Steaking a Claim

Jermaine Lewis is penciled in as UCLA’s starting tailback as the Bruins begin double-day workouts today, and he might have teammate Durell Price to thank for it.

During the spring, Lewis, who played at Antelope Valley High, and Keith Brown were in a dead heat to fill the tailback void left by Skip Hicks.

Then Lewis got an edge.

“Durell invited [Brown] over for a barbecue and gave him some bad meat,” UCLA Coach Bob Toledo cracked.

Because of food poisoning, Brown missed some practice time and fell slightly behind Lewis on the depth chart.

Price, however, said he had nothing to do with his buddy Brown getting sick.

“Let me clear the record right now,” Price said with a smile. “We had a barbecue at my house and I went and bought some steak meat from a restaurant down the street. There was about 10 of us who had the meat and Keith was the only one who got sick.”

Apparently Brown, a junior from Phoenix, isn’t the only one who doesn’t believe Price. No one has let him forget it.

“The last barbecue I had, they wouldn’t let me even come close to the grill,” Price said.

Although Toledo called Lewis his No. 1 tailback Friday, Lewis knows it could be a temporary distinction.

“I still think that me and Keith are neck and neck,” said Lewis, The Times’ Valley player of the year in 1995. “I’m not really putting myself far away from anybody because I know everybody is on my heels.”

Everybody translates to Brown and freshman DeShaun Foster, who rushed for 3,398 yards and set a state record with 54 touchdowns last season at Tustin.

Toledo expects Foster to see plenty of playing time this season, but stopped short of saying he might beat out Lewis and Brown.

“I think they all bring a little something different to the table,” he said.

Although Toledo prides himself in having a 1,000-yard rusher in each of his four years at UCLA--two as offensive coordinator and two as head coach--he isn’t necessarily counting on a fifth this season.

That’s because UCLA’s ground game is looking more and more like a tailback-by-committee affair.

“I’d love for it to be one guy, [but] I don’t think it will be,” Toledo said.

Still, Lewis plans to make the most of his head start. And he knows he must play larger and stronger than his 5-foot-7, 180-pound frame.

Toledo thinks he can. Lewis might be easier to bring down and harder to throw to out of the backfield, but there is a flip side, Toledo said.

“He has the ability to hide behind some of those big guys, too,” he said. “You know they come pulling around the corner and you can’t see him and all of the sudden, boom, he squirts out there.”

Lewis, with three years of eligibility remaining, was the Bruins’ second-leading rusher last season, finishing with 305 yards and averaging 5.0 yards a carry.

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Price, a former Sylmar tailback, also has moved up the depth chart because of a teammate’s illness.

Senior fullback Craig Walendy, the projected starter, is being held out of practice while he heals from what might have been an allergic reaction from insect bites.

Walendy, a former Westlake running back, said he first noticed a few welt-like red bumps on his biceps, shoulders, neck and chest about a month ago. About 10 days later, Walendy spent the night in the hospital as a precaution after doctors lanced the welts to allow them to drain.

Doctors never identified the cause and could not detect any poison in Walendy’s blood.

“They don’t know what it was,” Walendy said.

The 6-1, 240-pound senior who started seven of UCLA’s final eight games last season could be out as long as 10 days while his wounds continue to drain and heal.

Walendy is optimistic.

“I don’t see it being more than a couple of days,” he said.

In the meantime, Price, a junior who was moved from tailback to fullback after his freshman season, could start in the opener against Texas on Sept. 12.

“Walendy is a real good blocker and catches the ball pretty well, but he’s not a run-after-catch [fullback] or a running back like Durell,” Toledo said.

“If Durell ends up being the fullback--because right now he may be--we may have to create more plays for him to carry the ball.”

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Cody Joyce, a speedy receiver who caught 65 passes for 1,067 yards at Hart in 1996, is finally getting over the misfortune of last year.

During the first day of freshman practice, Joyce embarked on his first pattern . . . and pulled up lame with a hamstring pull.

“I felt like an idiot,” he said.

The injury threw Joyce into a funk and he lost his confidence.

But it was nothing a little time and a redshirt year couldn’t fix.

“[The redshirt year] helped convince me I could play at this level,” he said.

The 6-1, 192-pound flanker is listed third on the depth chart behind junior Dan Farmer and redshirt freshman Freddie Mitchell.

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Scott McEwan, a redshirt freshman from Thousand Oaks, might soon lose his place as the third-string quarterback to another player from the region.

Ryan McCann, a recent Agoura High graduate, was impressive in freshmen drills this week.

“[McEwan] is going to get a lot of push from Ryan McCann and Cory Paus, two outstanding freshmen,” Toledo said. “They’ve only gone through two practices, but they do have ability. We didn’t miss on ability.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

UCLA AREA PLAYERS

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Ron Allen Jr. SS Valley College Byron Carnes So. WR El Camino Real Gabe Crecion Jr. TE Chaminade Dennis Fox Fr. WR Crespi James Ghezzi Jr. OL Glendale College Cody Joyce Fr. WR Hart Jermaine Lewis So. TB antelope Valley Ryan McCann Fr. QB Agoura Scott McEwan Fr. QB Thousand Oaks Matt Phelan Jr. OL Paraclete Durell Price Jr. FB Sylmar Ken Pritchett Fr. TB Crescenta Valley Devon Reese Fr. TB Littlerock Chris Dailer Sr. P/K Notre Dame Kevin Stromsborg Fr. LB Notre Dame Shawn Stuart Sr. C Saugus Russell Thomas Fr. WR Newbury Park Craig Walendy Sr. FB Westlake Jason Zdenek So. S Chaminade

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