Between the three of them, they have three career starts.
To the three of them, that means nothing.
For UCLA’s projected starting linebackers, Reggie Carter,
Christian Taylor and Aaron Whittington, this Saturday’s
performance against Utah is the only thing worth caring about.
“People talk about our lack of experience and our problems
last season,” Taylor said. “But Saturday is an entirely
new season, and people will be surprised.”
Taylor, a former walk-on, is the leader of the Bruins’
revamped defense, as well as the linebacker unit that lost all
three of its starters a year ago.
Taylor knows the Bruins are quite undersized and inexperienced
at all three positions, but with coach DeWayne Walker’s new
defensive attacking style, Taylor is confident the linebackers can
overcome that.
“Our job is pretty simple in this defense,” Taylor
said. “We have our reads and we find our gaps, and we attack
them. There is no waiting involved like (there was) last
year.”
This Saturday, Taylor will be helped on the ends by Carter and
Whittington, both of whom have shown signs of brilliance during
fall camp.
Carter’s performance propelled him from working with the
second and third teams at the beginning of camp, to being the
projected starter this Saturday.
“It’s all happened so fast,” Carter, who
redshirted last season, said. “I can’t say I’m
surprised, but I would be lying to you if I told you I expected to
be in this position so quickly.”
Carter, who was a highly regarded recruit out of Crenshaw High
School, earned the spot over projected starter Eric McNeal.
Whittington won his spot due to the suspension of fellow linebacker
John Hale as well as his performance in fall camp.
To coach Karl Dorrell, Carter’s performance in fall camp
is just a carryover from the effort he showed last year on the
scout team, during which he earned the Charles Pike Award for being
the most outstanding scout team player.
“He certainly has some talent,” Dorrell said.
“I always liked what Reggie can provide for our football
team, and he is certainly showing it now,” he continued.
Carter is out to change the perception people had of last
year’s defense, which finished 113th out of 119 NCAA teams in
total defense.
“(A) lot of people have the perception that we’re
soft,” Carter said. “Well, in Crenshaw, we were always
hard-hitting teams, and I’m going to bring that to
UCLA.”
This Saturday, that new mentality will certainly be put to the
test, as Utah brings its spread, high-powered offense to the Rose
Bowl.
In fact, the Utes scored 38 or more points in five of their 12
games last season, and averaged 473 yards per game.
“They certainly won’t be an easy opponent to start
off against,” Taylor said. “But we’ll be ready.
Playing in the Pac-10, we’re used to seeing high-powered
offenses.”
If Taylor is right, the Pac-10 and the rest of the country could
see a completely different Bruin linebacker corps this season.