After the first four games of the season, the running game could
have gone under the title, “The Maurice Drew Show.” But
now, its seems the sophomore tailback will have to share the
spotlight.
Drew, UCLA’s leading rusher, has seen his carries dwindle
the past few weeks, as have those of senior Manuel White, because
true freshman Chris Markey has entered the fold.
“We’ve been rotating a lot because guys have been
getting tired and we’re all beat up from getting hit,”
Drew said. “(Coach Karl Dorrell) is keeping us fresh because
he knows that this is Division I football and you can’t be
out there playing tired.”
Drew took quite a pounding the first four weeks of the season,
when the Bruins never had less than 191 yards on the ground. Since
then, UCLA has been more careful of how hard it works Drew,
although the production has fallen off somewhat.
The Bruins ran for just 114 and 74 yards against Arizona and Cal
respectively before rebounding to pick up 210 against Arizona State
on Saturday.
“Next week will be very similar to Saturday,”
Dorrell said. “Maurice and Manuel are our primary two, and
then our off-speed pitch will be Markey getting in at some point in
the game, probably in the second quarter.”
While this new rotation had success against Arizona State, it
does mean that there will likely not be any more repeats
Drew’s epic performance against Washington where he recorded
a school-record 322 yards and five touchdowns.
But Drew, who has three games this season of over 150 yards,
still believes Markey brings something to the table that neither he
nor White can do.
“He’s quicker than I am, he’s quicker than
Manny. Manny brings the power, I try to put in both,” Drew
said. “Chris is a great back and he’s learning from
Manny and myself, so he’s getting taught, but we’re
also learning from him because he has the most moves out here out
of all of us.”
Markey, a smaller, speedier back, had only taken a handoff 10
times heading into the Arizona State game, but received five big
carries in the second half Saturday, including a 61-yard romp that
led to White’s 3-yard touchdown on the next play.
“I go into every game expecting I’m going to play
because you never know what’s going to happen,” Markey
said. “I think I add just another running back, if the guys
need a blow I can help them out.”
White, a more bruising, straight-ahead runner, has led the
Bruins three times in rushing, including his 145-yard performance
in the first game against Oklahoma State. Though he had a team-high
81 yards against the Sun Devils, he has only rushed eight times
each of the last two games.
“I do need carries, but that’s a part of my game
that I’ve got to work on, being a big-play threat at any time
of the game,” White said. “This keeps us fresher and it
allows us to play with that much more intensity when we’re in
there.”
Drew, an elusive pinball with a low center of gravity, has
enough highlight runs this season to make his own video. Of his
eight touchdowns, only two are less than 35 yards, and he has made
countless would-be tacklers miss while trying to wrap him up.
Despite the reduced workload the past few weeks, he still is
fourth in the nation in all-purpose yards per game (173.9) and
second in the Pac-10 in rushing yards per game (112.4).
“I was in like 45 plays last game, but it wasn’t
just carrying the ball, I was receiving,” Drew said.
“Sometimes you get two yards, sometimes you get four yards,
sometimes you get 80. You just got to be able to read and hit the
hole.”
While there may not be any more spectacular individual
performances out of the backfield, with offensive coordinator Tom
Cable’s run-heavy play calling, there should be enough
carries to keep all three of the new show’s co-stars
happy.