When he was in the running for UCLA’s newly open position
of defensive coordinator, DeWayne Walker sought out the advice of a
longtime friend and colleague. And then Walker promptly ignored
him.
Karl Dorrell dismissed his defensive coordinator, Larry Kerr,
after back-to-back seasons in which the Bruin defense was ranked at
the bottom of the country in nearly every defensive statistical
category.
Walker, the secondary coach of the Washington Redskins at the
time, saw the UCLA job as a chance to come back home to Southern
California and put his fingerprints on a college defense.
Walker called Trojan coach Pete Carroll, whom Walker worked
under in New England and at USC, and asked Carroll what he thought.
Carroll told him not to take the job, that it would take years to
change the soft, passive image of the Bruin defense.
Of course, Walker took the job anyway and has been able to
rebuild the Bruin defense with blitz-happy schemes and man-to-man
coverage. It was a drastic shift in philosophy, but it has yielded
huge results.
So perhaps it is fitting that all that stands between Carroll
and his fourth straight shot at the national title is
Walker’s defense.
When UCLA (6-5, 4-4 Pac-10) takes the field against No. 2 USC
(10-1, 7-1) Saturday, they will be looking to end a seven-game
losing streak in the rivalry. If the Bruins are to pull off an
upset, Walker will have to find a way to shut down the
Trojans’ glut of playmakers.
“For the first couple of plays, our guys are going to be
pumped up,” Walker said. “But then you get that out of
the way, and you’ve got to play a football game. So
it’s my job to get these guys to just win a football game and
not worry about all that outside stuff.”
This is the last hurdle in a season in which Walker asserted
himself as one of the nations’ top defensive minds. It would
be hard to imagine UCLA playing in a bowl without the revival of
its defense. Pat Cowan has struggled in Ben Olson’s place,
and the running game has been inconsistent.
The only stalwart has been Walker’s defense, which has
turned defensive ends Bruce Davis and Justin Hickman into
All-American candidates and developed freshmen Reggie Carter and
Alterraun Verner into key contributors.
And the one guy who knows that more than anyone else is
Carroll.
“There’s no question that DeWayne Walker has made a
big difference,” Carroll said at a Tuesday press conference.
“Their style is different, their attitude is different.
I’m not surprised by DeWayne’s impact, just
disappointed it happened so fast.”
Carroll said he suspects UCLA will be a bigger challenge for his
team than Notre Dame, which lost 44-24 at the Coliseum last week.
He gave one reason: Walker’s defense.
“A lot of guys for (the UCLA defense) have played better
than they have in the past, and I think that’s a tribute to
what DeWayne has accomplished,” Carroll said.
UCLA players have lauded Walker for his no-nonsense approach
that lets them know exactly what he expects. Walker, in turn, has
spoken openly about the need to keep players uneasy about their
starting roles in order to motivate them.
Walker spoke generally about what schemes he has planned for
Saturday’s game, but the one theme he kept coming back to was
confidence. An often-used term and an undervalued commodity,
attitude has defined Walker’s mantra. This is something the
players have bought into as well.
“I know that we can go on the field and disrupt any
offense in the country,” junior linebacker Christian Taylor
said. “That’s a confidence we might not have always had
in the past.”