Defensive Coach Will Head Bruin Offense : But Greg Robinson Sees Himself as a Messenger for Terry Donahue

Life without Troy begins Monday at UCLA with two inexperienced quarterbacks, a talented group of young tailbacks and an offensive coordinator who coached only defense in his first seven seasons in Westwood.

The offensive coordinator is Greg Robinson, 37, who says not to worry.

UCLA will pass again.

“Obviously, with young quarterbacks, we’re going to have to do all we can to take the pressure and the load off them,” Robinson said of sophomore Jim Bonds and redshirt freshman Bret Johnson. “But I think we were pleased enough after spring (practice) that we know we can throw the football.”

Robinson, who coached the Bruins’ defensive line last season, hasn’t coached offense since 1977, when he tutored the offensive line as an assistant at Cal State Fullerton.

A two-way player in high school and college--he was a tight end, linebacker and center at University of the Pacific--Robinson absorbed a crash course in offensive terminology last February after replacing Steve Axman, who left for a job at Maryland.

“I felt like I was getting ready for final exams,” he said of the hectic weeks before spring practice. “It was a lot of cramming. This is a whole new world to me.”

Robinson, though, is confident that he can handle it. He sees himself as a messenger for Coach Terry Donahue, who will continue to shape the Bruins’ offense.

“He’s the head coach, so you’ve got to go with what he wants,” he said of Donahue. “My job is to implement Terry’s philosophy.”

Still, Robinson said, even casual fans will be able to see the difference between an offense coordinated by Robinson and, say, his predecessors at UCLA, Axman and Homer Smith.

“It’s going to be more aggressive,” he said. “We’re going to still have balance, but there’s going to be an aggressiveness to it. Homer Smith did a lot of good things. Steve Axman did a lot of good things. And a lot of their input is going to be implemented.

“But I think the aggressive side of Terry’s philosophy is going to develop more.”

It’s not likely, in other words, that either Bonds or Johnson will throw 48 passes in a game, as Troy Aikman did last season against USC, or even 44, as Aikman did against Washington State.

At least early in the season, the Bruins probably will rely heavily on tailbacks Brian Brown, Shawn Wills and Kevin Williams.

Robinson, though, has confidence in UCLA’s young quarterbacks. “We still have some testing to do,” he said. “But it was exciting in spring ball to see what we can accomplish with those guys at quarterback.”

Comparing them, Robinson described Johnson as an “effervescent, footloose, hyper type,” and said that Bonds was a “strong, set-the-jaw type of guy.”

Bonds, he said, has a “rocket arm,” but velocity is sometimes overrated, he said.

Of Johnson, he said: “He’s not a gun-arm guy. As he keeps getting stronger, you’ll see him add velocity, but he doesn’t depend on it. But neither does Joe Montana depend on velocity. Bernie Kosar doesn’t rely on velocity. He just eats you up by knowing where to (throw).

“Not everybody is Terry Bradshaw or Troy Aikman.”

Or Bonds, whose arm is said to be stronger than Aikman’s.

“He does some things that remind you of Troy,” Robinson said. “He can throw that frozen-rope, but he has some touch, too. He’s a good passer.”

Good enough, in fact, to enjoy an edge over Johnson going into fall practice, which starts Monday.

“If he can withstand the test through two-a-days, then you figure you have a quarterback,” Robinson said of Bonds, who will wear No. 7 this season after wearing No. 6 last season, when the 6-foot, 205-pound freshman completed four of seven passes for 42 yards in four games of mop-up duty.

But naming a starter at this point would be premature, Robinson said. “It’s important that you don’t make any decision too fast,” he said. “You want to keep them competing.”

As for naming Robinson, Donahue didn’t hesitate. UCLA’s winningest coach said it wasn’t unusual to make a defensive coach his offensive coordinator.

“Some people might think it is,” he said. “(But) Ernie Zampese is a great example of a guy who spent most of his career on defense before switching over.”

Zampese, the Rams’ offensive coordinator, coached defensive backs for several years at San Diego State before moving over to the offensive side.

“Certainly, there have been a lot of different (examples) of guys who have crossed over,” Donahue said. “If you’re on top of your business, you study offense when you look at defense and when you coach defense, you’re really studying offense. So, I don’t view (Robinson’s assignment) as unorthodox.

“Some coaches have an ability to see the whole picture and to understand the whole concept. Greg is one of those guys.”

Robinson welcomes the challenge and added responsibility.

And the pressure?

“I don’t see it,” he said. “I think it’s going to be fun.”

Bruin Notes

Steve Axman, UCLA’s offensive coordinator the last two seasons, interviewed for head coaching vacancies at Washington State, Temple and Richmond last spring before accepting a job as quarterback coach at Maryland. Why did he leave UCLA? “I don’t know if I really want to comment on that,” he said. . . . Two-a-day drills start Monday for the Bruins, who will open the season against Tennessee Sept. 9 at the Rose Bowl and will play five other games in Pasadena, including a nationally televised game against Michigan Sept. 23. UCLA, which was 10-2 each of the last two seasons, plays four of its first five games at the Rose Bowl and four of its last six on the road, including its regular-season finale against USC Nov. 18 at the Coliseum.

Sophomore tailback Shawn Wills was selected by the Houston Astros last June in the 43rd round of the major league baseball draft. A year ago, the Texas Rangers drafted the erstwhile center fielder in the 33rd round. The elusive Wills, who has not played baseball since his senior year at Hanford High School, will return punts this season, replacing the graduated Darryl Henley.

When it was announced last winter that the use of kicking tees for field goal and extra-point attempts would be prohibited this season, UCLA’s Alfredo Velasco said the new rule would lead to “kicker genocide.” However, after spring practice, Velasco said: “I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. My expectations aren’t going to change. The only major adjustment we made was placing the ball eight yards behind the line of scrimmage, instead of seven, to gain a little extra height.”

For the first time since 1982, UCLA will start the season without any players who have played in the Rose Bowl game. The Bruins haven’t been there in the last three seasons. . . . In the last four seasons, only four true freshman have played for the Bruins, including Wills last season.