COLLEGE FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : UCLA : Move Makes Milliner Happier

It seemed like a perfect fit. The Bruins needed an established veteran at fullback. James Milliner was starting his senior year with two seasons of experience at fullback.

There was only one problem. Milliner didn’t want to be a fullback. He loves to run, hates to block.

“Anybody who says they like to block is lying,” he said.

So in the off-season, he went to Coach Terry Donahue and said he wanted to compete for the tailback job.

“I did my time at fullback,” Milliner said. “I would have been a definite starter there, but I would not be happy.”

Instead, it was the Bruins who were not happy. Milliner was moving to a position where UCLA already had two quality backs, Karim Abdul-Jabbar and Skip Hicks. And that left the Bruins with three freshmen--Cheyane Caldwell, Craig Walendy and Jarvis Watson--battling for the fullback job.

Milliner’s chances for playing time increased the first week of fall camp when Hicks went down with a knee injury that is expected to sideline him for half the season.

When Abdul-Jabbar was left out of Saturday’s Rose Bowl scrimmage as a precautionary measure, Milliner took advantage of the situation to gain 71 yards, the top rushing total of the night, in 17 carries.

Milliner said his total would have been even higher if he had not been slowed by a sore tailbone.

The Bruins would be more than happy to settle for 71 yards a game from Milliner. But they might be even happier if he were back at fullback.

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Wednesday was the final day of two-a-day workouts.