Old Tailback Resurfaces as UCLA Starter

UCLA has lost DeShaun Foster for three to four weeks because of a sprained ligament in his left knee, test results showed Monday.

UCLA has definitely found Keith Brown, the confirmation of which is already in hand:

* Two touchdowns Oct. 3 against Washington State.

* Two touchdowns and a career-high 91 yards in the follow-up against Arizona.

* Another career high, 101 yards, Saturday against Oregon.

All after Brown had lost the job of starting tailback to friend Jermaine Lewis and then lost contact with the pack; after he had “kind of felt like I was third string,” even though he was officially second string, and after he was “not really” thinking about transferring but really sort of was. Welcome to the coming-out bash that doubles as a surprise party.

“It got to the point where it was, ‘Is this school for me?’ ” Brown says now. “ ‘Do I have a future at this school?’ ”

He now knows the answer: Yes.

For the time being, at least.

Five games into the season, stability has become as elusive for tailback by committee as those tailbacks are to opponents. Foster, the freshman phenom who was getting more attention than Brown, even though he was a spot lower on the depth chart, is out because of injury.

Lewis, who opened his run as the starter with 113 yards against Texas and added six touchdowns and 157 yards the next two games, missed the fourth game because of a suspension for his involvement in a fight, and now tries to climb back to the top.

And so the job as primary ballcarrier for the team ranked second in the nation has fallen to the guy who had four carries against the Longhorns and missed the next game, at Houston, because of turf toe.

“I’m not letting go,” Brown said. “I have something to hold onto. It’s in a tight fist and I don’t think the fingers are going to let go.

“I felt like I was supposed to be the starter coming out of spring. I had a good spring. In the Texas game, I only got the ball four times. That stumbled me back. But I’m on top now, and that’s what counts.

“Now it’s Jermaine’s turn to play backup. I’m pretty sure that now he’s going to come after my position. He has something to earn and I have something to keep.”

Finally. The move to the top was made not only after the difficult start but after injuries throughout his UCLA career. One, a sprained knee, even kept him out of the Cotton Bowl. The irony is that the chance to start stemmed not from a Bruin need but from Lewis’ suspension, and that he will get more carries now because of Foster’s injury.

Brown took it from there. Two starts later, his average of 5.5 yards a carry leads the team.

“He hurt his knee, he hurt his neck, he hurt his shoulder,” Coach Bob Toledo said of Brown. “Now he’s healthy and playing as well as he can. He got an opportunity and did a great job.”

Said Bruin quarterback Cade McNown, “It looks to me like he’s running harder than he’s run in the past. He would get up there [to the line] and shake a little bit and lunge forward. Now, he’s running through that wall.”

Lewis, meanwhile, tries to get back to the good ‘ol days.

Only once in the first three games did he have fewer than either 100 yards or four touchdowns, and that was the 94-yard showing against Washington State. Then came that party several hours later, the fight, the suspension that cost him the Arizona game, and the charges and counter-charges that university police are still investigating.

Then, finally, came the chance to play again. Lewis gained only 15 yards in seven carries against Oregon, but scored a fourth-quarter touchdown that got the Bruins a 31-31 tie.

“It felt great,” he said of the two-yard run. “It took a lot of pressure off and was sort of a relief. I had to keep a level head, maintain my personality and keep my good faith.”

He will get more chances Saturday, if only because it’s now committee minus one. Foster, who suffered the injury against Oregon when the helmet of Duck cornerback Tamoni Joiner hit his knee during a tackle, will miss games against California, Stanford and Oregon State. The best hope for the Bruins is a return by Foster on Nov. 14 at Washington.