Ask anyone of consequence and they’ll tell you ““
it’s coming.
They can’t tell you when, and they can’t tell you
how big, but they can assure you that it’s most definitely
coming.
One of these games, probably sooner than later, UCLA tight end
Marcedes Lewis is absolutely going to blow up, catch a ton of
passes for a ton of yards, and prove once and for all what he can
do.
Or so the song and dance goes.
The problem with that song and dance, of course, is that
it’s grown old and somewhat tiresome. It hasn’t really
changed in a year. Last season, everyone thought the big tight
end’s time was near, and well, it wasn’t. Everyone
thought he would be the best receiving tight end in the country,
and well, he isn’t. The huge numbers just aren’t there
for the junior, and the frustrating thing, for Lewis at least, is
that he believes they could be.
“I just want to develop into a great tight end,”
Lewis said. “I’m trying to break records. I’m
trying to be the best tight end to ever play here.
“I thought I’d be on that pace right now.”
The fact is that he’s not on that pace, and though Lewis
is happy that the Bruins are winning football games and he’ll
do whatever it takes to see that they keep winning, the 6-foot-6,
254-pound junior admits to a tinge of frustration.
In the Bruins’ first four games, Lewis has caught a total
of nine passes for 115 yards and a touchdown. Though fairly decent
numbers for an average tight end, they are perhaps disappointing
for Lewis, who came to UCLA from Long Beach Poly as the top prep
tight end in the country.
In his senior year at Poly, Lewis caught 44 passes for 710 yards
and 11 touchdowns for the CIF Division I champs.
So did he think he’d be here now, averaging just over two
catches a game in his third year with the program?
“Never,” Lewis said. “I don’t think any
tight end that’s ranked as high as I was coming out of high
school would really be sitting here like, “˜Man, I’m
only getting like two balls a game, one ball a game, getting the
ball here and there.'”
Lewis genuinely believes he was so highly regarded coming out of
high school because of his ability to catch passes and then do
something after the catch.
“You can put me anywhere on the field and I can
produce,” Lewis said. “Slot, receiver, tight end, it
doesn’t matter. Whatever you want me to do, I can do it.
That’s what I bring ““ I’m long, I’m rangy,
just get me the ball.”
But he hasn’t got the ball. Lewis hasn’t appeared to
be a major part of the passing offense, which has people
questioning a variety of things, including the play calling, the
quarterback, and Lewis himself.
But the best answer, perhaps, to why Lewis hasn’t been
incredibly involved hinges on the success of the running game.
Since UCLA has run the ball so effectively in the team’s
first four games, the Bruins haven’t really had to pass. And
even if he hasn’t been catching passes, Lewis has still been
a crucial part of the team’s 3-1 start.
“I’ve been very happy with Marcedes,” coach
Karl Dorrell said. “The one area he was criticized a lot
about last year was his blocking, and he is one of the reasons why
we are very, very successful in our running game.
“He has really stepped up his blocking technique and he is
getting after people on the line of scrimmage. That’s the one
thing that is night and day difference from what it was a year
ago.”
There is a general consensus on the team that Lewis is a far
better player than he was a season ago, even if his receiving stats
don’t show it.
He’s worked hard in the weight room, taken incredible
pride in his blocking, and also improved his route running.
“Marcedes has just grown up,” tailback Maurice Drew
said. “He’s gotten bigger, stronger and faster.
He’s a better receiver than last year, and he’s
blocking better. He’s doing everything he can to help the
team.”
“He’s done a heck of a job,” said tight ends
coach Jon Embree, who was the Bruins’ receivers coach last
year. “He’s really brought his game along blocking, and
he’s done some good things with the pass.”
“I think he has a chance to be a John Mackey Award
(awarded to the top tight end in the country) winner when
it’s all said and done, and a First Team
All-American.”
Lewis credits Embree with the incredible strides he has made as
a player, and he believes that he is continuing to improve every
day under the former Colorado tight ends coach.
“He’s been there,” Lewis said. “The past
two or three tight ends he’s coached are in the NFL right
now. One won the Mackey Award, so I can’t complain. I’m
just listening, trying to soak it all in and do my job.”
Embree coached Daniel Graham, the 2001 Mackey Award winner, and
Christian Fauria, the starting tight end for the New England
Patriots, during his time at Colorado. Embree knows how to develop
tight ends, and when he talks, Lewis listens.
“Coach Embree is really getting me to understand that
you’ve got to be able to go when you’re tired,”
Lewis said. “Sometimes when I’m extra tired,
he’ll make me go again, an extra rep, knowing that I’m
dead tired, just to get that in my mind that sometimes it’s
going to be like that.”
Lewis seems to really respect the entire coaching staff now, a
major difference from his first two seasons, when he said he
developed very little as a player under former tight ends coach
Gary Bernardi. He regrets the fact that Embree has only been the
tight ends coach for one season.
“I’ve learned so much from when (coach Embree)
became tight ends coach until now, it’s not even
funny,” Lewis said. “Maybe it’s just because
I’m mature and I’m finally applying it, but if he was
here when I was a freshman, it would be much better.”
