White Is Impressive in Spring Finale

Manuel White, a UCLA redshirt freshman, doesn’t know his own strength. But he’s learning.

Sometimes, he envisions himself as a smallish, scampering running back rather than a 6-foot-3, 240-pound human bulldozer.

“I’ve got to get out of that mode,” he said. “Because obviously I’m not a little back. In high school, I could shake somebody a little bit. But now, everybody’s faster and more agile.”

White looked fast, agile and powerful Saturday in an open-to-the-public scrimmage that served as the spring-football finale. He rushed for 59 yards in 11 carries and caught three passes for 31 yards before a crowd of about 3,000 at Drake Stadium.

DeShaun Foster, the Bruins’ No. 1 back, sat out spring ball after undergoing surgery on his left pinkie. That created an opportunity for White, who has the size to play tailback or fullback.

“Manuel’s got good speed, he can catch the ball, he can block,” Coach Bob Toledo said. “We’ve got to find ways to get him in the ballgame because we do have some quality depth at that position.”

White was one of several young players who impressed Toledo. Eyoseph Efseaff has earned the starting job at left guard and fellow redshirt freshman Craig Bragg, a receiver/kick returner, had two catches for 54 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown.

Quarterbacks Cory Paus and Scott McEwan took most of the snaps. Paus completed 10 of 18 passes for 210 yards and one touchdown. McEwan was seven for 14 for 88 yards and one touchdown. He had two passes intercepted.

UCLA’s defense features its deepest line in memory and a secondary filled with inexperienced players.

“Our problem isn’t going to be playing the run; we’re pretty physical up front,” new defensive coordinator Phil Snow said. “Our problem is going to be on play-action and third down. So we spent all spring on first down and third-and-long.”

Snow was disappointed when some of his defensive backs bit on play-action fakes.

“They haven’t been conditioned yet,” he said. “But we’ll keep getting better.”