Front and Center : With Maddox Turning Pro Early, the Pressure Is on Wayne Cook, UCLA’s New Quarterback

Terry Donahue beamed with pride as he watched his daughter, Nicole, lead the crowd in cheers during Agoura High’s season-opening football game against Newbury Park in 1988.

But the UCLA football coach had trouble concentrating on his daughter’s cheerleading as he watched Newbury Park quarterback Wayne Cook shred Agoura’s defensive secondary.

“We should be recruiting that kid,” Donahue told himself.

Bruin quarterbacks Coach Rick Neuheisel was one step ahead of Donahue.

UCLA was recruiting Cook, who had impressed Neuheisel at Donahue’s football camp that summer. Cook said Neuheisel told him he would become the Bruins’ starting quarterback someday.

Someday is today.

Cook, who has played in only two games since coming to UCLA, will be the starting quarterback as the Bruins begin two-a-day drills today in preparation for their season opener against Cal State Fullerton at the Rose Bowl on Sept. 12.

Although Cook did not expect to start until 1993, he moved up when Tommy Maddox decided to forgo his final two seasons of eligibility and make himself available for the NFL draft last April.

“I was really surprised because I thought Tommy was going to stay one more season,” Cook said. “But it ended up being a great break for me. Now I get my shot.”

Before Maddox became a Denver Bronco, UCLA and Washington were considered co-favorites for the Pacific 10 title.

Tailback Kevin Williams says that the Bruins, ranked 17th in the USA Today/CNN preseason coaches poll, might have been a contender for the national title if Maddox hadn’t left.

“I think we would be in the top three starting off the season,” Williams said. “We’d be really tough to beat. But now we’ve got a new quarterback, and it’s going to be awhile, but we’ll be there again. Wayne has all the ability, it’s just a matter of time.”

With Maddox gone, UCLA might not be as productive as it was last season, when the Bruins set a school record with 5,287 yards of total offense.

“The funny thing is, whenever people ask me about it, I usually say, ‘UCLA’s going to be good if they can find a quarterback,’ ” Cook said. “I’m not worried. I’m a little nervous because I’m anticipating the season. I feel like I’m ready and I’ve got the system down. Now all I need is to get some game experience.

“Everybody’s marking the quarterback position off at UCLA. But I know I can do the job. I know I can throw the ball. I think I can lead the team. I’m just going to go out there and show them what I can do, and everybody is going to be saying, ‘Hey, he can play.’

“After what everybody’s been saying, it’s almost like I’ve got everything to gain and nothing to lose. I don’t think there’s any pressure on me. If I go out and (mess) up, they’re going to say, ‘Hey, we were right.’ But I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Has Cook read the magazine articles that question his ability?

“I stopped reading them,” Cook said. “They don’t know anything about me. The magazines have been negative, but I’ll try to prove them wrong. I haven’t had a chance to show what I can do. They haven’t seen me play yet. They can’t judge me on what I haven’t done.”

A 6-foot-3, 199-pound redshirt sophomore, Cook took eight snaps at the end of games against Washington State and Arizona last season. He has never thrown a pass during a college game, and his one rushing attempt consisted of dropping to one knee to end a game.

“They talk about (lack of experience), but I’ve had a lot of practice experience against one of the best defensive backfields in the league,” Cook said. “If you talk about game experience, the only way to get that is in a game, and I haven’t had that. But it’s going to come down to early-season games (when) I’ll be in situations which I’ve never seen before.”

Cook lacks experience, but not confidence.

“Wayne has a sense of confidence about himself,” Donahue said. “It’s a quiet confidence, but a very firm confidence. Wayne told one of my young daughters after a game a couple of years ago that he was far and away the best quarterback in the program, and it was just a matter of time until he had a chance to prove that.”

UCLA offensive coordinator Homer Smith, who has tutored Cook, has confidence in him.

