Willmer Tackles His Devils

He’s at war for three hours or so every Saturday, then he’s at peace.

It’s not that linebacker Brian Willmer doesn’t care. He cares deeply, but the job has been done as well as he can do it, and in that there’s satisfaction.

And frustration, when it’s not good enough.

And acceptance of blame, individually and on behalf of his defensive teammates at UCLA, if the day is a failure.

Washington scored 41 points Saturday at Seattle, and “that’s the defense’s fault,” he says.

The scoring drives were of 34, 11, 42, 47, 52 and 89 yards, and often started after the Bruins had faltered on kick coverage or fumbled or thrown an interception.

It’s called “sudden change,” when the Bruins are called to defend a short field because of an offensive or special teams faux pas.

“That’s when the defense has to step up,” Willmer says. “If they have the ball on the 10-yard line, we need to step up and hold them to a field goal. We can’t do anything about where the field position is, but as a defense, we need to stop the momentum.”

The Bruins haven’t. They have forced an opponent into only one field goal all season, that in a 38-9 loss to Michigan. And they have been pushed around on the field. Washington coaches said Saturday they learned from the Michigan game film. You can bet California coaches have taken that film and added the Washington film to provide a clue as to how to beat UCLA.

Run at the Bruins.

Willmer knows it’s coming, and if it seems like trying to stop a glacier with a pick ax, well, swing the ax.

He has.

Willmer, an inside linebacker, leads UCLA with 60 tackles. The next closest, Danjuan Magee, has 38.

Willmer has 40 primary stops, twice as many as any other Bruin.

“He’s a blue-collar linebacker,” says Coach Bob Toledo, and if that’s a cliche, it’s still apt because Willmer plays with an enthusiasm that makes him seem merely glad to be able to put on a helmet.

He is.

“I love the sport and love the game and love the way the Lord is using me,” Willmer says. “I wake up every day and say, ‘This is awesome,’ because I know that my days in this sport are dwindling. . . . I try to take every down, every play, like it’s my last.”

It’s why he came to UCLA from Fullerton’s Sunny Hills High, spurning opportunities to play at USC, California and Notre Dame. Playing for the Irish was tempting.

“I really had to look at where is Brian Willmer going to be most happy if things don’t work out with football,” he says. “I had to look beyond football, because I’ve always figured there’s more to life than football. And I said OK, if I blow out my knee at Notre Dame, am I going to be happy and I couldn’t say I would. It didn’t seem to have that balance. It seemed football, football, football.”

And UCLA was party, party, party after football for Willmer as a freshman.

The son of a father who has spent his life working at Christian colleges--his father is vice president for advancement at Biola--Willmer followed the path of so many college freshmen away from home for the first time. Drugs. Alcohol. Parties and late nights.

“I was at a point in my life where I was looking for a lot of things, and I started looking in all the wrong places,” Willmer said. “All those places lead to a dead end.”

So did football. He wasn’t playing as a freshman and wondered why.

“It was humbling for me, a humbling experience,” he says. “I had a couple of nights where I just broke down and couldn’t take it anymore because I had gotten so much satisfaction and love from people patting me on the back.”

During two-a-day drills in his sophomore year, he found himself lost, with girlfriend troubles, football troubles, life troubles, and he met with Rod Hairston on Bruin Walk, by the statue of the UCLA Bruin, and broke down.

He came away with peace and a start in Athletes in Action.

Willmer wears his faith on his sleeve--literally, inking a bible verse on his taped wrist before each game. And he came away with a sense of purpose. Part of that purpose involved winning a job with the UCLA defense.

He did last season, starting eight games and finishing fourth on the team in tackles with 57.

A new coach and new defensive system gave him hope.

“I was extremely excited,” he says. “It was kind of like a new toy. You get excited about how it works, to see what it was about. I was just excited about change.”

Against Tennessee, in the season opener, he had 12 tackles, recovered a fumble and deflected one of Peyton Manning’s passes.

Against Northeast Louisiana, seven tackles in limited time in a 44-0 rout.

And then Michigan.

The Wolverines took a 7-0 lead on Scott Dreisbach’s 53-yard pass to Clarence Williams, who circled out of the backfield.

He was Willmer’s responsibility.

“I come off the field and everybody knows it’s my man, and [linebacker coach Rocky Long] says to me, ‘Don’t worry about it. Put it behind you and just keep playing,’ ” Willmer says. “Before, I might have had a coach scream and yell and cuss and this and that. I was able to put it behind me and play.”

And finish with a personal-best 15 tackles.

He had 12 tackles at Washington, coming away with a sore neck and shoulder and some fresh scratches.

Willmer’s knowledge of what he has been able to accomplish off the field helps him when it’s time to play again.

He will graduate in the spring, with a degree in political science and a year of football eligibility that he can use to attend graduate school. Down the road, he says, is time in a seminary and perhaps a future in faith.

But for now, there is faith in the future.