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New offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Tom Cable barks out instructions to his lineme

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He is a big man, striding confidently among other big men, all of them together faced with a tremendous responsibility.

He barks out instructions, and they listen, because they respect him. They believe this is the time to show what they are, and to effectively prove what they are not.

He is Tom Cable, UCLA’s first-year offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, and they are his men – his big men – his offensive line.

“My passion is those big guys,” said Cable, who joined the Bruin staff in January after four years as head coach at Idaho. “My passion is trying to find a way to move the ball and get a group of guys to believe in each other and go out and have fun.”

That word – fun – is certainly welcome to the offensive linemen, who just weren’t having much of it last year. The big men up front were forced to endure the majority of the criticism for the team’s anemic offense last season, and perhaps rightly so.

The numbers speak for themselves, as the Bruins ranked last in the Pac-10 in rushing offense (91.9 yards per game), and ninth in total offense (294.9 ypg). UCLA finished 110 out of 117 Division I-A teams in total offense, and the offensive line surrendered an astounding 51 sacks.

“Anytime you have a year like last year as an offense and as an offensive line, you come out pissed off, and you have something to prove to everybody, including yourself,” junior tackle Ed Blanton said.

That’s what it’s all about for these guys – proving that last season is behind them, and proving that they can be relied on to ensure a successful season on offense.

Turning the much-maligned group into a unit of confident winners is Cable’s task. And if the progress from last spring to the present they speak so much about is any indication, this year’s offensive line will be a far cry from last year’s, even though the players are the same. In the opener, UCLA will likely start Blanton and senior Paul Mociler at the tackle positions, junior Mike McCloskey at center, and senior Steven Vieira and junior Robert Cleary at the guard spots.

“The kids have been awesome,” Cable said. “That’s probably what’s made it the most fun for me. The players this year have changed who they want to be from what they were. If you can continue that, it can be fun for everybody.”

What they were was a disgruntled group, unhappy with the losing, the criticism, the numerous sacks allowed. But following the Bruins’ final game last season, a loss to Fresno State in the Silicon Valley Classic that ran the team’s losing streak to five, things started to change. Mark Weber, last year’s offensive line coach, was fired, and Cable was brought in to help save the sinking ship.

Cable’s offensive resume is impressive, though his head coaching stats are less than stellar. Cable lost the Idaho job after posting a four-year record of 11-35, but his teams averaged 424.1 total yards-per-game during his tenure. In two of Cable’s four seasons, the Vandals finished among the top 10 in the country in total offense.

Prior to being hired at Idaho, his alma mater, in 2000, Cable worked with UCLA coach Karl Dorrell at Colorado. Cable was the offensive line coach in 1998 when Dorrell was the offensive coordinator, and filled Dorrell’s position the following year when Dorrell left to become the Denver Broncos’ wide receivers coach. Both men have the same offensive philosophy, centered in the West Coast Offense, and Cable was such a logical hire that Dorrell and Cable had discussions before Dorrell’s first season about the fiery redhead possibly joining the Bruin staff.

“His personality is felt,” Dorrell said. “Tom is a very meticulous, very passionate coach, and he coaches with that passion.

“That provides us a strong sense of belonging. He has a great connection with the guys he coaches, and they understand him.”

Cable was initially hired as just the offensive line coach, but he was later given the offensive coordinator role when Steve Axman, last year’s coordinator, was let go in February.

While many things have changed with the offense and the offensive line off the field, it remains to be seen if those changes will be reflected positively in a real game situation. The players, at least, say things are already different.

“We put last year in the past, and we have high expectations (for the offensive line) this year,” junior quarterback Drew Olson said.

Olson feels better about the offensive line, and the linemen undoubtedly feel better about themselves.

“We’re definitely ready to come out and show people what we’ve got,” said McCloskey, the team’s starting center. “We think we’re going to work a lot better this year. We’re going to work as a team. Everything just seems to be moving forward and coming together.

“The offensive line is definitely going to prove something this year.”

That idea seems to be firmly instilled in the minds of the linemen – proof that the failures of last year are gone, but not totally forgotten. And Cable understands what it was like.

“I’ve seen the tapes (from last year), and I think this: What’s done is done. That’s yesterday’s news, and that’s how I’m addressing it with them. You can ask yourself what you did for that to happen, and I think that’s where they’ve changed – their work ethic, their commitment level, their attention to detail.

“They’re learning how to do those things, and it’s getting better and better. That’s how you succeed.”

You also succeed by having faith in your coach, something that clearly wasn’t present last year. Cable’s coaching style, infused with confidence and passion, has translated into an improved unit. Cable doesn’t waste words; he means what he says and believes in the system wholeheartedly.

“We’ve gotten so much better with the offensive line and the offense,” Blanton said. “It’s just so much better, I can’t even put it into words. Coach Cable’s been pretty much the whole reason.”

Cable has simplified things for the offensive line, making schemes as black and white as possible. It is also a huge benefit for the line to have a coach who has such an intimate understanding of the offense as a whole.

“It’s big when you have your offensive line coach as your coordinator because the foundation of your offense begins up front,” Dorrell said, adding that the offensive line is just as important as the quarterback.

That foundation is also stronger than it was last year. The team has been working with strength and conditioning coach E.J. “Doc” Kreis for over a year now, and the entire offensive line is more powerful than last year. But physical strength means little without the mental fortitude to accompany that strength. That’s something Cable has been working on.

“The biggest thing I worry about is how we handle getting better,” Cable said. “How do you handle success? We’ve had some times, on both sides of the ball, where we’ve had good days and we’ve had bad days. It’s been good to see them come back from a rough day. It’s been frustrating sometimes to see how they handle that good day.”

Cable said he wants his line to take “big guy steps” every day, to continue to get better and better. He’s not happy with baby steps, because they won’t get things done at this level.

“You’re not going to succeed by just throwing your jock on the field because you’re a big guy,” Cable said. “They’re realizing that. It takes a heck of a lot more than saying ‘I’m a guard, I’m a big guy, and I’m going to do it.’ It doesn’t happen like that.”

It happens with hard work. It happens with confidence and trust in your teammates. It happens when you believe in your coach, and your coach believes in you.

The swagger is certainly not there, but the confidence does appear to be coming back. Come Sept. 4, the Rose Bowl will act as the ultimate testing ground for this group of big guys that has been kicked around for too long.

“There’s only one way to go now, and that makes it easy,” McCloskey said. “There’s no real pressure to perform from everyone else. The only people we have to impress are ourselves, and that’s our constant goal.”

Impressing Cable is no easy task. It’s a big job, for big men, with big responsibilities.