Lewis played lazily in his first two years, something he will
readily admit. He also feels like he was wasted in his freshman
year, used only to block when he could have redshirted and grown as
a player. But now he’s finishing blocks, going hard on every
play, and taking pride in his performance every time he steps on
the field.
That’s why he’d like to see more balls coming his
way, and that’s why many Bruin faithfuls would like to see
the same.
“Right now it’s just sharpening my skills and
getting better,” Lewis said. “I’m not that far
away. Just by watching other tight ends and watching the NFL,
I’m not that far away. I just need the chance, and I’m
doing everything in my power that I can do right now to get me that
chance.”
Why Lewis hasn’t had a great chance is up for debate.
Is it first-year offensive coordinator Tom Cable’s play
calling? Is it quarterback Drew Olson’s inability to make the
right reads? Or is it simply because Lewis is double- and
triple-teamed and he can’t get himself open?
Well, it kind of depends who you ask.
Cable admits that the team is run-oriented, but he also said the
system is such that Lewis could go out and catch six balls next
week. It just depends on the defense.
“People who understand football know that you take what
defenses give to you,” Cable said. “We’ve had
some opportunities where we’ve not been able to get him the
football, and we’ve had some opportunities where he’s
not getting himself in position to get the football.”
So for Cable, it’s a little of both, give and take.
Embree, meanwhile, feels that Lewis’ time will come. He
said that passes to the tight end are tougher to make than passes
to wide receivers, simply because tight ends don’t have the
space that receivers are able to create.
Olson seems to feel that the play-calling isn’t suited to
Lewis having a huge game.
“He’s tremendous,” the Bruin quarterback said.
“I don’t think we’ve really seen it yet. We
haven’t tried to throw him the ball 10 times a game. I
don’t know if this offense would ever allow that.
“In the passing game, we’d love to throw the ball 30
times a game. But realistically, with Coach Cable’s mind-set,
it’s probably not going to happen.”
And perhaps the most important opinion belongs to Lewis.
“Sometimes when we’re watching film, I just hope we
really see that there are opportunities to get me the ball,”
Lewis said. “I think that’s what we’re doing
right now, so hopefully things change.”
Lewis feels like he should be getting at least six balls thrown
to him a game, and he knows he can be a dangerous threat once he
catches the ball. He believes his size will undoubtedly create
problems for smaller, weaker defenders.
“Maybe part of it’s the play calling,” Lewis
said. “Part of it is (Olson) being back there making the
right reads, but I’ve got confidence in everybody. Hopefully
it all pans out.
“As long as we’re getting results, and
everything’s coming together, I can’t complain. I
don’t know who could complain.”
In his college career thus far, things haven’t really
panned out. He caught six passes for 51 yards his freshman year and
made 30 catches for 377 yards last year. And now, he’s made
nine catches in four games this season. He said his career at UCLA
has been a grind, but he’s happy now.
Interestingly, Lewis said his college experience has paralleled,
to some extent, the experience he had at Poly. His sophomore year
he didn’t get many balls, his junior year he got a few more
after talking to his coaches, and his senior year was his breakout
season.
“That’s where I really just blew up,” said
Lewis, who was also an All-CIF basketball player at Poly.
“But I don’t want to wait until my senior year again.
I’m ready.”
Raul Lara, Lewis’ coach at Poly, is still close to his
former player. The two met together in Lara’s office earlier
this week, and Lara said Lewis is happy because the Bruins are
winning. But he still thinks the big tight end deserves more
touches.
“I think the ball needs to go to him a little bit
more,” Lara said. “Eventually I think they’ll
figure it out.”
Lara said his team’s plan with Lewis was to flex him out
and line him up as a receiver instead of down in a three-point
stance on the line. That way, he created tremendous match-up
problems. It also didn’t hurt that Poly had current USC
tailback Hershel Dennis in the backfield.
Lara feels that UCLA will eventually figure out that Lewis is
best used this way.
“I see him being a great tight end in the NFL,” Lara
said. “And I see him being a great receiver.”
Everyone seems to agree that Lewis is a major talent, and could
clearly be one of the best. Dorrell feels that it’s just a
matter of time. Cable, who was a coach at California when Kansas
City Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez was there, sees similar
potential from Lewis. Drew is also impressed.
But will fans get to see it? Ask people associated with the
team, and they’ll tell you. The breakout is coming.
“Yeah, you’ll see one,” Drew said.
“We’ve got that in the game plan, and he’s ready
to break out any time.”
“It could happen any game,” Dorrell said.
“Hell, I’d like to see him catch four or five every
game, and I think there will come a time when he does that,”
Cable said. “We’re just not there yet.”
But Lewis is ready. He says he’ll continue to work as hard
as he can in an attempt to prove that he can indeed be the
best.
“I know that I can’t be perfect, but I know that if
I expect perfection, then I’m going to be pretty damn good
one day,” he said.
Yeah, but when?
“Very soon.”