Cal’s Russell White Is a Little Brash

It had been a full 10 minutes since they opened the interview room near California’s Memorial Stadium, and everybody wondered where the heck Russell White was.

Finally, he showed up.

He dropped himself in a chair, looked at his watch and notified the assembled media: “You’ve got two minutes and the clock’s running.”

If you had your back turned, it could have been a surly Will Clark after an 0-for-5 night. Except the voice was deeper.

No, it was Russell White, all of seven games into his collegiate career at Cal. With his running mate, senior Anthony Wallace, he had just helped the Bears end an 18-game losing streak to UCLA that dated back to when sideburns ended at the neck.

If you wanted to talk about it, you’d better talk fast.

Call him cocky. Call him brash. But call him good. The nephew of USC Heisman Trophy winner Charles White is carrying on the family tradition: The legs do most of the talking.

But the Bay Area is seeing a little different Russell White this week as Cal prepares for its biggest game since 1975. That year the Bears lost to UCLA, which caused them to settle for a tie for the Pacific 10 Conference title and ultimately cost them a trip to the Rose Bowl.

On Saturday the Bears are in Seattle to play Washington with first place in the Pac-10 on the line again. And, suddenly, White is not so sure what to expect.

White is half of what the Cal publicity department has dubbed the “W-W Attack.” White and Wallace have combined for 1,331 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns as California (5-2) has gotten off to its best start in 12 years.

The Bears rushed for 331 yards against UCLA and scored more than 30 points for the fifth consecutive week. The Bears are averaging 212.6 yards per game rushing, 20th-best in the country.

But White also knows that the first seven games were only a warm-up for Saturday, when the Bears meet the No. 1 rushing defense in the country. The Huskies are allowing only 51.9 yards a game on the ground.

Oddsmakers aren’t convinced the Bears will get the job done, installing Washington as a 17-point favorite.

“It seems like we’re basically a nobody,” White said. “Playing against the No. 1 defense in the country is going to give us incentive to see what we can do. Now if we can rack up 300 yards against them, obviously somebody was wrong. If we don’t, it must be true.”

Much of the Bears’ success can be traced to the fact that they have kept their offensive line healthy for a complete season. The starting front line has played together on 513 of the last 518 offensive snaps since the Miami game, when Todd Steussie replaced Chris Westerman at right guard. The line also leads the Pac-10 in pass protection, having given up just nine sacks.

“All the credit should go to them,” White said. “When they do their jobs, it makes it easier on us. I was shocked we had so many yards (against UCLA).”

Still, there’s a sense of the unknown in his voice this week. The task ahead isn’t an easy one.

The Bears are faced with dealing with the likes of active inside linebackers Dave Hoffman and Chico Fraley, who have combined for 95 tackles, and linemen Steve Emtman and James Richardson, who have combined for 12 1/2 sacks.

“How good is the offensive line?” White said. “So far, great. The real test comes this week. We can make it a long day or a very short one. We’ll see.

“I’m not going to sit here and tell everybody what we’re going to do. But I’m feeling confident.”

And there is some basis for White’s quiet confidence. When the Bears met Arizona last month, the Wildcats were No. 5 in the nation against the run, giving up 72.2 yards per game. The Bears ran for 177 in a 30-25 victory.

The next week Cal faced San Jose State, which entered the game No. 3 in the land, allowing 67.2 yards a game on the ground. The Bears ran for 325 yards in a 35-34 victory.

“We’ve got a good system going right now,” White said. “The coaches have a rotation for Anthony and me. When one gets tired, the other goes in. And there’s no drop-off either way.”

At Washington, coach Don James isn’t ignorant of Cal’s four-game winning streak.

“This will be the best Cal team we will have faced,” he said. “I look at the backs we’ve had to face this year, and it seems everyone has a great one or two. Now I see Wallace and White, and I wonder how much better they are going to get.

“It’s incredible the skill level and ability they have in the open field.”

White nearly came to Washington after graduating from Crespi High School in the San Fernando Valley in 1989. He rushed for 5,998 yards and 94 touchdowns in his three-year prep career. He was heavily recruited nationally before whittling his final choices to Cal and Washington.

“It was a real dogfight at the end,” White said. “I was going back and forth. I couldn’t figure it out for myself. The man upstairs helped me out a lot.

“It came down to the academic side. I liked the semester system (at Cal) better than the quarter system (at Washington). That was the final decision.”

White sat out his freshman season as a Proposition 48 student. His ’89 season was composed of pickup games of touch football in the park.

It has been only two years since White snubbed the Huskies, and he’s prepared for some resentment.

“There are some nice people up there,” White said. “But they’ll have an incentive to hit me. So it better be a two-way street.”

How does that old football maxim go, the one about immovable objects? The Bears had better do some moving Saturday. The Rose Bowl depends on it.