BRUINS' CARTER GETS OFF THE COUCH AFTER REDSHIRTING LAST YEAR, FRESHMAN GETS TIME AT LINEBACKER.

Byline: BRIAN DOHN Staff Writer

SEATTLE -- When UCLA rallied from a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit to win at Washington State last season, few people were yelling more than Bruins linebacker Reggie Carter.

Two weeks later, when UCLA came from 21 points down in the fourth quarter to defeat Stanford, Carter was again one of the most boisterous Bruins.

It's just that few heard Carter's jubilation because he was sitting in his mother's living room for both games.

Carter redshirted last season to learn the defense and mature, and that meant not being a part of conference road trips. Such is not the case anymore. Carter, a redshirt freshman, was the starting weak-side linebacker in UCLA's 29-19 loss to Washington on Saturday at Husky Stadium.

And he was thrilled not being stuck back in Los Angeles with a remote control in his hand and an inability to impact the game.

``It was tough,'' Carter said. ``I would go home and watch the game with my mom. It was pretty intense, because you can't be with your team, so you're at home screaming at the TV, jumping up and down, hollerin'.''

Carter, a highly touted recruit out of Crenshaw High, is one of UCLA's most talented linebackers. And the need at that position was so pressing last season that the Bruins' coaching staff discussed pulling him out of his redshirt because of inadequate play from the other linebackers. But led by head coach Karl Dorrell, the staff elected to keep Carter inactive to give him a year to mature and learn.

During spring practice, Carter was given the chance to win the starting middle linebacker spot, but couldn't wrestle control away from heady Christian Taylor. Instead, Carter was moved to weak-side linebacker. His game grew, but there was another development that secured his playing time once this season began.

``Reggie grew a lot between spring and fall, in terms of his work ethic. That was his major improvement,'' UCLA linebackers coach Chuck Bullough said. ``Hopefully, it was us harping on him, harping on him, harping on him, but you never know.''

Carter, who made two tackles in his first two starts, said he got the message.

``I guess I got a little bit more hungry,'' Carter said. ``You could call it maturity, and knowing that if I wanted to play now, I had to work hard.''

One of the reasons UCLA wants Carter on the field is his big-play ability. On an undersized defense, with a small linebacker unit, Carter brings something others do not.

``Reggie is physical,'' Bullough said. ``He's got a knack for exploding and being able to hit people. He has that snap in his hips, a good, natural hip snap.''

And the coaching staff is also thrilled with the way Carter has learned UCLA's defense.

``He's had to deal with some real difficult looks, at least (against Utah and Rice), with the option offense and spread run option, things like that,'' Dorrell said. ``That's tough for a first-year player, but he performed pretty well.''

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