VERY MOBILE AT QB
The unknown UCLA quarterback strolled across campus, just another anonymous face among students headed to early-morning classes.
âI blend in,â says Kevin Craft, who played for San Diego State and Mt. San Antonio College before joining the Bruins. âI always have.
âWhen I was at San Diego State, I was the starting quarterback, had my photo in the student newspaper, but no one recognized me. I would be in class and people next to me would be saying, âDid you go to the game? They lost again. Those guys are terrible.â
âNo one noticed me.â
At least his current classmates have an excuse. Craft has yet to play a down for UCLA and his recruitment didnât make headlines. He was brought in as disaster insurance where disaster has happened too often in the past -- and did so again in the final days of spring practice.
On consecutive plays, the Bruins lost their two seniors. Patrick Cowan sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, prematurely ending his 2008 season. Then Ben Olson suffered a broken bone in his foot.
Just like that, Craft was already No. 2 on the UCLA depth chart -- right behind a guy with a screw in his right foot.
Yes, Olson is expected to be healthy enough to participate when practices begin in August, but there certainly are no guarantees who will be commanding the offense come Labor Day, when the Bruins open against Tennessee.
Craftâs attitude? Come what may.
âMy mom jokes with me, âYou got it real hard, donât you?â â Craft says. âIâve gone to San Diego State, lived in San Diego, took a trip out to Hawaii, and now Iâm at UCLA.
âShe tells me, âSome people have to go Laramie, Wyoming.â â
And others roll with the punches.
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The early-morning ringing of metal on metal echoes through the UCLA weight room, the sound of a football program trying to bulk up after not doing squat in 2007.
Craft and freshman Chris Forcier, the only other healthy quarterback on the UCLA roster, are finishing up their workouts as a second wave of Bruins arrives, including Olson, who hobbles through on crutches.
âIt is going to be interesting to see how Ben responds to the treatment on the foot and how ready he is to go,â first-year Coach Rick Neuheisel says. âItâs going to be one of those three guys.â
Craft, who has two seasons of eligibility left, had a gunslingerâs reputation at Mt. SAC, where his father, Tom, was offensive coordinator.
With Craft passing for 4,000 yards and 44 touchdowns, the Mounties went 10-3.
Hawaii and Southern Methodist recruited him, but UCLA was an offer he couldnât refuse -- even with Olson and Cowan set to return for their senior seasons and Forcier and Osaar Rasshan waiting in the wings.
âI was concerned that, given two senior quarterbacks coming back, there might be attrition following spring football,â Neuheisel says. âSomebody might say they needed to go somewhere else to play. I could feel in my bones that was a possibility.â
The apparent logjam didnât worry Craft, though. âIf you make a decision on âI want a guaranteed spot,â I think thatâs being scared,â he says. âItâs not the right mentality for a team, or a player.â
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Craftâs day began at 5:15 a.m., but when it comes to football heâs in no rush. In the film room, he stops the tape, rewinds it, then sets it in motion again.
âThis is one of my favorite plays,â he says. âWatch how the receiver comes across and finds the hole in the defense.â
On the screen, Craft completes a pass. Then he switches to game tape of Tennessee, saying, âWatch how deep their safeties play.â
Craft spends two hours watching tape and jotting notes, tedious work. âBut when you love something, itâs not boring,â he says. âFootball has been my life.â
Tom Craft, who compares his son to âa gym rat in basketball,â didnât drive him to play football. He merely took him to work.
The father spent 16 seasons as head coach at Palomar College and did two stints at San Diego State, as offensive coordinator from 1994 to â96 and as head coach from 2001 to â05.
By the time Kevin was in high school, he was a quarterback by osmosis.
âI guess there was always some influence,â says Tom, who produced seven junior college All-American quarterbacks at Palomar. âHeâs been around football his whole life. He was a ball boy at Palomar. I was always afraid he was going to get run over. All that exposure gave him a strong feeling for the game.â
Even so, Kevin has never been anointed in his career. He started part of his sophomore season at Valley Center High but watched a senior run the team the next year.
As a high school senior, he was chosen the top quarterback in San Diego County and chose to play in college for his father at hometown San Diego State.
âHe told me that I would have to be twice as good as the other quarterbacks being the coachâs son,â Kevin says.
It didnât come to that. Tom was fired after his sonâs freshman season and replaced by Chuck Long.
Kevin, encouraged to do so by his father, stayed with the team.
âWe really appreciate the fact he stayed; not too many kids would have done that,â Long says.
The new coach appreciated it even more after Kevin OâConnell and Darren Mougey, the Aztecsâ top quarterbacks, were injured. Craft, who redshirted his first year, started five games in 2006, including victories over Air Force and Nevada Las Vegas, as the Aztecs went 3-9.
But the next spring OâConnell reclaimed the starting job, prompting Craft to rejoin his father at Mt. SAC.
âThere is such a small window in your college football career,â Craft says, âyou have to take advantage of it.â
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While itâs not unheard-of for junior college quarterbacks to make it on the NCAA Division I level, âmost coaches want to bring in a quarterback, have him sit out a year to learn the system,â Long says. âIt has to be challenging for Kevin to be learning his third system in three years.â
That showed out on the practice field this spring from start to finish. Craft was erratic, completing 11 of 24 passes for 95 yards with one touchdown pass and one pass intercepted, throughout the spring game.
âI went to practice one day and I didnât even recognize Kevin,â Tom Craft says. âHe just didnât look comfortable. I could tell he needed to relax.â
Still, there were flashes. âHe had six or seven throws that were really accomplished throws over the course of spring practice,â Neuheisel says. âThat doesnât sound like a big number, but those were throws you donât really see real often, even in the NFL.â
Offensive coordinator Norm Chow says of Craftâs spring: âHeâs learning a new offense, heâs learning his teammates, heâs learning where his classes are. Heâs a work in progress.â
One that might have to be a finished product come Labor Day.
âYou just have to always be prepared to play,â Craft says. âEvery practice, every game, every day.
âEven if you donât win the spot, youâre still one play away. My freshman year at San Diego State proves that. UCLAâs last year proves that.â
UCLAâs spring proved it again.
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