As a football player, Chris Markey’s greatest attribute is his
vision. The game slows down right before his eyes, and he is able
to uncover a crease in the defense that few other college running
backs are able to find. Markey will be the first one to admit he
doesn’t have the playmaking capabilities of former UCLA running
back Maurice Drew. He doesn�t have Drew’s knack
for the dramatic. But without hesitation, the junior out of Luling,
La., proudly states that the Bruins rushing attack will be better
than it was during Drew’s reign because of that vision — and his
patience. "I am willing to let things develop in front of me, and
then take a small gain rather than risk a big loss," Markey said.
Considering what he has experienced in the last 12 months,
it�s unclear whether he’s speaking about football
or about life in general. When an injury limited Drew in UCLA’s
matchup with Northwestern in the 2005 Sun Bowl, Markey delivered a
performance that calmed those who worried the Bruins would be
crippled without their All-American, all-purpose playmaker. He
rushed for 161 yards en route to being named the bowl’s co-MVP.
What seemed like a watershed moment for Markey was in reality just
a subtle end to the most challenging year of his life. In 2005,
while UCLA was strutting to a 10-2 season, Chris Markey experienced
a kind of loss away from the football field that made him question
everything he’d ever seen, on and off the field.
…
It’s early in the 2005 season, and UCLA is coming off a 44-21
win over San Diego State in the season opener. Chris Markey is
going to practice every day, preparing for the team’s second game
of the year, against Rice. Once practice ends each day, Markey
tries to call his mother�s cell phone over and
over again. All he wants to know is if his family is safe, but the
calls do not go through. Markey went to Jesuit High School in New
Orleans, but he was born and raised in Luling, about 20 miles
outside of the city. Like millions of others across the country,
Markey watches Hurricane Katrina destroy entire regions of the Gulf
Coast. He watches cable news at all hours of the day to see if any
new information is being reported, hoping to catch a glimpse of the
suddenly devastated city he calls home. All Markey wants to do is
speak to his mother and hear her voice on the other end tell him
the family is safe. For a week and a half, he hears nothing. The
phone lines are destroyed and his family back home has no means of
communication. "My family is my source of strength and I was
destroyed to not know what was happening," Markey said. He
remembers his cousin Simone from California is visiting the family
in Louisiana. So he calls Simone on her in-state cell phone, and
all of a sudden he is speaking to his mother. She tells him the
family is staying in a shelter in Northern Louisiana, and that
their house has survived the devastation. Markey puts his cell
phone down, and takes a deep breath. "In a matter of minutes, I
went from not knowing anything to finding out that they were all
okay," he said. Two days later, UCLA beat Rice, 63-21. Markey
rushed for 59 yards and a touchdown. He envisions all the gruesome
images of the natural disaster and the subsequent chaos. After
practice, and talking about the situation in interviews, Markey
sits down in the locker room and begins to cry. "I broke down; I
just had to let it all out," he said.
…
It’s the middle of the season, and UCLA is unexpectedly thrust
into the national championship picture. The Bruins are undefeated,
including a home win over Oklahoma that propelled them into the top
25 for the first time in coach Karl Dorrell�s
tenure. Markey, still recovering from his family’s relocation, is
at his girlfriend’s apartment when he gets a call from his mother.
She tells him his 39-year-old cousin Gail August suffered a stroke
and died instantly. August left behind three children. "It was a
shock, because she never had health problems before," he said. "I
was really close with her. Being so far from home, my family means
the most to me. So it was a big loss." After finishing the week of
practice, Markey flies back home to Louisiana for the funeral, and
flies back the next day for UCLA’s game against Stanford in Palo
Alto. The Bruins end up beating the Cardinal 30-27 in overtime,
after scoring three fourth-quarter touchdowns. Just days later,
Markey’s own health becomes an issue. It’s the end of position
meetings before practice, and Markey feels a shortness of breath.
He ignores the quick shots of pain, and they fade away after a few
seconds. Half an hour later, the shortness of breath is exaggerated
and the chest pains are a little more intense. Markey tells his
running backs coach, Eric Bienemy. "Go to the training room right
now," Bienemy said. Markey tells them what he is feeling, and the
trainers take him to the emergency room at the UCLA Medical Center.
