NO LONGER A BIG SOFTIE

Because this is part of the new Kenyon Coleman, he is trying to focus only on the present, UCLA at Oregon State this week in a critical game for Bruin bowl hopes, and not the future, when those fleeting thoughts about leaving school early for the NFL might get serious consideration. But he cannot help but think about the past.

A year ago and forever ago. Coleman, insistent as he has become at living today, needs only the gentlest prodding to drift back to his sophomore season as a starting defensive end, a time travel he gladly takes because it shows how far he has come.

He was certainly not a bad guy. And he was not a bad player, being named honorable mention All-Pacific 10 Conference and leading Bruin defensive linemen in tackles, even though he missed two games and much of a third because of a sprained knee ligament. He just was not particularly motivated.

“I was moving along,” Coleman said. “I’m not saying life was bad. We won the Pac-10 championship. I hurt my knee, but I wasn’t out for the whole season. I got to play. I was saying, ‘Life’s OK. I’ve got my junior year and my senior year left to become a good player.’ I wasn’t saying, ‘Dang, I’m lost.’ But I was lost and I didn’t even know it.”

Then came summer. Specifically, one week in summer, the days he spent in Colorado with teammates Keith Brown and Jason Bell and 50 or so others at an Athletes in Action gathering. Coleman, who always attended church and had a strong religious belief, refocused on his faith.

He was reminded to appreciate every day. He felt better able to focus on all aspects of his life. Football, for example.

The result has been a 6-foot-6, 275-pound junior who has the fire--finally--to match his size and his potential.

“Last year, I think I took plays off when I was playing,” Coleman said. “This year, I’ve gone into meetings and coaches haven’t said, ‘Kenyon, you’re taking downs off.’ They’re saying, ‘You’re playing hard. You’re playing with a great intensity.’

“It’s so different from last year. I look at that and go, ‘Man, how could I take a play off?’ You’re not sure if you’re going to play next week or even play that next play and yet I’m slacking off. I don’t try to beat myself up about it, but I realize that I’ve got to take advantage of every situation, seize the moment.

“I just have a different attitude. I’m not saying, ‘Oh, my knee hurts. Poor me. I can’t play as hard. I’m tired. I didn’t get that much sleep last night.’ It’s just a different attitude.

“ ‘I don’t think there’s any comparison’--coaches have been saying this to me. They’re looking at film and there’s no comparison to the kind of player I was last year. Last year, I would take plays off. Last year, I wasn’t playing with leverage. Last year, I wasn’t doing this and last year I wasn’t doing that. There’s so many things I’m doing better this year than last year, and the coaches notice that.”

Coaches do notice.

“Kenyon Coleman has come into his own,” Coach Bob Toledo said. “He is really playing good. He’s a force to be reckoned with.”

Relatives notice.

“It’s a big difference,” said older brother Michael Coleman, a senior at UCLA and a manager for the football team. “He’s so much more content with himself and so much happier now than he was last year. It makes him more focused. He knows what his job is out on the field.”

Teammates notice.

“Last year, it was kind of like, ‘Kenyon’s soft, he’s not tough, he doesn’t play hard,’ ” said Bell, a senior cornerback. “Instead of taking that negatively and saying, ‘Oh, forget those guys,’ he took it and said, ‘Why are they saying this? It might be true.’ And he’s turned it around.

“He’s kind of the guy that all he wanted to do was lift weights. And now he’s out there doing his footwork stuff, working on his pass drills. It shows. . . . You can see it. He’s a different man, a different player. Definitely.”

Coleman is tied for eighth among Bruins in tackles, and second behind Ken Kocher among linemen, but he is tied with Santi Hall for the lead in sacks. Coaches, though, notice other statistics, such as when he ties up two blockers on a running play and still channels the ballcarrier to a waiting linebacker.

“It all comes together because I’m staying focused,” he said. “I’m not saying, ‘I’m doing good this game so I don’t have to go hard this play.’ It’s not like that. It’s, ‘I’m going hard every down. I’m focusing. I’m seizing the moment. I think that’s what I’m doing. I’m realizing that I’m not here forever, at this school or here as life is, and I’ve got to make the most of it.”

He has already begun.