• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

The bait was there, but Craig Bragg refused to bite.

Cornered by a pack of reporters after practice one day last month, the senior wide receiver was asked who he would like to play with if he could add any current college football player to the Bruin roster.

“No one,” he said.

No one? Surely Bragg must salivate at the thought of Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jason White zipping passes to him across the middle, or All-American wide receiver Braylon Edwards lining up opposite him at wide receiver, right?

Bragg shook his head again. The only “newcomer” he coveted had already arrived.

Tab Perry, an academic casualty last season and one of Bragg’s closest friends, is back in Westwood preparing for his senior season pending NCAA approval. That will only mean more open field and less double teams for Bragg, the Bruins’ most potent offensive weapon.

It’s easy to forget just how good Bragg was last season because the UCLA offense was simply that bad. Take the bowl game against Fresno State last December. The Bruins were terrible. Bragg, however, was sensational.

Slowed by the thick mud at Spartan Stadium and harassed by double and even triple coverage, Bragg somehow snared five passes for 71 yards and a touchdown. Not impressed? Well, consider that the rest of the UCLA receiving corps combined for 25 yards and never once sniffed the end zone.

Don’t expect too many more games like that this season now that the sure-handed Perry is back in the fold.

Last year’s No. 2 receivers, Ryan Smith and Junior Taylor, had a knack for dropping key passes and vanishing with the game on the line. Perry, on the other hand, is a proven playmaker.

A two-year starter, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Perry is a big physical receiver blessed with NFL-caliber talent and Pop Warner charm. He averaged a Pac-10 best 19.9 yards per reception in 2002, stretching the defense with his speed and allowing Bragg to thrive underneath.

Perry, who is still learning Karl Dorrell’s West Coast Offense, has taken some reps with the first team, but hasn’t officially solidified a starting spot yet. But rest assured he will, possibly even for this week’s season opener against Oklahoma State.

Once the NCAA gives him the green light, which could happen as soon as today, Dorrell shouldn’t wait long before he gives Perry the starting nod. Not unless he hopes to recreate last year’s one-dimensional snooze-fest of a passing game, anyway.

As the only returning starter at a skill position last year, Bragg never once complained last fall that his teammates weren’t getting it done. It’s not in his nature. But that doesn’t mean he is not thrilled to see Perry back in uniform.

Bragg, who actually looked into the feasibility of Perry returning last spring, repeatedly encouraged his friend to come back to UCLA. It didn’t take much prodding.

So now Perry is back, Manuel White is healthy, Marcedes Lewis is focused, and Bragg is finally going to have some help.

“I was the main focus (last year), but this year we have a lot of weapons,” Bragg said.

“It’s going to help all of us. We probably won’t see a lot of double coverage.”

Like many of his teammates, Bragg is optimistic that UCLA’s offensive woes are behind them, and he might be right. There’s no quarterback controversy. Dorrell and his coaching staff are finally on the same page. The offensive line seems to have gelled.

All that will certainly help, but the key to freeing up Bragg should be the return of Perry. A year ago, Bragg, as good as he was, could not invigorate the UCLA offense by himself.

Together, they just might.

Eisenberg’s column will run every Monday during the UCLA football season.

E-mail him at jeisenberg@media.ucla.edu.