Correction appended
On Friday, Drew Olson walked off Spaulding Field from yet
another football practice, this one a little different from all the
others.
His red quarterback jersey soaked through with sweat and with
mounting frustration and uncertainty written all over his face,
Drew Olson, who at the time was still competing with heralded
freshman Ben Olson for the starting quarterback position, was
finally out of answers.
He had shown a renewed passion for the game since coming back
from a devastating knee injury, yet he was tired.
He was playing the best football he’d ever played in his
life, yet he was frustrated.
He had done everything that had been asked of him and more to
maintain his starting position, yet couldn’t help but think
he apparently had not done quite enough.
For someone who admits he was given chances to play when he
probably didn’t deserve them his first two years in Westwood,
not getting those same opportunities when he felt he did deserve
them put Drew Olson in an unfamiliar place.
That unease propelled the senior to having the best camp of his
life, which inevitably led him to a very familiar place ““
UCLA’s starting quarterback position.
“It’s more satisfying now because I had to work for
it; it wasn’t just given to me,” Drew Olson said.
“This will strengthen me. It toughens you up mentally,
that’s for sure.”
After weeks of speculation, UCLA coach Karl Dorrell finally
confirmed Saturday what Drew Olson never once stopped believing
““ that the senior would be the starter for the Bruins’
season-opener against San Diego State on Sept. 3.
But the Drew Olson that limped off the football field in
crutches back on Dec. 23 after UCLA’s embarrassing 24-21 loss
to Wyoming in the Las Vegas Bowl is a shadow of the one that will
be taking snaps under center this weekend.
Eight months of dedicated rehabilitation followed by three weeks
of intense competition with a 22-year-old redshirt freshman have
transformed Drew Olson from a poised player, not feeling he had
anything to prove, to an identifiable leader fighting for a job he
never actually lost.
“The whole process has given me a whole new work ethic and
a whole new approach to this game, that probably was much
needed,” said Drew Olson, who has started 15 consecutive
games and compiled a 14-12 overall record as the Bruins’
quarterback.”I didn’t enjoy it, but I don’t
dismiss it either."
"I wanted to keep it as competitive for as long as I could,
without both of them knowing exactly what was going on,”
Dorrell said. “I wanted to put (Drew Olson) through the test
and he came out very, very well.”
That test, however, is far from over.
Dorrell has maintained that he will seek opportunities to play
Ben Olson, who some anoint the savior of the program, throughout
the beginning of the season, conceding that if the redshirt
freshman out of Thousand Oaks hadn’t injured his hand during
the end of fall camp, the quarterback situation could have unfolded
quite differently.
But until Ben Olson is ready, Drew Olson, veteran of two
quarterback competitions, willingly accepts that the onus will be
placed on him for now.
Despite the constant criticisms that he isn’t the big-play
quarterback and that he doesn’t look for tight end Marcedes
Lewis nearly enough, the senior from Piedmont, Calif. is eager to
earn the respect he’s never been afforded and embraces the
responsibility of producing obvious signs of improvement for a UCLA
program mired in mediocrity.
He may never be readily assured that he’ll be the
quarterback to throw that next pass with Ben Olson ready and
waiting over his shoulder, but as this season’s fall camp has
shown, Drew Olson looks his best when he feels uncomfortable.
“It’s getting to that point where you start to
question things and wonder what’s going on,” said Drew
Olson on Friday, describing his confusion regarding the quarterback
battle. “It’s just ongoing and kind of living in the
shadows.”
Which is, coincidentally, where Drew Olson’s leadership
has been hiding the past two seasons.
The leader
It was only the third day of fall camp, and tempers were already
flaring.
As Ben Olson dropped back to pass, he shoveled the football to
fullback Michael Pitre, who ran up the left side until defensive
lineman Justin Hickman stopped him.
Pitre and Hickman soon after engaged in a brief war of words,
which was quickly followed by a short fight ““ short because
Drew Olson sprinted in from the sideline to stop it.
“What was weird was that it was a natural reaction now
when it wasn’t before,” Drew Olson said.
“I realized that I am sick of sitting back and being this
calm leader. It wasn’t me and it needed to change. I needed
to change. The way I play needed to change.”
“I realized I lost (my swagger) for a minute. I’m
just glad it’s back.”
The last time it was seen was at Piedmont High School, where
Drew Olson was revered not only as one of California’s best
quarterbacks, but also as his team’s unmistakable leader.
Collecting more awards and honors than plays in the Bruins’
playbook, Drew Olson, who in three years as a starter threw for
over 6,000 yards and 60 touchdowns, was unafraid to call out
teammates and constantly challenged them to match his own
intensity, even if it meant ruffling some feathers.
“In high school everyone looked up to him,” said
second-year Corey Steady, Drew Olson’s former high school
teammate and currently a student manager for the UCLA football
team.
“No one had to ask, everyone knew he was the leader in
high school. But college is different than high school for
everyone.”
It certainly has been for Drew Olson.
In 2002, when Drew Olson was a freshman, the Piedmont native
gradually became gun-shy playing behind Cory Paus, struggling to
earn the respect he was naturally given the year before.
In 2003 and 2004, Drew Olson received more playing time, but
felt that he was simply given it, and hadn’t necessarily
earned it.
So while assuming the title of the Bruin offense’s
official leader, Drew Olson recalls mental blunders under his watch
eliciting as much response as informing someone they hadn’t
won the lottery.