“Wayne looks good, not just to me but to his teammates and to the other coaches,” Smith said. “There is no concern in the camp about the inexperience at quarterback. If you had an instrument that would measure concern, you wouldn’t get much of a reading on the needle. And that’s a fact, because everyone saw the quarterbacks in the spring.

“That’s not saying we don’t miss Tommy Maddox, because we’d give anything to have him, but there’s been a lot of work done since Tommy left.”

Although Cook lacks game experience, he is UCLA’s most experienced quarterback. Redshirt freshman Rob Walker, who directed the Bruin scout team last season, and senior John Barnes, a transfer from UC Santa Barbara, will compete for the backup spot. The Bruins recruited two high school quarterbacks: Ryan Fien of Royal High in Simi Valley and Scott Fitterer of Kennedy High in Seattle.

UCLA’s offense returns six starters, including wide receiver Sean LaChapelle, who led the Pacific 10 in receptions last season; and Williams, the Pac-10 rushing leader, and Donahue was asked if he would emphasize the running game to give Cook time to develop.

“If we didn’t have confidence in Cook, and if we didn’t think Wayne could throw the ball adequately, we might be a much more run-oriented team,” Donahue said. “But we honestly believe we have the capability to be very balanced.

“When you have a player like Kevin Williams, you certainly want to take advantage of his ability. However, you sure don’t want to fail to take advantage of Sean LaChapelle. I think LaChapelle is one of the premier players at his position that we’ve ever had, and it would be foolhardy to have him go down and block every play and not be catching passes.”

LaChapelle says that Cook will do well.

“I have a lot of confidence in him,” LaChapelle said. “He performed great under pressure (in spring practice). He would avoid the rush and wait to throw the ball. He didn’t lose his head and start running and have no idea what he was doing. He tends not to throw the ball into crowds. He stays in the pocket, even if he’s rushed, and tries to find a receiver. As a receiver, you like to see a quarterback who’s willing to wait.”

Cook realizes that Bruin fans, accustomed to Maddox during UCLA’s 9-3 regular season and victory over Illinois in the John Hancock Bowl, won’t have much patience unless he produces immediately.

“I’m not going to think about that, because I don’t plan on (playing poorly),” Cook said. “But I remember the year when UCLA was 3-7-1, and I would sit up in the stands and hear people boo (quarterback Bret) Johnson and Donahue. But that’s just the way fans are, and you’ve got to deal with it. That’s their fun.

“It’s going to be an experience. I’m sure I’ll hear a few things like, ‘What are you doing out there, Cook?’ ”

Although Cook passed for 1,200 yards and eight touchdowns as a senior at Newbury Park, he sat out three games after suffering a broken right thumb. The injury scared off recruiters, but UCLA continued to pursue him.

Originally scheduled to enter UCLA in the fall of 1989, Cook didn’t enroll until the winter quarter of 1990, partly because he suffered torn ligaments in his right knee during an all-star game the summer after his high school graduation, effectively giving him two redshirt years.

After entering school, Cook participated in spring practice and redshirted his first season, quarterbacking the scout team.

It was frustrating for Cook to sit out two seasons.

“In the back of my mind, I was thinking that if I had come in at the same time as Tommy, I would have had the same opportunity to learn the offense, and I would have had a better chance to compete,” Cook said. “But no one will ever know.

“It was really frustrating because I had been a star in three sports in high school, and I came to UCLA and got humbled real quick. I know that happens to everyone who’s redshirting. But everybody here is a great athlete.”

Cook’s father, Ken, played defensive tackle and tight end at Arizona, where he was the team captain and MVP in 1962. After knee and shoulder injuries cut short his career, he became the football coach at Newbury Park, where he coached his son.

“I didn’t push him into sports, but he sure had a lot of footballs to play with from the time he was in the crib,” Ken Cook said.

The elder Cook stepped down as Newbury Park’s football coach after Wayne graduated, so he would be able to watch his son play at UCLA.

“He hasn’t played enough for me to give him tips,” Ken Cook said.