Jibril Raymo’s got money in the bank. The sophomore safety
cashed in Saturday on his trademark: recovering a blocked punt for
a touchdown. He patented the skill last year, as a true freshman,
when he blocked a punt and returned it six yards for a touchdown
against Washington.
Saturday, sophomore corner Matt Clark blocked San Diego
State’s punt from its own 21 yard-line and Raymo recovered it
in the Aztec end zone to put UCLA up 14-0 at the start of the
second quarter.
“I just saw it and ““ green light ““ I fell on
it and held on real tight,” Raymo said.
This season Raymo’s stock seemed to drop as sophomore Ben
Emanuel and true freshman Jarrad Page stepped in at safety. Raymo
got in on 13 snaps against Colorado, but knew going into San Diego
State that the way to earn more time was to perform well on special
teams.
“That’s what I’m hustling right now,” he
said, “That’s what’s getting me my
money.”
Ңbull;Ӣbull;Ӣbull;
Senior right tackle Mike Saffer, one of the team’s
emotional leaders, sat out the game with a broken rib. He suffered
the injury against Colorado but practiced all week.
“Yesterday he coughed and the rib broke,” UCLA head
coach Bob Toledo said. Saffer will be out for three to five
weeks.
He was replaced by redshirt freshman Ed Blanton who had never
played in, much less started, a game for UCLA.
“I was more nervous yesterday when I found out,”
Blanton said. “Mike pulled me aside and said not to worry
about mistakes, just to play hard.”
That is pretty much what Blanton did as the offense often ran
away from his side while the defense blitzed his direction, taking
advantage of his naivete.
“That’s just good strategy. If I was the coach
I’d do the same thing,” Blanton said.
Ңbull;Ӣbull;Ӣbull;
Six-foot-three free safety Matt Ware played at corner the entire
first half to help Ricky Manning match up on San Diego State
receivers Kassim Osgood, 6-5, and J.R. Tolver, 6-2.
Osgood, the nation’s third-leading receiver coming into
the game, had 145 yards Saturday, almost 100 of which came in the
second quarter, due to his ability to make plays and poor execution
by the UCLA secondary. But Tolver, ranked No. 1 nationally, was
held to a mere 30 yards. Prolific Aztec quarterback Adam Hall, who
put up 500-yard passing games the past two weeks, threw for only
183 yards.
“I don’t know if it had anything to do with me and
my size. You just do what you’re supposed to do,” said
the humble Ware, who had four solo and three assisted tackles as
well as a tackle for a loss of 11 yards.