A Quick Lesson for Lewis

There was a year of waiting, of standing on the sideline and watching.

There were times when Jermaine Lewis loathed redshirting his freshman season at UCLA. He consoled himself with one thought: he needed time to prepare.

But perhaps nothing could have prepared Lewis for what transpired in his first college game last Saturday.

“It was getting down to the end,” he said. “They called my name and there I was, ready to play.”

With Bruin tailback Skip Hicks exhausted on the sideline, Lewis was stopped short of the goal line on fourth and one, and UCLA lost to Washington State, 37-34.

Much has been made of Hicks’ decision to take himself out at such a critical moment, but it is Lewis who blames himself for the loss.

“I ran the wrong play,” he said. “It was designed to go outside the tackle. I just got a little excited, trying to hit it through a hole that wasn’t there.”

The young tailback must now find a way to pick himself up and continue with a season he waited so long to play.

“Saturday was his first taste of college football and, obviously, we all wish the outcome had been different,” said Skip Peete, UCLA’s running back coach. “He shouldn’t blame himself but that’s the type of person he is.”

Though he is 5 feet 7 and 170 pounds, Lewis amassed big numbers at Antelope Valley High, rushing for 5,490 yards and 76 touchdowns in three seasons. The Antelopes reached the Southern Section Division I semifinals in 1993, won a Division II title in 1994 and lost the Division II title game in his senior year in 1995.

But with Hicks topping a long list of Bruin tailbacks last season, it was sensible for Lewis to redshirt his first year. Sensible, and frustrating.

“It was hard watching games from the sidelines,” he said. “I had short spans when I’d get upset.”

The move to college brought additional challenges. Lewis scrimmaged against athletes who were six inches taller and 40 pounds heavier, yet nearly as fast. Practice seemed every bit as violent as the toughest high school games.

The classroom proved just as rigorous.

“I wrote more papers in my first quarter here than I ever did in high school,” he said.

Lewis is reluctant to talk about his grades, saying only that he is doing “better than everyone expected.” He is thoughtful and shy, not yet polished in the way that big-time college athletes often become.

If anything, a year of sitting out taught him patience and perseverance. As if these lessons weren’t tough enough for a 20-year-old, he also lost a high-school buddy, Charles Pierce, to cancer last March.

Pierce was an All-Golden League linebacker at Antelope Valley when doctors found a malignant tumor near his right eye. For a while, he was being treated at the UCLA Medical Center, three blocks from where Lewis practiced with the Bruins.

This season, every time Lewis suits up he wears a strip of white tape around his left wrist with Pierce’s initials and jersey number scribbled in blue ink: “CP32.” It provides a reminder of fate’s vagaries.

“It’s like each play in a football game--it’s up and down,” Lewis said. “You’ve got to stay strong.

“And you can’t keep your mind on the last play, good or bad.”

There were just over three minutes remaining against Washington State when Lewis replaced Hicks.

On third and goal from the 11-yard line, the Bruins called a pass play in which the tight end and tailback were the primary receivers. Lewis caught the ball and stretched for the end zone.

“I thought I had scored,” he said. “I looked at the referee and he sort of looked at me.”

The ball was spotted 18 inches short of the goal line. Then came the defensive stop on fourth down. Lewis speaks briefly of that play, saying only that he turned upfield too soon and was quickly tackled.

The lessons he learned last season were not enough to blunt the hurt.

“It was just like being heartbroken,” Lewis said. “I took it real hard.”

His final statistics--two carries for minus-one yard, one reception for 10 yards--hardly fit the magnitude of the moment.

Afterward, free safety Shaun Williams offered comforting words.

“One play doesn’t lose a game,” Williams told Lewis. “You pick your head up. You get ready for Tennessee.”

The Bruins were doing just that on a recent afternoon at their practice field. Dozens of gold helmets glittered in the low sunlight as the offense finished work for a day.

Lewis was one of the smallest players on the field. He was also, quite noticeably, one of the quickest.

Cutting sharply on an outside run, he ducked beneath a defender’s outstretched arm and accelerated up the sideline.

A few moments later, he sprinted out of the backfield to take a long, arching pass in the far corner of the end zone.

“Jermaine is a very, very competitive kid,” Peete said. “I told him, ‘You can’t let that one play get you down and affect the rest of your season.’ ”

There is plenty to think about this week with the No. 3-ranked Volunteers coming to town. Lewis figures to get significant playing time in that and future games, especially with backup tailback Keith Brown battling a sore shoulder.

As the days pass, he is gaining perspective on last Saturday’s game. He is putting his experience to use.

“Every day you’ve got to do a little more,” Lewis said. “You’ve got to be more mature. You become a little wiser.”

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Bruin Pipeline

Other UCLA players from high schools in the region:

* Byron Carnes, redshirt freshman, El Camino Real: Will play behind established split ends Danny Farmer, Eric Scott and Brian Poli-Dixon.

* Dan Cotti, senior, Burbank: Backup tackle is likely to see extensive playing time.

* Gabe Crecion, sophomore, Chaminade: One of several Bruin tight ends, he caught one pass for seven yards last Saturday.

* Cody Joyce, freshman, Hart: Will play behind Jim McElroy, Rodney Lee and Scott Mitchell at flanker.

* Scott McEwan, freshman, Thousand Oaks: The 1996 PrepStar All-American quarterback will redshirt this season.

* Scott Mitchell, redshirt senior, Agoura: Listed third on the depth chart at flanker.

* Tyrone Pierce, redshirt senior, Sylmar: The tight end caught one pass for 14 yards against Washington State.

* Durell Price, sophomore, Sylmar: After playing tailback his freshman season, Price has switched to fullback and should see more action.

* Jason Rempel, redshirt junior, Calabasas: Will play behind Shawn Stuart and Matt Phelan at center.

* Mark Reynosa, redshirt sophomore, Sylmar: Running back takes his place behind a number of established players.

* Chris Sailer, junior, Notre Dame: Adds kicking to his punting duties this season.

* Bach Stabile, redshirt senior, Crespi: Walk-on kicker will back up Sailer so freshman Zak Haselmo can save a year of eligibility.

* Shawn Stuart, redshirt junior, Saugus: Returns as the Bruins’ starting center.

* Craig Walendy, junior, Westlake: Along with Price, he will see time at fullback.

* Shaun Williams, senior, Crespi: A defensive leader, he sprained his ankle in practice this week and is extremely doubtful for Saturday’s game.

* Jason Zdenek, redshirt freshman, Chaminade: This 6-foot, 186-pound free safety will move up the depth chart with Williams’ injury.