Asked about muffing a punt in the first quarter to set up
Stanford’s first score, UCLA redshirt freshman Tyler Ebell
showed off his best trait ““ his elusiveness.
“For the record, I didn’t fumble,” Ebell said,
smiling. “I’m tired of that rep.”
Well, technically, Ebell did fumble. Freshman Glenn Ohaeri, his
own teammate, accidentally bumped into Ebell as he was fielding the
punt and caused the turnover. At least he’s exciting, as head
coach Bob Toledo once jokingly described him.
But that’s beside the point. There’s no denying
this: Ebell has excelled as a tailback.
The 5-foot-9-inch, 170-pounder literally hid behind his blocker
and emerged to run through a Cardinal linebacker early in the
fourth quarter on his way to an 18-yard touchdown ““ the
go-ahead score that led to a 28-18 win over Stanford on
Saturday.
“He’s the man,” offensive guard Eyoseph
Efseaff said. “He played outstanding.”
Ebell finished with 160 yards on 39 carries. He is the first
freshman in school history to rush for 100-plus yards four times,
and he did it in four straight games.
“He made a big run,” offensive coordinator Kelly
Skipper said. “To rush for 100 yards in four straight games
is pretty good. He’s really come on.”
It was essential that Ebell play well because the Bruins were
banged up and forced to throw true freshman quarterback Matt Moore
into the fire.
Moore had been a fourth-stringer and expected to redshirt the
season. He only had limited knowledge of the offense.
“He took so much off my back,” Moore said. “He
ran hard, hit the holes and got the yards we needed.”
“We had to run the ball effectively to win because we
weren’t going to throw a lot of passes tonight,” Toledo
said.
Ebell also lent a hand in the passing game in the second
quarter, throwing an option to tight end Mike Seidman, who drew a
pass interference penalty. The play set up a Nate Fikse field
goal.
Running the ball is his specialty, though, and it was shocking
to some as he was hidden in the depth chart. But ever since Ebell
leapfrogged Akil Harris to replace the injured Manuel White, the
tiny tailback has proven people wrong.
“And people thought he was too small for college
football,” Toledo said.
“I’m just trying to show them what I can do, that I
should be back there, that I should have been playing a long time
ago,” Ebell said.
Ebell set single-season high school records, rushing for 4,495
yards and 64 touchdowns in his senior year at Ventura High.
Now he’s just getting stronger.