RUNNING GAME IS A-BRUIN MARQUEE NAME MARKEY READY TO TAKE REINS AS UCLA'S MAIN RUNNING BACK.Byline: BRIAN DOHN Staff Writer When Maurice Drew left a year early for the NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga , UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX was left without its biggest game breaker breaker: see wave, in oceanography. , its leading rusher the past three seasons, and a marquee tailback tail·back n. Football The back on an offensive team who lines up farthest from the line of scrimmage. tailback Noun Brit a queue of traffic stretching back from an obstruction . Drew's decision also placed the running game on the shoulders of a Markey runner. Chris Markey, to be exact. Markey, a junior, doesn't have Drew's game-changing speed, but he does possess traits that should make UCLA's running game, which is mostly tackle-to-tackle, more consistent than when Drew was the featured back. ``(Markey) was the best running back last year,'' Bruins offensive lineman Shannon Tevaga said. ``Maurice was the best overall player. (Markey) knows when to go downhill, he knows when to jump outside. His vision is out there. He can see the line clearly.'' Drew broke big runs and was always a threat to score, be it from 8 or 80 yards away. But many of his big plays last season came on special teams. When it came to runs from the line of scrimmage line of scrimmage n. pl. lines of scrimmage Football Either of two imaginary lines extending across the field parallel to the goal line at the ends of the ball as it rests prior to being snapped and at which each team lines up for , it seemed for every 15-yard run, there was a 1-yard run in which Drew freelanced, or gave up on the play early. It was commonplace for then-Bruins running back coach Eric Bieniemy Eric Bieniemy, Jr. (born August 15, 1969 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a former professional American football running back in the NFL from 1991 to 1999. He was an All-American out of the University of Colorado and was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the 2nd round of the to constantly drill Drew during practice for always searching for the big run, rather than show patience and follow the planned direction of the play. Markey brings the opposite mentality. A 5-foot-11, 210-pounder from the New Orleans New Orleans (ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded suburb of Luling, La., Markey's trademark running style is filled with quick hip wiggles wiggles - [scientific computation] In solving partial differential equations by finite difference and similar methods, wiggles are sawtooth (up-down-up-down) oscillations at the shortest wavelength representable on the grid. as he slashes through the hole, and oozes patience to allow his blockers to get in front of him and allow the play to form. ``I think when you think of Chris, he's more a pro-style running back,'' Bruins fullback Michael Pitre said. ``Maurice is a very, very big home run player, but sometimes that got to him, and because of his success, he was always kind of looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. the home run. He always knew he had the ability to take a play from nothing to something. ``Whereas Chris, he's a lot more patient runner, and he allows stuff to develop. I think he's doing a good job of feeling the offense, feeling if the defense is over scraping (1) Extracting data from output intended for the screen or printer rather than from original files or databases. For example, Web pages formatted in HTML are often scraped. .'' The one thing missing from Markey's game is speed, but his shiftiness and vision should enable him to get his share of 12- to 15-yard gains. ``I'm sure people will be questioning the running game because Maurice left,'' said Markey, who ran for 561 yards and three touchdowns last season. ``I'm not the fastest person, but I feel I can take it to the house. That's not a worry for me. I'm more than comfortable knowing I can pick up the yards when we need it.'' Last season, Markey averaged 5.1 yards per carry and lost a total of 19 yards on 110 carries. Drew averaged 4.9 yards per carry, and lost 47 yards on 186 attempts. ``I do know (Markey) has great sense and he sees things very, very well,'' UCLA coach Karl Dorrell Karl Dorrell (born December 18, 1963 in Alameda, California) is the first black head coach in the history of the UCLA Bruins college football team, a position he took on December 18, 2002. said. ``He's very efficient that way.'' Dorrell said he needed ``consistency'' from Markey, and history suggests Markey is up to the challenge. In two of UCLA's biggest games under Dorrell, Markey filled in for an injured in·jure tr.v. in·jured, in·jur·ing, in·jures 1. To cause physical harm to; hurt. 2. To cause damage to; impair. 3. Drew and excelled. Against Oregon on the road, and with Drew out with a sprained ankle A sprained ankle, also known as a ankle sprain, ankle injury or ankle ligament injury, is a common medical condition where one or more of the ligaments of the ankle is torn or partially torn. , Markey, then a freshman, rushed for 131 yards, and led the Bruins with five catches for 84 yards in a 34-26 win. It was UCLA's most substantial road win under Dorrell, and made the Bruins bowl eligible. When Drew was injured early in last December's Sun Bowl, Markey filled in with a career-high 161 yards and was named the game's co-MVP. ``He has to take on the role as the experienced guy, in terms of reading where the plays are and taking what the play gives you in the run game,'' Dorrell said. ``We're asking for consistency. He's our most experienced back, and this offense suits him in terms of the run game. He's the leader of that area.'' Markey is also considered a better pass-catcher than Drew, but again, he doesn't have the dynamic speed that enabled Drew to turn simple screen passes into 40-yard gains. ``Maurice is a great player, and it's hard to look at what other people bring to the table when you have such a great player in front of you,'' Markey said. ``I'm looking to have a lot of success in the passing game. When the quarterbacks can't find a receiver, I want them to dump it off to me.'' brian.dohn@dailynews.com (818) 713-3607 CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1 -- color) With Maurice Drew off to the NFL, UCLA will rely mainly on Chris Markey (above) to get its running game going. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer (2) Chris Markey rushed 110 times for 561 yards and scored three touchdowns as a sophomore last season for UCLA. Evan Yee/Staff Photographer Box: CAN MARKEY MEASURE UP? |
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