Havner, Lewis Decide to Return

UCLA’s football team got good news Tuesday when juniors Spencer Havner and Marcedes Lewis made it official that they would be returning for their senior seasons.

“We are happy that Spencer and Marcedes are staying in school,” said Coach Karl Dorrell, whose Bruins ended the season with a 6-6 record after a 24-21 loss to Wyoming in last month’s Las Vegas Bowl. “We expect to have a successful season in 2005, and these two players make us a better team.”

The players made their decisions after getting the results of their draft status evaluation by a committee of 14 NFL general managers.

Neither Havner, a linebacker who led the Pacific 10 Conference in tackles, nor Lewis, one of three finalists for the John Mackey Award, given to the nation’s top tight end, was told that he would be a guaranteed first-round pick in April.

Said Havner, a three-year starter: “A big part of it was that I didn’t get the elite grade that I was looking for. The committee was really vague, but I know what I have to work on. I want to be a physical presence next year and really dominate.”

Havner, a 6-foot-4, 240-pounder from Nevada City, Calif., finished with 125 tackles, averaging 11.25 a game, which tied him for ninth nationally. But he did not play in the Las Vegas Bowl because of surgery to remove torn cartilage from his right knee.

“My knee feels great, it’s 100%,” said Havner, one of 12 semifinalists for both the Butkus and Lombardi awards. “It really came down to that in 10 years, you don’t want to look back at what you left on the table. I’m hoping that patience pays off.”

Lewis also has big hopes for UCLA and himself.

“The report back from [the NFL committee] was very encouraging, but I have said all along that I was coming back,” Lewis said.

“There are things that I have yet to accomplish: winning the Pac-10 championship, the Mackey Award, and playing in a much bigger bowl.”

Lewis finished second on the team in receptions with 32, including a UCLA tight-end record seven touchdowns.

“I am excited about our future,” he said. “I think we’ll be even better next year, and I want to be a part of it.”

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UCLA will have five seniors playing in all-star games this month. Saturday, wide receiver Tab Perry will play in the East-West Shrine Game in San Francisco, and cornerback Matt Clark and punter Chris Kluwe will play in the Villages Gridiron Classic in Orlando, Fla. Flanker Craig Bragg and running back Manuel White will play in the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., on Jan. 29.... The Bruins will start spring practice Feb. 22 and finish the 15 workouts March 15.