Before the UCLA football team takes the field on Sept. 1 for the season opener against Tennessee, coach Rick Neuheisel has a laundry list of things he must take care of.
He must assemble an offensive line out of spare parts, something he said he is “cautiously optimistic” about.
He must address the shaky quarterback situation, along with the questions surrounding Ben Olson and whether or not he can fulfill the lofty expectations heaped upon him coming out of high school.
He must solve the troubling running back situation, in which two of the top backs are coming off ACL surgeries. The secondary, which may need contributions from incoming freshmen after losing four seniors, is also a concern.
If that weren’t enough, there is “the elephant in the room,” USC, to be dealt with.
Still more significant than all of those problems, Neuheisel said, is the development of Olson as a leader.
While Neuheisel believes that the talent and experience is there, he is unsure whether leadership is present along with it.
“Ben certainly has experience, but I don’t know if he has ever really been the leader of the team,” Neuheisel said. “Maybe it’s because he’s at a different place in his life. And maybe it’s because Pat (Cowan) was natural at it, and so it was hard for (Ben) to compete. But for Ben to go where he wants to go and for us to go with him, he needs to win the players over. And that will be interesting if he can do that.”
One of the reasons Neuheisel believes this has been the case is that, including this season, Olson has always been in a competition for the job. With the competition comes a tendency to deflect blame upon others in order to present oneself in the best light, which is not the way to go about it, Neuheisel said.
“There were a couple times in the spring when a ball wasn’t where it was supposed to be,” Neuheisel said. “He’d get mad at the receiver, and it could have totally been the receiver’s fault, could have totally been. But that’s not the way to do it. Go and tell, “˜Hey, that’s on me.’ Now the receiver says, “˜He’s got my back.'”
Building that trust is one thing that Neuheisel values greatly, and one that he hopes will be easy to resolve, especially since the competition for the job is not as fierce as it was in the spring.
As far as being at a different part of his life than the rest of his teammates ““ Olson is married and has a child ““ Neuheisel likened it to an NFL veteran playing alongside an NFL rookie: both need the other to be successful.
“They’re not at the same places in their lives, but on game day, they need each other,” Neuheisel said. “And Ben has to embrace that. He’s going to be throwing to some freshman receivers in fall camp. He’s got to be able to put his arm around them and make them feel good.
“That’s part of the job. And if you don’t get that part of the job, it’s always difficult to get guys to believe that if you call a third-and-1 play, you’re going to execute.”
Some of that building of trust may have started already, according to senior defensive tackle Brigham Harwell. A couple of weeks ago, Harwell said he and Olson had an hour-long conversation during a car ride in which they talked about leadership and the direction of the team heading into the season, a conversation that Harwell said went well.
“This year, so far, he knows what he has to do,” Harwell said. “He’s been taking a different role of organizing, being with the team. Building relationships with the players on offense and defense, and he’s been stepping up as a leader. He knows this year he has to be Ben Olson as he was in high school. He’s a great quarterback, great arm, so he has to put it together.”
As far as the relatively disappointing two years that Olson has spent behind center, Harwell said the team has forgotten about that.
“We all believe in him,” Harwell said. “And no matter what his past or losing games or getting hurt, that’s in the past now.”
Neuheisel said he has not had a similar talk with Olson yet because he did not wish to interfere with offensive coordinator Norm Chow. But now since spring ball is over, Neuheisel said that the two would have such a conversation.
“From a quarterback perspective, having coached it and played it, that’s where I see his biggest challenge,” Neuheisel said. “Norm’s job is to make sure he plays the position well. I want him to take that other piece and understand what goes into playing other than being successful at the position.”