Brian Brown Has Risen From the Depths : UCLA: Senior has firm hold on tailback job, with three 100-yard games in the past four weeks.

Brian Brown knows all about the depth chart, which lists a football team’s normal order of substitution. The UCLA tailback has been on the bottom, in the middle and at the top--where he is now and intends to stay.

Perseverance and unwavering faith in himself have motivated Brown when he apparently didn’t fit into the plans of coaching staffs. A senior, Brown was listed behind Kevin Williams and ahead of Shawn Wills at the start of the season, but Williams hurt his ankle in the first game, then suffered a lower back injury and has been virtually inactive since.

Brown has been the starting tailback since the third game against Michigan and has been effective and consistent on a team with a 3-4 record.

He has gained 518 yards for an average of 4.9 yards a carry, and has scored five touchdowns. He rushed for 100 or more yards in three consecutive games and barely fell short with 93 yards in UCLA’s 38-31 loss to California Saturday at Berkeley.

It would seem, finally, that Brown, a relatively small tailback at 5 feet 10 and 186 pounds, has job security.

“I was kind of in a do-or-die situation, because I had aspirations of going on to the next level (pro football),” Brown said of his outlook at the start of the season.

“Up to this point, I wasn’t satisfied with my career. It was up and down more than it has been up. I just tried to take it week by week instead of looking into the future.”

As a sophomore in 1987, Brown got an opportunity to play when Gaston Green was injured. He made the most of it, rushing for 421 yards, a 5.3 average, and scoring one of his four touchdowns on a 74-yard run against Arizona State.

Then in 1988, he missed the first five games because of a hamstring injury. However, he recovered to lead the team in rushing in each of the final three regular-season games.

Nonetheless, Wills was regarded as the tailback of the future after gaining 120 yards against Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl. And when Williams came in last year as a redshirt freshman, Brown was seemingly the odd man out.

“It was always like Wills, Williams and Brown, so I was kind of in the back spotlight,” Brown said. “That didn’t bother me because I knew I had to keep my head up and keep trying.”

As it turned out, Brown started five games in 1989, sharing playing time with Williams and Wills.

“I believe in myself and that I can overcome any obstacles,” Brown said. “When Shawn first came in (1988), I was hurt. Shawn got a chance to shine and he did real well. Kevin had a lot of buildup coming out of high school.”

Wills, probably the most elusive of the three tailbacks, has seen only spot duty this season. The position has been secured by Brown, at last.

Brown graduated from Gardena High, the same school that produced Gaston Green.

“I came to UCLA with Heisman (hopes) and to have all those yards rushing,” Brown said. “It never works out the way you want it to. If it works out in the end, that’s all that matters. . . . Things (happen), like getting hurt and not getting to start when you feel it’s your chance. It kind of gets to you. As long as I improve and, hopefully, get better, I’ll be satisfied.”

While praising Brown’s effort and attitude, UCLA Coach Terry Donahue has said that the running back doesn’t always fall forward when hit, because of his size.

“I don’t think my size matters, as far as being big enough,” Brown said. “I’ve never backed down from any defender, no matter how big they are. I seem to get stronger as I go through a game. As for falling forward, when you get hit by four people, it’s kind of hard not to fall backward.”

There has been one constant in Brown’s collegiate career. He is an outstanding kickoff return specialist, with a knack for finding the right lane and exploding through it even though he doesn’t have a sprinter’s speed.

He is the all-time UCLA leader in kickoff returns with 1,416 yards. He needs 34 yards to break the single-season record of 489 yards set by Wally Henry in 1975.

So, Brown has always been assured of playing, at least on the kickoff return team. Now he’s also the tailback in the UCLA system, averaging 24.5 carries over the past four games.

With a 2-2 Pacific 10 Conference record heading into Saturday’s game against Oregon State at the Rose Bowl, the Bruins appear to be struggling.

As for Brown, his career has finally stabilized just when time was running out.