Myles Jack just needed a yard.
With senior defensive ends Keenan Graham and Cassius Marsh flanking him on either side and his team facing a short third down in the opening minutes of the second quarter, the freshman outside linebacker took his first collegiate carry.
Jack immediately hit the hole, stutter-stepped and cut left after hitting the second level of the Arizona defense.
“I ran out there and looked to the marker and I was like, ‘O.K., all I have to do is get a yard, so that was really my goal,’” said Jack after Saturday’s 31-26 win over Arizona. “It worked out.”
Jack needed one yard. He got 29.
Churning the same legs that won him second place in the 200-meter dash in the Washington state track and field finals in May, Jack burst past the first wave of Wildcats and bounded to the outside. Arizona cornerback Shaquille Richardson tried to cling to both of Jack’s shoulders and corral him, but was thrown on his back with a single shrug.
On Monday, the 6-foot-1, 225-pound linebacker attributed the run to a group of blockers on offense that gave him ample space.
“Really, it was just situations where I had an alley or a crease because of the blocking schemes, so the way the scheme was set up, it was perfect,” he said. “All I had to do was run.”
The linebacker-turned-leading rusher finished the game with six carries for 120 yards and a 66-yard touchdown. More surprising than the performance itself was the fact that it almost didn’t happen.
Coach Jim Mora had hinted at the former high school running back’s offensive ability early on in the season, but Jack’s designed running plays weren’t installed in the UCLA offense until Wednesday, three days before the game in Tucson.
“(Offensive coordinator) Noel (Mazzone) came up with the idea this week of putting in a package (with Jack). Noel is kind of a mad scientist,” Mora said. “If you open any UCLA playbook that we’ve had this year, you won’t be able to find that anywhere. It was a, ‘Hey, let’s try this.’ Noel’s good at that.”
The package resembles a diamond composed of four players staggered in a 1-2-1 arrangement. It can be called either “Old Pac,” a combination of senior inside linebacker Jordan Zumwalt, redshirt junior defensive end Brandon Willis, Marsh and Graham blocking for Jack, or “Young Pac,” which asks for sizable freshmen defensive linemen Eddie Vanderdoes and Kenny Clark to block.
According to Zumwalt, who caught a 12-yard pass for a first down out of the formation, the defense’s participation on the other side of the ball didn’t require too much selling.
“None,” Zumwalt said. “As soon as (Mazzone) told the defensive guys, we were like, ‘Sweet!’ We were all about it. We were really excited to play offense.”
The downfall? Jack, who was announced as the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week Monday afternoon, is also a primary contributor on defense. He notched eight tackles, UCLA’s third-highest total, and played what Mora estimated as “115 to 118 snaps.”
Despite his production on offense, things like wear and tear come to mind when posing the idea of transforming Jack into a more traditional two-way player. He’s also now likely on the radar of every remaining team on UCLA’s schedule.
“If we were an offense that huddled up with every play, then it would a different deal,” Mora said. “You do a real disservice to the player and the team (through overuse). It worked and it was awesome, but there’s a saturation point. What you forget is that coaches for the other teams have now prepared for it and they’re going to have an answer.”
On Saturday, Jack, who has known Mora since he was 12 years old, was the answer for UCLA. Mora acknowledged as much, but said he never fell into a state of disbelief.
“It’s remarkable, but it doesn’t surprise me and I don’t think anything he’s done or is going to do is going to surprise me,” he said. “(Jack will) do anything to help us win and it’s reflective in the way he plays. It definitely gave us the spark we needed.”
As an Arizona fan I will tell you that Myles Jack won the game for you! He is great! Be proud to have him.