After a series of tests, the doctors tell Markey he has a little
bit of fluid around his heart, and that may or may not be the cause
of the symptoms. Soon thereafter, the shortness of breath and the
pain go away. "To this day I don’t know what it was, if it was from
stress or the fluid," he said. "Not knowing what’s wrong, thinking
there might be a heart problem, was tough." The following the week
the Bruins, ranked No. 7 in the country, lose to an unheralded
Arizona team in the desert by a score of 52-14. "Just how bad of a
loss that was right after losing my cousin, it was an exhausting
time," Markey said. It’s January of 2006, and Markey picks up a
phone call from Maurice Drew, a first-team All-American selection
at punt and kick returner. "You’re going to have to lead the
‘Wolfpack’ next year," Drew says, referring to the running back
group’s nickname. "I’m entering the draft." Markey wishes Drew the
best of luck, and he can’t help but get excited about the idea that
he will be getting his chance. Markey finishes the year with 561
yards and five touchdowns. But the numbers don’t even begin to
convey what kind of a season it was for the running back. "I’ve
never had so much stuff go on all around me at one time," he
said.
…
It’s the beginning of the 2004 season, and Markey, a freshman,
is letting off-the-field problems negatively affect his play. So
running backs coach Eric Bienemy, who recruited Markey, tells his
young player he has to find a way to overcome all distractions when
playing football. He tells Markey to use the game as a temporary
escape. "I wouldn�t be where I am now if it wasn’t
for coach Bienemy," Markey said. When Bienemy left UCLA to become
the running backs coach for the Minnesota Vikings after the 2005
season, Markey was hurt. He didn’t want his coach to leave, but he
knew it was an important step if Bienemy was to achieve his goal of
one day becoming a head coach. It was the last footnote to a year
of change for Markey. "Without Maurice or coach (Bienemy), I knew I
had to become a leader," he said. It’s training camp this season,
and Markey takes freshman Jeremy McGee under his watchful eye.
McGee, who was relocated to Baton Rouge from New Orleans during his
final year of high school because of Hurricane Katrina, bonds
closest with Markey during his first year away from home. With
McGee as his roommate, Markey tries to help the freshman get
adjusted to college football and learn the playbook as quickly as
possible. "He’s like a father figure," McGee said. "He’s been there
to help me during the tough days, and when I switched position
(from running back to cornerback)." As with any father figure, the
relationship comes with some tough love. It’s the end of training
camp, and in the tradition of freshman hazing, Markey gives McGee a
special haircut, shaving arrows into his buzz cut. Coach Dino
Babers, who switched from coaching the wide receivers to the
running backs when Bienemy left, obviously welcomes the leader
Markey has become. "He settles guys down, he says the right thing,
he has the right work ethic, and he likes to lead by example,"
Babers said. "Players tend to gravitate to a certain personality,
and that’s important to have someone to go to."
…
To say the start of the 2006 season opener against Utah was an
inauspicious beginning for Markey as well as the rest of the Bruin
running back corps would be an understatement. In UCLA’s 31-10 win
over Utah at the Rose Bowl, the only underwhelming aspect of the
game was the rushing attack. In the postgame press conference,
Dorrell digressed from questions about quarterback Ben Olson’s play
on two different occasions to state that he was unhappy with the
running game. When asked what the team needed to change this
Saturday against Rice to be successful on the ground, Babers
responded, "We just have to run harder. That’s the problem." It’s
only the second week of the season, and Markey is already hearing
whispers that the weak link of the offense is the running game. To
think he doubts whether or not he will fill the void left by Drew
is to have not spent any time around the junior. "As the starting
tailback, I took it to heart," he said. "We have some things to
work on, but I think we’re going to be fine." He’s brimming with
confidence, insisting that the running game will be more consistent
than it was with Drew as the featured back. "He has more vision
than anybody on the field," Babers said. "It’s his strength and his
weakness. He sees holes that other backs don’t see. Sometimes he
sees another hole, and goes there when really he should have just
hit the first hole. It’s a gift, but he has to use to his
advantage." It’s the start of his junior year, and Markey has a
window to prove his vision and patience as football player will
carry UCLA above what was supposed to be a rebuilding season. If he
does, it will be his foresight and maturity away from the game that
will be largely responsible for his contributions in the game.