Having spent his first two seasons in Westwood looking to put
all the pieces in place to build a successful program, UCLA
football coach Karl Dorrell is beginning his third season by taking
a markedly different approach.
Perhaps that’s why before Dorrell even had time to sit
down and adjust his chair on Tuesday at Pac-10 Media Day at the
Sheraton Gateway hotel at LAX, he boldly proclaimed “UCLA is
ready to make that next step,” explaining everything needed
to take that step is already firmly implanted within the team.
While the specifics of that next step still remain unclear, how
Dorrell plans to get there certainly is.
Instead of relying on external motivating forces as UCLA has
over the past two years, during which the Bruins have amassed a
mediocre 12-13 record, Dorrell sees the key to the upcoming 2005
season as how the Bruins handle the inevitable battle that looms
internally.
Dorrell expects that battle ““ that of earning playing
time, and more importantly, earning one another’s respect
““ to spark a competitive fire greater than what has been
displayed on the football field the past two seasons.
“When you know you just beat someone out for a spot, you
know you have to perform,” said junior running back Maurice
Drew. “I don’t even have a spot, I’m still
competing for a spot on the team, just like everyone
else.”
“Everyone’s competing and understands that there are
jobs at stake,” Dorrell said. “We have competition
across the board, and that’s very important. Competition
helps any program, and I think that’s the biggest key (for
this season).”
The most intriguing position battle appears to be the one taking
place at quarterback, which Dorrell anointed as probably the most
important decision he’ll have to make all year.
While Dorrell made clear at media day that senior Drew Olson has
the clear advantage to remain the starter for the upcoming season,
he left open the possibility that the much-heralded recruit Ben
Olson David Koral, or redshirt freshman Pat Cowan can still wrestle
away the starting position.
That competition, Dorrell believes, will breed more respect from
within the team to whoever earns the spot.
“(Drew Olson) understands the depth of that position and
understands that people are trying to unseat him, and that’s
a great thing,” Dorrell said. “(The competition means)
we will not have a level of complacency, which is why we expect
great things for our program this season.”
If that’s the case, then UCLA, who was predicted in the
Pac-10 preseason media poll to finish fifth in the conference, must
quickly depart itself from its mind-set to end the 2004 season. Any
momentum the Bruins garnered by beating Oregon and playing USC to a
close-fought loss at the Rose Bowl to end the regular season was
stripped away with an embarrassing 24-21 loss to Wyoming in the Las
Vegas Bowl.
The loss, said Drew, led to an off-season in which players
reassessed how they prepare for their opponents as well as their
inner relationships within the team. That prompted Dorrell to
implement “Football 101,” a program devised to foster
team unity and promote a forum where players can speak their minds
irrespective of any consequences.
“There is no star, there is no coach, there is no head
coach, everybody is just on equal ground,” Drew said.
“It helped us get a lot of feelings out, a lot of animosity
out, a lot of negativity out. When you go 6-6, there’s a lot
of negativity going around. A lot of guys got a lot of things off
their chests that they were holding back. It lets just go out and
play now.”
So while many questions still remain for the upcoming season,
including the progress of last year’s porous defensive line
and how best to utilize 6-foot-6 tight end Marcedes Lewis in the
West Coast offense, perhaps the biggest question is if Dorrell can
restore the program to where he expects it to be with seemingly
everything in place.
“There is a big difference between how UCLA is viewed
nationally now from when I left as a player,” Dorrell said.
“Where it is now is not acceptable, we have to take this
program to the next step, which is competing and winning conference
championships.”
And this season, that doesn’t begin with the Bruins’
first game on Sept. 3, but instead commences during Aug. 8’s
first official practice where the biggest competition will come
from one another.