Olson Is Winning Them Over

Drew Olson has leading-man credentials, but somehow he has never been able to make the marquee.

Even this season, having passed for 1,874 yards and 21 touchdowns in helping UCLA to a 7-0 record and No. 8 national ranking, he isn’t necessarily considered the star of his own team ... or huddle.

Running back Maurice Drew receives most of the attention when fans talk about the Bruins, and, of course, there are those guys named Leinart and Bush operating across town.

But it’s nothing he’s not used to -- dating to his high school days.

As a senior at Piedmont High in Northern California, Olson was chosen to a couple of All-American teams but was bypassed by one of his hometown newspapers, which gave him only honorable mention on an all-county team.

The perceived slights continued in college.

After starting five games as a freshman in 2002, Olson split time with Matt Moore the next season under new Coach Karl Dorrell.

Then, after passing for 20 touchdowns as a junior and working hard to make a remarkable comeback from major knee surgery in the off-season, Olson was told he would have to compete to keep his job in training camp.

Yet, through it all, neither his confidence nor work ethic failed, which may explain why his teammates seemed genuinely happy for him -- not an eyebrow raised in jealousy -- when the horde of reporters surrounding him after Saturday’s school-record, six-touchdown performance against Oregon State swelled enough to block off the shower room.

“Drew has always been coming along, but this year, we’re finally getting a chance to see him blossom and do some great things,” senior center Mike McCloskey said. “The possibilities were always there, but now we’re seeing the greatness come out.”

Olson has had a fair share of shining moments in his college career, but he is typically candid when discussing his reputation coming into this season.

“I was known as the quarterback who couldn’t win games. I know that,” said Olson, who had a 14-12 record in his first three seasons as a starter. “That’s not something that I felt that I am. I’ve always believed that I could lead this team to victory.”

With highly publicized transfer Ben Olson (no relation) in the fold and his incumbent coming off several months of rehabilitation after surgery to repair anterior and medial collateral ligaments, Dorrell announced publicly that the starting job was up for grabs during camp.

It was a gamble, because to his teammates Drew Olson had won the position.

“I feel that I had become more of a leader to my teammates in how I came back from the injury,” Olson said. “Just showing those guys how much they mean to me and how much I wanted to get back and play. They knew that I wanted to contribute something special this year to this team.

“I knew there were some people who didn’t think I’d be back or think I could play. That didn’t bother me. In my mind, getting back was one challenge and raising my game was the most important -- to play better than I did before.”

And he has, leading the Bruins to three come-from-behind victories and completing passes to 15 receivers.

“He’s on fire,” sophomore wide receiver Marcus Everett said. “With his experience and knowledge of the offense, he makes sure the right person gets the ball. That’s all it is. We all know that someone is going to get open against every defense, and Drew is reading things so much better this year.”

Gail Olson, Drew’s mother, said she noticed a change in her son during the summer. Drew Olson, who had his knee surgery performed by a family doctor in the Bay Area, stayed around campus during the summer and often led the team’s informal passing drills.

“I’ve never seen him so focused,” she said. “He was certainly focused in high school, but not like this. He truly has a passion for football and for UCLA. He’s always been a team player and loved football, but his passion for the game is the biggest transformation that I’ve seen.”

David Olson, Drew’s father, credits his son’s resiliency and ability to adapt for his current success.

“I’m just proud of him,” said David Olson, a former captain of the UCLA rugby team. “These things have not come easily, given his experiences. ... Drew has always had good relationships with the people he’s worked with, and that’s a quality he’s had from the get-go.”

After Olson’s record-setting performance in UCLA’s 51-28 victory over Oregon State on Saturday, Dorrell talked about his quarterback’s growth as a player.

“It began in preseason camp when he had to compete for the job,” Dorrell said. “He’s grown a lot. He’s both physically and mentally the best that he’s ever been. Am I surprised that he’s playing this well now? No, because he’s worked hard to get here.

“He’s been visualizing this type of season for him, and he’ll tell you that. ... He wanted to have a great senior year and lead this football team to what it is currently doing.”

Olson is in the top five in the nation with a 166.5 pass efficiency rating, leads the Pacific 10 Conference in completion percentage (67.1) and touchdowns, and has moved to No. 2 on UCLA’s career leaderboard with 571 completions, 7,208 passing yards, 7,042 yards in total offense and 54 touchdown passes.

On Saturday, Olson will play his final regular-season college game in the Bay Area when the Bruins face Stanford. In making his 34th start for UCLA, Olson said that although he’s playing well, he’s not about to “say I told you so” to critics who doubted that he could lead the Bruins to national prominence.

“I would never say that; I’m not that type of person,” Olson said. “I just use it as motivation to get better. I’m the hardest critic on myself. I know when I’m playing bad. I want to prove it to myself and my teammates more than anything that I can do it, and we’re far from done.

“I know that winning is the best way to do that.”

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Moving up

Drew Olson is in second place on UCLA’s career leaderboard in passing and total offense (list is in order of yards passing):

*--* PLAYER YEARS ATT COMP PCT TD YARDS TOTAL PASSING YARDS Cade McNown 1995-1998 1,250 694 555 68 10,708 11,285 Drew Olson 2002-2005 992 571 575 54 7,208 7,042 Cory Paus 1999-2002 816 439 538 42 6,877 6,450 Tom Ramsey 1979-1982 751 441 587 50 6,168 6,255 Tommy Maddox 1990-1991 670 391 584 33 5,363 5,482 Troy Aikman 1987-1988 627 406 648 41 5,298 5,294 Wayne Cook 1991-1994 612 352 575 34 4,723 4,538 Dennis 1969-1970 552 289 524 29 4,356 4,297 Dummit Gary Beban 1965-1967 465 243 522 23 4,087 5,358 Matt Stevens 1983-1986 431 231 536 16 2,931 2,805

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Source: Los Angeles Times