HARSH WORDS DON'T FAZE WALKER DESPITE ADVICE FROM CARROLL, COACH LEAVES NFL TO LEAD UCLA'S DEFENSE.

Byline: BRIAN DOHN Staff Writer

When DeWayne Walker was contacted about turning around one of the worst defenses in college football, he received advice from many colleagues.

One was his former boss, USC coach Pete Carroll. And in describing UCLA's defense, Carroll apparently did not hold back.

According to sources outside of UCLA, Carroll's assessment of the Bruins' defense was brutal, if not brutally honest, as he told Walker the Bruins' defense was soft and needed an upgrade in talent before it could be fixed. He advised Walker not to take the job.

Walker, a defensive backs coach with the Washington Redskins, accepted the challenge anyway, shunning a larger NFL paycheck to become UCLA's defensive coordinator.

Walker declined to comment about what Carroll said, saying it was a private conversation.

``I spoke with a lot of people, and I received positive and negative feedback,'' Walker said. ``Ultimately, I decided it was something I wanted to do. I could have stayed in the NFL, but one of the reasons I came back to college was to work with a guy like coach (Karl) Dorrell.''

Carroll also declined comment.

Walker's charge now is to prove his defense is capable of transforming from a unit with a punchline reputation into one capable of getting the last laugh.

Several UCLA players said they were aware Carroll did not have pleasant things to say about them.

``It made us want to go out there and work,'' one Bruin said. ``We know we weren't very good last year, but now we have direction. We believe in coach Walker. We know what was said, that getting us on track would be like finding a needle in a haystack. That it probably wouldn't even be possible. That is making me work hard every day.''

There is much work to do.

Statistics do not lie, not when UCLA ranked 106th and 113th among 117 Division I-A teams in 2004 and 2005, respectively, in total defense. Not when the Bruins yielded 30 points per game over those seasons, or allowed six opponents to rush for at least 300 yards and opponents averaged 221.4 rushing yards per game during that span.

Walker's defensive overhaul began in February, before spring practice. He watched tape and saw poor pre-snap fundamentals, laziness, atrocious tackling and confusion with some of former defensive coordinator Larry Kerr's schemes.

Yet, before he tried to change any of those shortcomings, Walker attacked UCLA's defensive attitude. It was ... let's just say, passive. It is why Walker installed so many practice drills based on attacking the ballcarrier.

Ask any defensive player now about UCLA's newfound defensive attitude, and within 10 seconds aggression is mentioned.

``We want to be aggressive. We want to attack people,'' safety Chris Horton said.

``I think his NFL background brings the aggressiveness and guidance that we need as a defense,'' cornerback Rodney Van said of Walker.

Added free safety Dennis Keyes: ``We're more aggressive. There's a lot of anger within our players in terms of how we finished, in terms of ranking defensively.''

Walker stressed many things, but his lack of tolerance for mistakes and poor work ethic trumped it all.

Walker runs a 4-3 scheme, and will put emphasis on the cornerbacks to play strong man-to-man coverage as the cornerstone for the rest of the defense. But he has also drilled the Bruins on becoming a better tackling team, as well as respecting the game and being prepared each day.

``You've got to prepare,'' Walker said. ``You just can't give kind of half-ass drills to get ready for the season. You can't do that, and a lot of them, they don't know. But all the good coaches, they understand how to teach the players to respect the game.''

Walker's NFL background doesn't hurt, either. The 45-year-old worked under defensive coordinator Gregg Williams in Washington, and in New England served under Carroll and current Patriots coach Bill Belichick. That brought instant credibility in the eyes of UCLA's players.

``When coach Walker came in and took this job, he talked to us, and you could see how passionate he was about it,'' Bruins defensive tackle Brigham Harwell said. ``You could see and feel a lift for our defense, and we're going to go all out for this coach. He has aspirations to do more in his career, so we're trying to get him to that level.

``More so, we're trying to play harder this year. Last year we played hard, but watching film, there were times we could have played harder.''

Another obstacle facing Walker is UCLA's lack of size, which includes a starting linebacker trio in which the average weight is 218 pounds.

Walker, who has not been a coordinator since 1992 at Mt. San Antonio College, doesn't look at it as a deficiency, and pointed to the success of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts, both of which have undersized defenses.

``I think it has a lot to do with speed, with getting guys to run to the football and playing hard and doing those types of things,'' said Walker, who puts an emphasis on limiting yards after contact. ``That's a serious stat. If the yards are double-digits after contact, you're probably doing a pretty good job. If you start getting into the three digits, you're probably getting your (butt) kicked.''

But just because Carroll bad-mouthed UCLA's defense doesn't mean Walker doesn't have respect for him, or has severed ties. In fact, one of his most valuable lessons as a coach came from Carroll, whom Walker worked under in New England and at USC.

``If we aren't getting it right, if they don't feel comfortable, we may have to chuck it,'' Walker said. ``There's been a couple of defenses I wanted to install in training camp, but we couldn't get it.

``Working with Pete, he's got great instincts. He would just feel it and say, `No way. I'm not doing that,' and he'd move forward. Or there would be times when players may be struggling, and he'd be, `No, I believe these guys can do it.' He had a really good instinct.''

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) DeWayne Walker will try to turn around a UCLA defense ranked 113th last season.

(2) DeWayne Walker's NFL background brought instant credibility in the eyes of UCLA's defensive players.

Gus Ruels/Staff Photographer