Senior Craig Bragg has caught a pass in every game the Bruins
have played the last four years except one, his first at UCLA.
But in Saturday’s game against San Diego State, his streak
of 39 consecutive games with a catch will finally come to an
end.
After dislocating his shoulder in the final minutes in the win
at Washington two weeks ago, Bragg, second in all-time receptions
at UCLA, is likely to be sidelined at least two more weeks. That
leaves the Bruins without the leader of both their receiving corps
and the offense.
Just because Bragg is not on the field does not mean UCLA will
make too many changes to its offense. Filling the void in the
passing game will be veteran receivers Junior Taylor and Tab Perry
along with several freshmen candidates and tight end Marcedes
Lewis.
For Taylor, Saturday will be the first time he will be called
upon as the leading receiver for the Bruins after starting across
from Bragg all season. This is a chance he hopes to capitalize
on.
“This is my opportunity to be the main guy while Bragg is
down,” Taylor said.
UCLA will also look toward Perry for help in the game, marking
his return to the startling lineup after sitting out last season
due to academic ineligibility.
But while Perry has already seen plenty of time on the field, he
hasn’t had the big-play contribution many hoped to see from
him. So far this season, Perry has had only two catches for 10
yards. The limited production is in part due to the acclimation
process to coach Karl Dorrell’s West Coast Offense and in
part because of Bragg’s consistency.
“Tab is ready for the challenge, and he’s excited
for this opportunity, even though it’s a situation where
we’re losing our best receiver right now,” Dorrell
said. “He’s excited to not only fill the shoes but do a
great job in keeping the level of play at that position.”
“We haven’t thrown the ball a lot and haven’t
been able to get a lot catches to a lot of different people,”
quarterback Drew Olson said of Perry’s limited
responsibilities. “But also, our main reason is because Craig
and Marcedes were the two guys we were trying to focus on the past
three games. But that will change as we go on and start throwing
more routes.”
Lewis, currently second on the team behind Bragg in receiving,
with eight catches for 108 yards, will be another body for Olson to
look toward against the Aztecs. UCLA also hopes to see some
production from it’s crop of young freshman receivers,
Brandon Breazell and Marcus Everett.
“(The receivers) decided that we have to step it up
another notch,” Taylor said. “We have to go out there
and produce just like Craig was out there. So if Craig is averaging
100 yards per game we need to go out there and produce 100
yards.”
But three games into the season, Bragg is only averaging four
catches for 72.3 yards a game. For the Bruins, the minimized
passing game highlights their new trend of choosing to run the ball
instead.
Going into Saturday’s game, UCLA has rushed for 888 yards
for nine touchdowns while only throwing for 585 yards for three
touchdowns.
With running backs Maurice Drew and Manuel White both having
monstrously successful seasons, the void left by Bragg
doesn’t appears by any means to spell the demise of the
Bruins’ offense.
“We really haven’t thrown the ball much except in
the first game,” Olson said. “But (the running game) is
going to help, especially this week. I think if we’re going
to get our running game together it’s going to help our game
tremendously.”
But while the Bruins have been successful running the ball thus
far, for them to retain their offensive momentum, the passing game
will also have to be more prominent, even without Bragg.
“I think that first we’ve been fortunate the running
is going,” offensive coordinator Tom Cable said. “At
this level, typically you have to be balanced to be good, and
luckily we haven’t needed to be yet. When we get the chance
to throw the football, we’re ecstatic because we think
we’re pretty good there.”