Toledo Is Iffy on the Bruins

The disclaimer is more than some small print mumbo-jumbo marked by an asterisk. It’s as grave as the health warning on a cigarette pack and prefaces every prediction Coach Bob Toledo makes about the UCLA football team.

If we stay healthy . . .

The Bruins can return to their winning ways of 1997 and ‘98, 10-2 seasons that included Pacific-10 Conference championships.

If we stay healthy . . .

UCLA can fill the holes in a Swiss-cheese defense that gave up more than 30 points and 400 yards a game last season en route to a disappointing 6-6 record.

If we stay healthy . . .

Quarterback Cory Paus and tailback DeShaun Foster will fulfill the potential of an offense Toledo believes is as potent and balanced as any in the nation.

Injuries, of course, are as much a part of football as tailgate barbecue. But, as with parking lot partying, enough is enough. Fifteen Bruins missed games because of injury last season, including a staggering 11 on defense.

Paus separated his right shoulder on the season’s first offensive play, standout defensive end Kenyon Coleman tore cartilage in his left knee in the third game and, when all was said and done, a season that began with victories over two No. 3-ranked teams--Alabama and Michigan--ended with a somber epitaph: Bruised Bruins in Ruins.

Several players didn’t allow injuries to sideline them, but their effectiveness was impaired. Linebacker Robert Thomas played with a stress fracture in his foot. Linebacker Ryan Nece had two bad shoulders that required postseason surgery. Fullbacks Ed Ieremia-Stansbury and Matt Stanley had shoulder surgery after the season as well.

“The first three games we played pretty well,” Toledo said. “Then the injuries piled up. If there was a positive, it was that a lot of guys got experience who might not have otherwise.”

Seven defensive linemen were injured, making the trainer’s motorized cart busier than the shuttle to the Getty Center. But 11 defensive linemen who had substantial playing time return, presumably all in one piece.

Will this year be different? Toledo believes these things are cyclical, yet three players already are injured. Tight end Mike Seidman had arthroscopic knee surgery Friday, junior fullback Chris Jackson will sit out the season with a knee injury and senior receiver Jon Dubravac will redshirt because of a back problem.

“The key is to keep our best football players healthy,” Toledo said. “If they are, they will make plays. And that’s what we lacked at times last year, healthy guys making big plays.”

Backup quarterback Ryan McCann, who filled in ably when Paus was injured, is another player coming off shoulder surgery. During two-a-days, which begin today, none of the players who had off-season surgery will participate in contact drills during morning practices.

“I’m pretty sensitive about guys with injuries and guys coming off surgeries,” Toledo said.

Of course, there is a lot more to training camp than staying out of harm’s way. New defensive coordinator Phil Snow will be implementing his new scheme, which will involve more blitzing and fewer nickel packages.

“He seems real nice, but we won’t get to know the real Coach Snow until the hitting starts,” said Coleman, who was granted a medical redshirt season and could be one of the nation’s dominant pass rushers.

Paus, who will wear thick shoulder pads that offer greater protection, must find targets besides Brian Poli-Dixon, who had 53 receptions last year. Tab Perry, Craig Bragg and Ryan Smith are leading candidates.

Foster, who missed one game and part of another because of a broken hand, must rev up for carrying the ball as many as 25 times a game. He is one of 20 seniors and 17 returning starters, giving Toledo his most experienced team in his six years.

UCLA is ranked as high as No. 15 and is picked to finish in the top half of the Pac-10. But for all the Bruins’ qualifications, any forecast must begin with another kind of qualification.

If we stay healthy . . .

“The sky’s the limit really,” Foster said. “When we’re all together, you can see what we’ve got going out there.”