Willmer Takes Advantage of Redshirt

It was 1993, and then-coach Terry Donahue had decided that UCLA had enough linebackers to get to the Rose Bowl, and that a freshman, Brian Willmer, should be stashed away with the scout team for future need.

Redshirting, they call it.

After a meeting with the coaches, the Willmer family had a meeting of its own. If UCLA was going to get an extra year out of Willmer, he was going to get an extra year out of the school.

“Dad and I decided in the beginning that I was going to graduate in four years,” Willmer said. “Then I could use my fifth year to go to graduate school.”

Mission accomplished. Going into his final season as UCLA’s inside linebacker, Willmer has a bachelor’s degree in political science, achieved with a 3.0 grade-point average, and has three classes under his belt toward a master’s degree in education. He expects to receive it in May.

In the meanwhile, he has taken the time to learn all of the duties of the front six players on the Bruin defense, helping the young players learn their roles in defensive coordinator Rocky Long’s complicated scheme.

The idea is that someday he might become a teacher or a coach--and one with his educational background already in place.

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The UCLA-Washington State game was originally scheduled for Nov. 8, and one of the things accomplished by moving it to Saturday is allowing the Bruins an open date before they finish with Washington and USC.

It also allow them to escape a November date in Pullman, where it is traditionally cold.

But it also plays into the hands of Cougar history. Washington State is 4-20 in November games under Coach Mike Price, whose first season was 1989. The Cougars are 18-13 in September over the same period.