, Harris’ troubles and Ebell’s
performance raise questions as to the state of the five-back
committee next week against Oregon. For now, Ebell was just happy
to be called first. “He showed all doubters he could play
big-time, Division I, Pac-10 football,” Ware said. Good
answer.