The moment that coach Rick Neuheisel had been talking about finally arrived last Saturday.
Locked in an early, scoreless tie with Oregon, the UCLA football team displayed a glimpse of a component that in recent years has been more mythical than anything else.
The Bruins took a shot downfield.
On the play, redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Prince dropped back and promptly released a deep heave toward a streaking Randall Carroll, a lightning-quick freshman receiver whose main asset so far has been his ability to stretch the field.
Carroll managed to get past Ducks cornerback Anthony Gildon as the ball sailed through the air, but he was unable to make the catch after Gildon grabbed him by the jersey. Gildon was flagged for holding, and the Bruins were awarded 10 yards.
The play didn’t necessarily pay huge dividends, but Prince was still talking about it three days after UCLA’s 24-10 loss to Oregon.
“That long post we tried throwing to Randall Carroll, we’re trying to utilize the speed as much as we can,” he said following Tuesday’s practice. “We still haven’t been as productive as we would like.”
In years past, the lack of speed at the skill positions has been an obvious flaw for the Bruins. But with the emergence of young and quick players such as Carroll, that trend has disappeared.
As evidenced by last Saturday’s downfield attempt, UCLA finally has the weapons to be more explosive offensively. Now it’s just a matter of getting the ball into the correct hands.
“We’ve got to figure out exactly how to spread the field and create some space,” Neuheisel said. “We’ve got to get some players out there that make people miss.”
Carroll, twice a state track champion in the 100 meters and 200 meters, is a prime candidate, as is fellow freshman Damien Thigpen, who, like Carroll, excelled as a track athlete in high school.
“Not many guys can hang with them,” Prince said in reference to Carroll and Thigpen.
Both players have been clocked below 10.4 seconds in the 100m.
“That’s flying,” redshirt freshman running back Johnathan Franklin said. “That’s really fast. A lot of teams don’t have that.”
Carroll and Thigpen, along with freshman receiver Morrell Presley, are quickly becoming important pieces in the Bruin attack because of what they offer athletically.
“The game has slowed down a lot for me,” said Presley, who was able to participate in spring practice after enrolling early. “I know what I’m doing and am able to play faster. I’m sure that’s the case for Randall and Damien, too. We’re adapting to the game a lot more.”
Opposing secondaries have been able to stack up near the line of scrimmage without the worry of a downfield attempt. That affects the Bruins’ ability to run the ball, which, in turn, makes the quarterback’s job tougher. Prince has thrown three interceptions this season ““ all coming on passes intended for receivers running short routes.
“No one has seen us throw the deep ball, so (defenses) are just sitting on everything,” Carroll said.
Yet getting significant chunks of yardage requires that a number of things go right during any given play, Prince said.
“Number one, I need to be more patient in the pocket,” he said. “I need to be willing to sit there and take hits in order to get the ball downfield more.”
The degree of patience, though, depends on the amount of time allotted.
“That involves great protection from the line,” Prince added.
And it doesn’t hurt to first establish a running game.
“You can surprise teams with the play action and go deep,” Franklin said. “If you can’t run the ball, you can’t pass the ball.”
Whatever the solution to UCLA’s big-gain woes may be, Neuheisel is confident that he’ll eventually find a successful combination.
“No fault in the kids, they’re trying,” Neuheisel said. “They’re working their tails off. We just have to keep searching.”