UCLA’s Latest Texas Leaguer

There are more Texans on the football team at UCLA than there were at the Alamo. At least it sure does seem that way. The truth being that Coach Terry Donahue legitimately could field an 11-man All-Lone Star lineup if he needed to, a fitting nickname for this season’s squad might be UCLA A&M.;

Why so many? The answer is perfectly obvious to Kevin Williams, a senior running back with genuine star quality who led the Pacific 10 Conference in rushing last season and might have another football conference, NFC or AFC, a year into his future.

“Texas football is the best,” Williams says. “I’ll say it over and over again. I’ll say it in my sleep.”

Never mind that his high school teams had records of 1-9 back-to-back. Williams sprung out of Spring, Tex., with a wagon load of promise, and a year ago began to fulfill it. He had runs from scrimmage of 72, 57, 55, 49 and 45 yards. He went 74 yards with a pass. Even that 49-yard run against Oregon was actually 79 yards long, but a penalty brought the ball back to the point of infraction.

“Yeah, and if you had any speed , that one Oregon dude would have never caught you from behind,” sophomore tailback Daron Washington said, giving Williams a dig.

“Is that so?” Williams asked.

“That’s how I remember it,” Washington said, turning to some teammates on the UCLA practice field. “Ain’t that the way everybody remembers it?”

Everybody nodded.

“Well, do you know where that dude is now?” Williams asked. “He got drafted by Denver. The man is in the League.”

The League. Capital L. That is the ambition of any good football player. UCLA quarterback Tommy Maddox got there--also with Denver--after spending much of the 1991 season stuffing the football into Kevin Williams’ breadbasket. Yet UCLA’s offense couldn’t even score a touchdown in the John Hancock Bowl. And that Oregon dude, Muhammed Oliver, made it, too, even though his team only won three games.

If you are good enough, the NFL will find you.

“Tommy Maddox got picked in the first round, so he must have been doing something right,” Williams said. “First round--that’s the cream of the cream.”

What stings a little is that if Maddox hadn’t been in such an all-fired hurry to make a living, UCLA might be among college football’s top five or 10 in the preseason rankings.

As it is, the Bruins have been projected as high as 17th. They also have the quirk-of-scheduling luxury of not having to play Washington, perhaps one of America’s two top teams. Nobody thinks of USC, Stanford, California, Brigham Young or other opponents as days at the beach, but a football schedule without Washington is like a camping trip without a snake. Come to think of it, UCLA didn’t play Washington last season, either. Who makes up these schedules--Donahue’s cousin?

When the ’91 team broke camp, the coach didn’t much care if the opponent was Brigham Young or Sean Young. He knew he had a quarterback. What he needed was a running back to step forward and volunteer to be a play-breaker and a day-maker.

Williams stepped forward.

“If he can reproduce the things he did last season, people are going to be talking about him,” Donahue says. “Coast to coast.”

He was a third-string tailback as recently as 1991’s opening day. The previous season, Williams didn’t even strap on his helmet in eight of UCLA’s 11 games--and that was a losing team. His ankle hurt. His back hurt. Little of the promise he had held as the school’s 1989 John Boncheff Jr. rookie-of-the-year trophy winner was being realized.

Big things were expected of someone who as a freshman won the Pac 10’s 100-meter dash.

If you had any speed. Funny joke.

In high school, Williams ran the 100 meters in 10.48 seconds. That’s faster than Ben Johnson ran it at Barcelona.

Donahue is always in the market for speed. And Texas is the place to shop. The coach says: “It’s the second most productive state for us.” Three of his tailbacks--Williams, Washington and Ricky Davis--are from Texas. So is his backup quarterback, Rob Walker. So is his starting tight end, Rick Daly.

When Williams went for 132 yards in the opener against BYU, it felt like Friday nights back home in Spring. He was off to the races. All Maddox had to do against Tennessee was lob him a screen pass and Williams lugged it 74 yards. He gained 151 against Arizona, 134 against Oregon State, 131 against USC.

And he’s back looking for more.

Maddox being gone, maybe UCLA won’t throw as much. “That’s one way of looking at it,” Williams says. “That’s why I worked harder this summer than I ever worked in my life. Tommy Maddox going in the first round gives me motivation. If you work hard enough, you can make it.”

Make the League.

It’s something for a Texan to shoot for. Spying another one on the sideline, Williams calls from the field to Washington: “You want to come out here and hold my hand?”