WILLS FINDS A WAY : UCLA Freshman Has Had a Remarkable Start, but That’s Normal for Him

When he heard last February that UCLA had signed Kevin Williams of Spring, Tex., widely regarded as the nation’s No. 1 prep tailback prospect, Shawn Wills turned to his mother and said, “Well, he’s got his work cut out for him.”

Wills, though, said it would be wrong to call him cocky.

“I’m a pretty competitive person,” he said. “And I’m confident.”

It’s easy to see why.

The freshman from Hanford, Calif., was the talk of training camp, and in his first two games at UCLA, he has rushed for 154 yards and 3 touchdowns in only 13 carries.

He made a spectacular 30-yard touchdown run against San Diego State in the Bruins’ opener Sept. 3, then made an even more impressive 50-yard touchdown run against Nebraska last week on national television.

Taking advantage of hamstring injuries to Williams and No. 2 tailback Brian Brown, the 5-foot 11-inch, 180-pound Wills has averaged almost 12 yards a carry as a backup to Eric Ball.

“We’ve not had a freshman that has demonstrated in the first two games what Shawn has at this point,” UCLA Coach Terry Donahue said. “Gaston (Green) had a great freshman year, but the first time he really exploded was against Colorado, which was the fourth game of the (1984) season.

“Even then, that 50-yard run Wills made was just tremendous.”

Just the same, Donahue didn’t use Wills in the second half of the Bruins’ 41-28 victory over Nebraska, after Wills ran for 73 yards in only 4 carries in the first half.

Was he fearful that the inexperienced Wills might make a mistake?

“Shawn Wills doesn’t scare me,” Donahue said. “He amazes me.”

Apparently, Wills has amazed a lot of people in his 18 years.

“I think he’s one of those athletes like Bo Jackson, who can do whatever he wants,” said John Young, coordinator of scouting in the western states for the Texas Rangers.

A swift, strong-armed center fielder, Wills was selected by the Rangers in the 33rd round of the baseball draft last June.

However, Young said that Wills, no relation to former Dodger shortstop Maury Wills, has “first-round” ability.

“He’s the kind of guy who could steal you 60 or 70 bases, and he has some power,” Young said. “He could be a premium player. He’s among the fastest players I’ve ever clocked going around the bases.

“I’m really disappointed that we didn’t sign him because baseball needs athletes like him.”

Young said the Rangers never talked seriously with Wills about signing a contract “only because it was obvious to me that he wanted to be a football player.”

Wills, who has not decided whether he will play baseball at UCLA, was a three-year varsity starter in baseball and football at Hanford High School, where he averaged more than 1,500 yards rushing a season and scored 56 touchdowns. He is the career rushing leader in the California Interscholastic Federation’s Central Section with 4,648 yards.

Wills was named to a few All-American teams and was widely recruited after last season, when he rushed for 1,639 yards and scored 22 touchdowns.

He visited Washington, Stanford and USC but said it had always been his dream to play for the Bruins, who were one of the first teams he saw on television as a youngster.

“He just fell in love with them,” said his mother, Eltha Williams.

Wills grew up on the poor side of Hanford, a city of about 29,000 located 30 miles south of Fresno and 15 miles west of Visalia in the San Joaquin Valley.

His parents never married, so most of his upbringing was left to his grandmother, Ruby Williams, his mother and his mother’s boyfriend, Larry Sain, who works for the city’s recreation department. Wills, however, also remained close to his father, Fred Wills, who works at a dry-cleaning plant in Hanford.

Williams said her oldest son easily could have gone wrong.

“It was a pretty tough neighborhood,” she said. “There were drugs and things around.”

Sain said, however: “Shawn was always on top of his grades and always ambitious.”

A two-time class president, Wills carried a 3.4 grade-point average in high school. Charismatic and friendly, he was known throughout the city, according to his high school football coach, John Clark.

Clark described Wills as very emotional. “You could usually tell his feelings by his actions,” he said.

One of Clark’s fondest memories of Wills is from last season, when the running back was stopped for no gain on his team’s 1-yard line. Without saying anything, Wills made his anger known to the offensive line. On the next play, he ran 99 yards for a touchdown.

“He was a great leader and a great motivator,” Clark said. “He meant a lot to our team.”

How much?

Wills not only was named Hanford’s most valuable player, but also its most inspirational.

As the only true freshman who has played for the Bruins this season, Wills has made it look almost as easy at UCLA.

“I knew that college ball was going to be much tougher and I was going to be hit harder,” said Wills. “But once I got used to it, it wasn’t so bad.

“Running is pretty much instinct. You don’t actually think about doing it--it just happens.”

Wills said it never bothered him that the UCLA coaching staff was so enamored of Williams, who was regarded by one scouting service as the nation’s No. 1 prospect, regardless of position. “You always learn from other people,” Wills said. “And I figured if he was that good, I could learn from him, too.”

So far, the injured Williams has learned from Wills.