THE BIG PICTURE

UCLA coaches have browsed their extensive menu of offensive backs for a month. The Pacific 10 Conference schedule is looming and it’s time to make a choice.

Super-size it.

Manuel White Jr., a 6-foot-3, 243-pound sophomore, is expected to get most of the carries Saturday against Oregon State, and beyond. With sturdy legs and a purposeful straight-arm, White is poised to become the centerpiece of the Bruin ground game.

“We took four games to see what our personality is,” said Kelly Skipper, the Bruin offensive coordinator. “Now we know what we can do, and Manuel will be doing a lot of it. Now we can shape our game plan to our personnel.”

Translation: Mega-size it.

The powerful White churns out four yards even when a hole is plugged. He barrels over linebackers or safeties in the open field. All he lacks is blazing speed.

He’s the same off the field, a pillar who charts his path with mature, measured steps.

“He’s calm, cool and collected,” Bruin fullback Pat Norton said. “Nothing ruffles Manuel.”

White lives at home in Valencia with his parents, commuting to UCLA each day. He’s an honors student who spends free time either with his girlfriend of five years or playing cards with teammates.

His parents, Manuel Sr. and Charmaine, don’t mind the extra laundry and grocery bills. Their son reads the bible, goes to church regularly and invites teammates over for home cooking and camaraderie.

“I do enjoy having him here,” Charmaine said. “It’s hard for kids being away from home. We have quite a few [players] stay for the weekend.”

White is the only sophomore on the player leadership council formed by Coach Bob Toledo, who originally projected him two years from now as an undisputed team leader.

But the timetable is being accelerated. Toledo is ready to do the White thing at tailback.

“He’s an excellent runner, a physical runner,” the coach said. “We’ve got to have Manuel on the field.”

White rushed for 76 yards in 14 carries against San Diego State last week, a performance that made coaches take notice and made him hungry for more.

Even the unassuming White wonders what it would be like to get 25 carries in a game.

“Once you get in a rhythm, it’s like, ‘Give me the ball,’ ” he said. “I’m ready for that 20 to 25 carries. I think I’d just get stronger.”

White started at fullback in the first four games. The smaller, faster Akil Harris started at tailback, with White usually moving to the position in the second half and pounding out yardage when the defense was tiring. Redshirt freshmen tailbacks Tyler Ebell, Wendell Mathis and Jason Harrison also have gotten carries.

Harris struggled the last two games after running well in victories over Colorado State and Oklahoma State. Meanwhile, fullbacks Norton and J.D. Groves have recovered from injuries.

So this week White (231 yards, 4.8 average) and Harris (215, 4.3) are both listed as starters at tailback on the depth chart.

Oh, and White is listed as starting fullback as well.

“I wish I had another Manuel,” Toledo said. “He can run or catch as a fullback and as a tailback.”

White, who has seven catches for 78 yards, will be the lone back in three-receiver sets and get more time at tailback in two-back sets. But he will continue to play some fullback because he is considered the best blocker among Bruin backs.

“He’s the best in every category, blocking, running and receiving,” Skipper said. “But Manuel’s whole makeup is as a tailback.”

That’s what White has told anyone who would listen since high school.

When he entered Valencia, coaches pegged him as a basketball player.

Not interested.

He rushed for 6,745 yards in three seasons and recruiters pegged him as a linebacker.

Not interested.

“We tried to make him a defensive player and he didn’t have the instincts like he did at running back,” Valencia Coach Brian Stiman said. “He slips through small openings, sees the field well and changes direction well for a large man.”

White chose UCLA in part because coaches told him he would not be converted to defense.

“They told me I’d play tailback,” he said. “They’ve been honest with me since I’ve been here. You don’t always find that in college coaches.”

After redshirting in 2000, he was third string last season behind DeShaun Foster and Harris. Still, he appeared in every game and had 63 carries, rushing for 290 yards and three touchdowns. He also had five receptions.

After Foster was declared ineligible with three games to play, White slowly gathered steam, scoring his first career touchdown against Oregon, a one-yard run that gave UCLA a 20-14 lead.

The season finale against Arizona State marked a breakout game for him with 85 yards and two touchdowns in 17 carries.

He thought he would enter fall camp competing with Harris at tailback. But because last season’s fullbacks, Matt Stanley and Ed Ieremia-Stansbury, were seniors, coaches believed the best combination was White at fullback and Harris at tailback.

Now they are reevaluating, but none of it keeps White up at night.

“Coach has a plan, and whatever that plan is, we’re going to roll with it,” he said. “If they have me with 25 carries, that’s fine. But if it’s less, I’m cool with that.”

Regardless of how he is used, he knows that his parents, sister Kamilah, 23, Aunt Rosslyn and girlfriend, Maria Llamas, will be there. They have been to every game the last two years, home and road. The family’s tailgate parties at the Rose Bowl are becoming legendary.

This year’s opener against Colorado State began at 7:15 p.m. Manuel Sr. was setting out tables and chairs on the Rose Bowl lawn at 10:30 a.m. Catfish, chicken and ribs are on the menu.

“Manuel’s daddy is a true fan,” Charmaine said. “Usually he’s there at 9 a.m. And we stay after the game to greet the players as they come out of the locker room to the tunnel.”

This family knows how to live large. And it appears the Bruins are learning as well, making a key adjustment in the backfield in time for the conference opener:

Jumbo-size it.

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The White Stuff

Statistics for Manuel White Jr., a UCLA sophomore. He has three rushing touchdowns:

RUSHING

Rushes...48

Yards...231

Long ...30

Average...4.8

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RECEIVING

Catches...7

Yards...78

Long...31

Average...11.1