By Jon Gold
Staff Writer
Kevin Prince has a question for his wide receivers and tight ends and running backs and even the new F-backs.
Care to dance?
For two games, the UCLA offense has shriveled into the corner, the geek with the glasses, stapled to the wall like a flower, afraid to test out the shoes, no rhythm, too many blues.
Forget two left feet. Try 22.
The Bruins have stumbled to start the season, tripped over their own feet, stepped on each other’s, and even shot themselves in the foot a few times. Forget bunions, there are bullet holes.
Less than 550 yards of offense in two games. Only 22 points. Rankings that are abysmal, down there with the worst in the country.
They know it.
They feel it.
Or, as it seems, they don’t feel it.
“It’s something you can absolutely feel,” UCLA sophomore quarterback Kevin Prince said after Tuesday’s practice. “You can see it too. When you’re watching the Lakers – I’m a big Laker fan – and you watch Kobe, and you say he’s in the zone, that’s rhythm. He’s feeling it, draining threes, making nice dishes, he’s feeling it, that’s a rhythm. It’s the same thing with football. I go out there, and today I felt I had rhythm.
“Weeks past…not so much.”
And the understatement of the year goes to…
Prince feels what the rest of us have seen, an offense that is out of sync, out of touch, and most certainly out of scoring range.
Prince has completed 15-of-38 passes for 159 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions, his 67.52 efficiency rating ranking second-to-last in the country. The Crespi graduate went 6-of-12 for 39 yards and an interception against Stanford before being relieved by sophomore backup Richard Brehaut, who completed 5-of-9 passes for 42 yards.
Blame it on Prince missing three weeks of training camp because of a strained oblique muscle.
Blame it on Prince then missing much of practice following a season-opening loss to Kansas State because of a sore shoulder.
Blame it on the incorporation of a new offense, the Pistol, that may not include wholesale play changes, but a different formation and different responsibilities.
Heck, blame it on the rain.
Just fix it.
“Before he got hurt, everything was good,” UCLA junior receiver Nelson Rosario said. “Silky smooth. All through the 7-on-7s, everything was nice. We had good timing, everything. Then he got hurt, obviously, out for the whole camp and we were rolling with Brehaut. Naturally, when Prince got in, it was a little different, it was a little off.”
With a rotation of Prince and Brehaut throughout practice for the last three weeks, wide receivers have struggled to adjust from play to play, throw to throw. Almost like Jason Varitek going from knuckleballer Tim Wakefield to flamethrower Josh Beckett, the UCLA wide receivers are seeing a different ball from Prince than they would from Brehaut.
As such, the rhythm has been silenced.
“The way Richard throws and the way I throw, there’s going to be different spin on it,” Prince said. “I’m a little more side-armed than Richard, so I kind of sling it and it comes to them, whereas Richard is a more of a straight-down thrower. Back when Ben Olson was here, going from Ben who’s a lefty to Pat Cowan, who’s a righty, I’m sure that was tough. The wide receivers have to adjust; just like reading the plays and throwing is our responsibility, that’s their responsibility.”
To their credit, the wide receiver corps – and the coach – have taken ownership of the mistakes so far.
After five official drops against the Wildcats in Week 1, and several more catchable passes that went uncaught, and a few more drops against Stanford, UCLA’s seemingly strongest group has come into question.
They’ve dealt with the criticism head on.
“Sometimes quarterbacks are different, but the objective is to focus on the ball and catch the ball,” wide receivers coach Reggie Moore said. “There really are no excuses, once the ball is in the air.”
As the UCLA offense works to regain the cadence that worked last season and throughout the spring and summer, as they try to swing their hips to the same song,
Prince at least recalls what the feeling is like.
The sweet song might have a few scratches, but Prince remembers hearing the music.
“When you start getting drives together, it does carry over, you start feeling good,” Prince said. “The Washington game last year, we started off, I hit a pass real quick, had a naked play and missed that, then third down, completed a pass. Completed a pass to Nelson (Rosario) the next play, completed a pass to Logan Paulsen next, and he took it down, and then we completed a pass to Nelson and one to Cory Harkey on fourth down. Next drive, we take it down, and Chane (Moline) runs it in for a touchdown. We felt the rhythm that game. We felt good about everything. We were clicking.”
And he hopes to click again.
Because there’s no greater feeling than the dance, no greater sound than an offense in sync.
“No, man, there isn’t,” Prince said. “There really isn’t. That’s why we play. That’s what we’re working to get back.”
Care to dance?