Redshirt freshman quarterback Ben Olson has been entrenched in a
stiff battle for playing time with incumbent Drew Olson. However,
Ben Olson’s path to Westwood is not commonly found among
highly recruited football prospects as he spent his redshirt season
at BYU only to go on a two-year Mormon mission and transfer to
UCLA. Despite only having one quarter of school under his belt and
not having even taken one snap under center, Ben Olson already has
a strong fan base. The Daily Bruin caught up with Ben Olson to
discuss what it’s like to be thought of as a
“savoir” for Bruin football. his Mormon mission, and
how he really is just a regular guy.
Daily Bruin: What’s the strangest thing that has
happened to you since committing to UCLA?
Ben Olson: Probably during the basketball game when we were
playing Stanford and I had a red shirt on. As I walked down before
the entire student body, they started chanting “Take off that
red shirt! Take off that red shirt!” That was pretty
scary.
DB: So what did you do?
BO: Shoot, I took it off. I was wearing Stanford’s colors
and didn’t even put two and two together. I don’t think
I’ll ever do that again. Not smart to be wearing the
opponents’ colors.
DB: When you’re not playing football, what sport are
you playing?
BO: Probably basketball. I played basketball in high school, a
little small forward and power forward. Helped my team get to CIF
Finals too.
DB: So then why did you choose football over
basketball?
BO: Because I am better at it. I enjoy basketball, but
there’s not a whole lot of 6-foot-5 big men in Division I
basketball. I was pursued by the small D-I schools, but nothing
big.
DB: You ever challenge any of your teammates to a
game?
BO: We actually had a tournament going on during the spring. We
wanted to see who was better. That was pretty fun. Marcedes (Lewis)
and I were on the same team.
DB: So then you guys must have won.
BO: Nah, we lost.
DB: What, you guys are two of the tallest players on the
team? And you both play competitive basketball. How did you not
win?
BO: No we’re not the two tallest! You got (Ed) Blanton,
umm, umm, there are a lot of guys taller. And we didn’t have
any subs and we were really tired.
DB: Poor excuse.
(for the record, only Blanton and Robert Cleary are taller than
Marcedes Lewis)
DB: So everyone wants to know about your mission…what did
you eat in Canada for two whole years?
BO: Hey, the food was pretty good. For some reason, they have a
lot of Caesar salads up in Canada. So I ate a lot of that, and to
be honest, I really started to like them. They’re not as
common down here.
DB: You must be sick of that now.
BO: No, actually. I still eat them. But there’s definitely
more to eat around here.
DB: What’s one thing about you that would surprise
most people?
BO: Football is a very important part of my life, but
there’s a whole lot more to me. I like to do the normal
everyday things. I like to surf, I like to work on old cars, I like
to play guitar, I like to sing. I am just a pretty average guy.
DB: Does anyone know that you’re musically
inclined?
BO: (Laughs) I can only play a couple of songs, but I am not
that good. I just like to fool around on it.
DB: Do you think people place abnormal expectations on you?
I mean some people call you a “savior.”
BO: Sometimes I think they place us athletes up on a pedestal.
But they just don’t understand we’re normal everyday
people. We have our struggles but we just go out there and try to
overcome them and do our normal things, just like everybody
else.
Interview conducted by Seth Fast Glass, Bruin Sports senior
staff.