UCLA coaches do not sound worried about Harwell’s absence this Saturday.
Walker expects our DL to be "fine":
But with Harwell suffering a tear in the medial collateral ligament in his left knee, the Bruins will go into Saturday planning to use only four tackles against Utah – despite the fact it is expected to be in the 80s at game time and Salt Lake City is 4,350 feet above sea level.
‘'I told them today, when you're trying to win a championship, you can't cry over spilled milk, you have to go,'' defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker said.
‘'It's going to be a mental thing for us, to be honest with you.''
The Bruins will travel with five defensive tackles, though the fifth has not yet been determined. Redshirt freshman Jeff Miller was brought up off the scout team and did some work with the defense on Wednesday, and redshirt freshman David Carter also could be an option.
But they would play only in an emergency, with Brown and Ward expected to start and Moline and Siewierski in backup roles at both the nose and the other tackle spot.
That is how they were aligned after Harwell went down after playing only 11 snaps against BYU. Ward played 50 against the Cougars. In the opener at Stanford, when the Bruins started rotating up front early because of the heat, the third tackle (Moline) played 42 snaps and the fourth and fifth tackles both were in for almost 20 plays.
‘'I know (defensive line coach Todd Howard) will try to play Kevin and Ward as much as possible, but they're going to need a blow. We have a lot of confidence in Moline and we have a lot of confidence in Jerzy, so I think we'll be fine,'' Walker said.
Glad to head Walker is not making excuses. He has experienced team leaders like Christian Taylor, who should be able to keep his unity steady and ready to deal with any kind of adversity.‘'I told them today, when you're trying to win a championship, you can't cry over spilled milk, you have to go,'' defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker said.
‘'It's going to be a mental thing for us, to be honest with you.''
The Bruins will travel with five defensive tackles, though the fifth has not yet been determined. Redshirt freshman Jeff Miller was brought up off the scout team and did some work with the defense on Wednesday, and redshirt freshman David Carter also could be an option.
But they would play only in an emergency, with Brown and Ward expected to start and Moline and Siewierski in backup roles at both the nose and the other tackle spot.
That is how they were aligned after Harwell went down after playing only 11 snaps against BYU. Ward played 50 against the Cougars. In the opener at Stanford, when the Bruins started rotating up front early because of the heat, the third tackle (Moline) played 42 snaps and the fourth and fifth tackles both were in for almost 20 plays.
‘'I know (defensive line coach Todd Howard) will try to play Kevin and Ward as much as possible, but they're going to need a blow. We have a lot of confidence in Moline and we have a lot of confidence in Jerzy, so I think we'll be fine,'' Walker said.
GO BRUINS.