There was Brandon Breazell making a one-handed grab behind a jumping cornerback.
There was Joe Cowan grabbing a fade pass from Ben Olson over a corner’s head for a touchdown.
And there was huge Dominique Johnson using his body to get position for a touchdown catch.
In short, last week’s game against Stanford marked a huge switch in receiving play from last year.
“We were begging for (opportunities) last year,” senior wide receiver Marcus Everett said. “This year, we’re going to air it out and put points on the board.
“Last year, we were on our knees begging for it.”
UCLA may have thrown more fade routes in the Stanford game than the Bruins threw all of last season. Instead of waiting for the sure pass and checking down from coverage, Ben Olson threw to his receivers and trusted them to make plays.
And make plays they did.
Olson, though a little jittery on his short passes, managed a 16-29 performance thanks in large part to the plays his receivers made on his deep balls. On a flea-flicker in the third quarter, Olson underthrew Breazell, but the speedy receiver was able to adjust to the ball and then get a substantial amount of yards after the catch.
Even on a short slip screen pass from Olson, Cowan was able to make a 77-yard run after the catch to give Olson another touchdown pass on what was essentially a ball thrown in the air no more than seven yards.
And Olson was able to use the size advantage of players such as Johnson and Gavin Ketchum in the end zone for touchdown catches.
All in all, the Stanford game was a demonstration of the depth, experience and potential of UCLA’s receiving corps.
“We have a lot of guys who can do a lot of different things,” Johnson said. “We’re pretty deep. We have the veterans out there. It’s good for us to have that much depth and also the older guys to teach the younger ones the proper way to play.”
Johnson is one of many tall receivers on this team. Johnson, Ketchum, Cowan and converted quarterback Osaar Rasshan are all taller than 6 feet 3 inches. Last year, only Ketchum played. Johnson was held out after the first game in hopes of being granted a redshirt year, Cowan suffered a knee injury in fall camp, and Rasshan was still playing quarterback.
A year later, there is an entirely new dimension to the receiving corps.
And what’s more, the tall guys are being put in at the proper time: in the red zone.
“I pretty much know that that is what I do,” Johnson said. “I know I’ll get a lot in the red zone.
“It was great to have my first college catch go for a touchdown. I want more now.”
Last year’s offense was hampered in large part by the inexperienced play-calling of former offensive coordinator Jim Svoboda and the ineffectual receiver-rotation of former wide receivers coach D.J. McCarthy. It was a testament to last year’s rotation that the leading receiver was a running back, Chris Markey. Everett led all true receivers with 31 receptions ““ less than three receptions per game for the No. 1 receiver on the team.
Now, gone are hockey line-change substitution patterns. And with the addition of new offensive coordinator Jay Norvell, apparently gone are the conservative play calls. After opening the game with a conservative game plan to gauge the new Stanford defense, Norvell opened the offense up to good effect in the second half.
“This year, we’ve got the right (offensive coordinator) and everything,” Everett said. “Things should be better.”