Strong-Armed Tactics Key to Turnaround

It was 4:45 in the morning and UCLA football player Ben Emanuel was already up. He grabbed a bite to eat and by 5:30 was running wind sprints on the Bruins’ practice field.

It’s a routine Emanuel has followed before. This time, though, instead of working out alone, or with only one or two teammates, Emanuel was working out with the entire team. It was a daily schedule UCLA players maintained during their off-season conditioning program.

“I’ve been here for a while and this is the first time everyone’s gotten up that early to work out together,” said Emanuel, a defensive leader for the Bruins, who will start their second week of spring practice Monday.

Welcome to Coach Karl Dorrell’s Project Turnaround, a multi-step mission to bring respectability back to UCLA’s program, which lost its final five games last season and finished 6-7.

“I’m not going to lie ... it’s been tough playing in the same city as USC right now,” receiver Craig Bragg said of the Trojans, who finished as co-national champions last season.

Dorrell, who replaced Bob Toledo after the 2002 season, began the Westwood shakeup shortly after UCLA’s embarrassing 17-9 defeat by Fresno State in the Silicon Valley Bowl.

One of the first things Dorrell did was tell strength and conditioning coach E.J. “Doc” Kreis that he wanted the Bruins stronger and faster. A week after the Bruins had returned from winter break, Kreis had the players on a predawn workout schedule four days a week.

Kreis was hired by UCLA in February 2002, after 10-plus years as assistant athletic director and coach for speed and conditioning at Colorado.

“It’s easy to say that your goal is to never leave the field without getting better,” Kreis said. “The challenge is learning how to prepare for that. We put together a program that placed attention to detail, sacrifice and discipline, and attitude that builds a team.”

Although he has been tied to Colorado’s recent off-the-field scandals through his involvement with that school’s community outreach program, Kreis has been a good fit for UCLA, according to several players.

“There’s just no excuses with him,” said running back Maurice Drew, who led the Bruins in rushing last season as a freshman. “That’s what we really needed as a team. [Kreis] made it so that we had to be there and everyone understood.”

For nearly three months, the Bruins ran sprints every morning, followed by weight training. Initially, some had trouble accepting what Kreis scheduled for them, but peer pressure won out. Now the Bruins, who have continued the early morning workouts, feel they are a team united.

“The off-season conditioning program was crazy,” said sophomore defensive end Kevin Harbour, who increased his power clean lift to 350 pounds. “I never heard of anything like the stuff we were doing.... But when we were all done, everyone was so together.”

Showing the greatest improvement was the offensive line, a suspect unit last season. Led by senior guard Eyoseph Efseaff, UCLA’s linemen hit the weights dutifully after the Silicon Valley Bowl.

“I got what I got. I can’t factor in anything than what I have on the roster,” Dorrell said. “So, with the players we have, we have to make them better. That’s the bottom line.”

Dorrell has changed his staff since last fall. Tom Cable, who spent the last four years as head coach at Idaho and worked with Dorrell at Colorado, was hired as offensive line coach and then was named offensive coordinator when Steve Axman was fired.

Dorrell also named Jim Svoboda, a Division II offensive specialist the last 10 years at Northwest Missouri State, as quarterback coach, and Dino Babers, who coached Pittsburgh’s running backs last season, as receiver coach. Jon Embree switched from receivers to tight ends.

“Our offense will be in much better hands because Tom [Cable] talks the same [West Coast offense] language that I do,” Dorrell said.

“Last year, it was tough getting on the same page.... That will not be a problem now. We had to reevaluate everything, including myself and what my roles are. I have to do a better job of keeping close on everything that we’re doing instead of just the offense.”

Since Matt Moore transferred, quarterback Drew Olson has emerged as a team leader and has often led unsupervised seven-on-seven passing drills.

“You can tell that he’s made big strides and grown as a leader,” Emanuel said of Olson, who started nine games last season, throwing 10 touchdown passes and nine interceptions. “He’s more vocal and ready to be accountable. Everyone expects him to be a lot better this season.”

An improved Olson is a key in the Bruins’ plans for a turnaround. “Every successful program usually has a veteran quarterback,” Dorrell said. “We feel that Drew is ready.”

So despite the departure of senior defensive linemen Mat Ball, Dave Ball and Rodney Leisle and junior cornerback Matt Ware, and the transfers of running back Tyler Ebell and Moore, the Bruins are optimistic.

“I know that I’m not proud of how we played last season,” said Emanuel, who will be a fifth-year senior in the fall. “It’s really been hard because I put a lot of hard work into football. To go out there and lose has not been fun.

“We all want to be a part of a program that’s on the rise.”