After two inept performances against high-powered Pac-10 passing
games, the UCLA secondary could be facing some personnel changes if
the struggles continue against Oregon State at the Rose Bowl on
Saturday.
Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise.
Defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker has maintained all season
that he feels comfortable making his players earn their starting
job from week to week, jokingly saying that sometimes the best way
to motivate players is to scare them a little bit.
Junior cornerback Rodney Van has been competing against freshman
Alterraun Verner this week for the starting spot opposite junior
Trey Brown. While several starting spots have changed faces on
defense, there has yet to be a lineup change in the Bruin
secondary, which was considered a source of strength up until the
past two games.
Players remain optimistic about the Bruins’ (4-5, 2-3
Pac-10) chances to return to the dominant form they displayed
earlier in the season when they take on the Beavers (6-3, 4-2) on
Saturday.
“We’ve got to get our swagger back on
defense,” linebacker Christian Taylor said.
As for the man whose job could be in jeopardy with another
lackluster Saturday, Van is using the position battle as
motivation.
“Al Verner has played great this first year and hopefully
he continues to do well and he pushed me to get better,” Van
said. “This competition was probably good for me because I
was maybe getting a little complacent in my role and this sort of
takes it up a level.”
In California’s 38-24 win over UCLA last Saturday,
quarterback Nate Longshore completed 20 of 24 pass attempts for 266
yards and three touchdowns, as the Bruin secondary had its most
incompetent performance on the year. During the second quarter, Van
injured his hip, reentered the game on special teams, but did not
return to cornerback, as Walker elected to keep Verner on the
field.
Before the start of practice this week, Walker took Van and
Verner aside to let them know that the position was up for
competition. Whoever doesn’t start still figures to see
significant playing time as the nickelback in passing
situations.
“(Walker) told us that we were going to compete in
practice and he would make a decision later in the week who will
start,” Van said. “I don’t have a bad feeling
about it, and I am happy that coach was honest to me about the
situation.”
Not wanting to let anyone get the impression he would be sour
about the possibility of a demotion, Van sought out the rest of the
secondary to say that he was still confident about his game.
While the coaching staff didn’t single out Van’s
play against the Bears ““ the only real blown coverage was by
Keyes on Robert Jordan’s 44 yard touchdown catch in the third
quarter ““ Van had suffered arguably his worst game the
previous week.
In Washington State’s 37-15 win over UCLA on Oct. 28,
Cougar quarterback Alex Brink took advantage of UCLA’s
man-to-man coverage when he repeatedly threw on Van. Walker has
opted to use man-to-man coverage with assorted blitz packages that
took advantage of the defense’s speed.
However, UCLA could employ Cover 2 schemes or zone packages
against Oregon State in hopes of containing Beaver (and former
Bruin) quarterback Matt Moore. The players only spoke generally
about their strategy heading into Saturday, but did say that they
are making some changes in practice this week.
“It looks like some of the other teams made adjustments to
what we were doing, so we’re making adjustments too,”
Van said. “Anytime we’ve had to do that our coaches
have done a good job, so we’re confident in them.”