Facing a Washington cornerback blitz, redshirt sophomore quarterback Brett Hundley turned to his right and rifled a ball past the outstretched hands of a jumping defensive back. Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Devin Lucien proceeded to burn the Huskies’ defense by melting away more than two-and-a-half seasons of anticipation and frustration.
With his front facing Hundley, Lucien secured a short catch and cut to the inside of a safety, who fell in trying to get an arm tackle on him. He then sprinted past a linebacker all the way into the end zone for a 40-yard touchdown, Lucien’s first as a Bruin.
“Today’s the best day of my life,” Lucien said Friday night after the game. “It’s been kind of slow leading up to this, but I’m happy it came and I’m enjoying every moment of it.”
Lucien came into Friday’s game with 11 receptions on the season for 162 receiving yards. He registered 10 receptions for 188 yards last season before breaking his collarbone in late September 2012 and getting shelved until the Holiday Bowl.
Sitting out most of his redshirt freshman year proved emotionally painful for Lucien, but the catch to put UCLA up three scores on Washington has the receiver looking up.
“It was the hardest time of my life. … I’m not even trying to look back on that no more. I got my first touchdown and I just want to rack ’em up now,” Lucien said.
The receiver went on to note that if the Huskies’ cornerback had not blitzed, he probably would not have even been targeted on the throw. He finished with a total of 54 yards on the night.
Though the Washington game provided the proper environment for Lucien’s breakout play and performance, his coaches have demonstrated belief in his capabilities throughout the season.
Offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone has brought up multiple times this season that he needs to do a better job of designing plays to get the ball to his downfield playmakers, with Lucien among the names he mentioned. Coach Jim Mora’s game-day depth charts even alluded to a big role for Lucien, whose name could sometimes be seen with an “or” next to sophomore Jordan Payton in denoting the starting outside X receiver. The receivers alternated being named X starters until the Colorado game early this month, with Payton serving as starter since.
To this point, Payton’s 27 catches more than double Lucien’s season total. Even without his 40-yard score, however, Lucien still pulls in 14.7 yards per catch versus Payton’s 12.4 average on the season.
Although the redshirt sophomore quarterback feels that any of his receivers could have turned a short pass into a huge score, Hundley holds Lucien’s playmaking in particularly high regard.
“Devin has special abilities when it comes (to turning short catches into longer gains),” Hundley said. “When the ball’s in his hands … it’s really exciting, and just being able to get him the ball, and the 6-yard pass turned into a 40-yard touchdown pass. It means a lot … and it really sort of extends the depth of this offense.”
Lucien flirted with the idea of completing his first end zone trip earlier in the season. He appeared to break open for a 4-yard touchdown catch in the middle of the end zone against Cal, but a safety made a break on the ball to force an incompletion. Against Nevada, Lucien nearly hauled in a 39-yard touchdown in front of two Wolf Pack defensive backs. But a slightly underthrown bomb from Hundley wound up behind the wide receiver, who turned back to place both hands on the ball. Lucien could not complete a highlight reel-worthy catch, and instead deflected a potential interception.
It was a Stan McKay day
A fellow Bruin joined Lucien in celebrating a personal milestone Friday night. Redshirt senior safety Stan McKay proposed to his girlfriend, with the UCLA team huddled around the pair, minutes after the Bruins concluded their game against the Huskies.
McKay, who identifies as often doing “drastic” and “extravagant” things for his now-fiancé, wanted to provide a big stage for a girlfriend that he considers to be on the shyer side. McKay said that he himself was rattled as he walked her out of the tunnel and to the field.
A “yes” topped off an already eventful day for the safety. His morning included finding out that he was named the Bruins’ special teams captain for the week. He went on to be notified by his girlfriend that McKay’s image graced the game program handed out at the Rose Bowl, where her father secretly handed him a ring box as the two embraced earlier in the day.
On the gridiron, McKay notched a tackle on the kickoff coverage team and later gained 6 yards off of a blocked field goal that, if made, would have cut the Bruins’ lead to seven points with under three minutes left in the third quarter. The safety’s abbreviated return failed to fulfill a vision McKay had the previous night.
“That play, I dreamt about the night before, … but in the dream, I pictured myself scoring,” McKay said.
Instead, the return suited a game that he mistook as being played on Senior Night, and thus an appropriate time to propose.