“”˜Oh well, next time’ is what we used to
say,” Drew Olson said.
Well, not anymore.
So far during fall camp, the senior has been noticeably tougher
on his teammates, exhibiting a quicker trigger when lashing out at
a receiver who forgets a route or a lineman who misses a block.
“He’s definitely more vocal,” senior center
Mike McCloskey said. “A lot of guys look up to him now. They
know he’s in control.”
“What drives me crazy is when focus is lost and effort is
not there,” Drew Olson said. “When that happens, I am
going to jump on them, and when I misread, I hope they jump on
me.”
If it sounds like Drew Olson has a newfound sense of urgency,
it’s because he does. And it took the arrival of a former No.
1-rated high school quarterback to instill it.
The competitor
Drew Olson gets asked nearly every day if he’s related to
Ben Olson.
“We’re not related,” he usually responds.
“Maybe we’ll find out sooner or later we are, but as of
right now, we’re not.”
Yet the two Olsons have been attached to the hip for the span of
fall camp.
In competing against Ben Olson, who hasn’t played
competitive football for two years because of his Mormon mission to
Canada, Drew Olson is quick to point out that the nature of this
year’s competition is much different than his battle two
years ago with Matt Moore.
Aside from being a much better quarterback than he was as a
sophomore, Drew Olson talks regularly with Ben Olson and any
feelings of bitterness or ill simply don’t exist this time
around.
What the senior did learn from the quarterback controversy two
years ago, however, was that as soon as he suffered his injury back
on Dec. 23, he knew his chances of remaining the starter were slim
if he gave any potential competing quarterback the chance to
shine.
“The No. 1 reason I wanted to get back and drove myself so
hard to get back was to play again and play my senior year,”
the senior said. “I didn’t want to come back 85 percent
and practice one day and rest the next. Then it would have been
really tough for me to be the starter.”
Wanting to adopt a positive mind-set from the outset of his
rehabilitation, Drew Olson asked his doctor not to mention the
senior’s injury to anyone, and vowed to do the same.
Forced to watch spring practice and the progress of Ben Olson
from the discomfort of the sideline, which he described as probably
the hardest thing to cope with during his recovery, Drew Olson
quietly pursued a rigorous rehabilitation that would put him at
full health by late July, compressing an expected eight-month long
recovery process into six.
While Drew Olson surprised coaches and teammates with his swift
recovery, what impressed them even more was the condition in which
the senior returned.
Since last season, Drew Olson has put on close to 15 pounds,
increased his arm strength, become more mobile in the pocket
despite a permanent brace he will wear on his left leg, and
exhibited a much greater understanding of the offense.
“I take my hat off to Drew,” Dorrell said.
“He’s come back from a serious injury and he’s in
the best shape he’s ever been in. And he’s had the best
camp he’s ever had since he’s been here.”
But Drew Olson still enters the season wary that even his best
performance was barely enough to outlast upstart Ben Olson, and
that there will most likely be increasing pressure exerted on the
coaching staff to get the freshman valuable playing experience.
“It’d be hard if I went out there and they were
second-guessing me and what I am doing,” Drew Olson said.
“The way you want it is for them to have 100 percent
confidence in you.
“When I do start, even if they tell me if I slip up and
someone will replace me, I know looking over my shoulder is the
only way to fail.”
So while Drew Olson fully expects fans to chant Ben
Olson’s name the same way they chanted his own four years
ago, the senior is still intent on leaving what is yet-to-be a
defining imprint on UCLA before handing the reins to the program to
another Olson.
His legacy
Drew Olson’s room is unusually bare for someone who can
conceivably walk out of UCLA as the second most accomplished
quarterback in school history.
There are no banners from his first three seasons in Westwood,
no pictures of past UCLA greats like Troy Aikman or Cade McNown to
remind him of the elite company he’ll soon be joining, and no
running lists of records he’s eclipsing, or legendary names
that he’s passing.
The only reminder in Drew Olson’s apartment that the
senior quarterback even plays football is a picture his parents
blew up and framed of their son getting crunched between two
Sooners in 2003 when UCLA was routed by Oklahoma.
While originally a joke, that photo has served to remind Drew
Olson where he once was ““ a wide-eyed sophomore thrown to the
wolves – and where he is now ““ in the upper echelon of every
meaningful statistical category for all-time Bruin
quarterbacks.
But even though Drew Olson comes into the 2005 season fourth
all-time in completions (422), fifth in touchdowns (33), fifth in
passing yards (5,334), and sixth in pass percentage (54.8 percent),
there’s hardly ever a whisper mentioning Drew Olson’s
name among the best quarterbacks to play at UCLA.
“Yea, I’ve done it real quietly because we
haven’t won,” Drew Olson said. “That’s why
it’s quietly. That’s why it’s disappointing and
that’s why it’s a non-factor to me.
“The fact that we have gone 12-13 is unacceptable.
“It shouldn’t be right, and it shouldn’t be
the way UCLA football is played. We’re all ashamed of it and
not proud of it by any means.”
Though this season might not provide Drew Olson the chance to
restore UCLA as a national powerhouse, it will also offer the
senior the opportunity to resurrect the program’s
success.
“This year needs to be a comeback year for this
program,” Drew Olson said.
“I want to go out a winner and a warrior, someone who has
overcome some stuff in his career to get the team right and the
program back where it needs to be.”
If he does, then he’ll sign his name to a unique chapter
in UCLA’s history book, one a little different from all the
others.