Kendricks leads Bruin defense into Oregon game

Eric Kendricks likes to hit. That surprises no one, except maybe Eric Kendricks.

The redshirt senior linebacker – who populates nearly every defensive award watch list – roams the field with a controlled chaos. A 6-foot, 230 pound, guided missile directed at the ball carrier, Kendricks collides with offensive players with unbridled enthusiasm and energy.

But it wasn’t always this way.

“My mentality was totally different,” Kendricks said with a laugh. “Growing up I played a lot of running back, and man, there were some times out there when I was scared and stuff like that.”

If that sounds funny to Kendricks, who led the Pac-12 in tackles in 2012, then it certainly does to anyone who has watched UCLA’s third all-time leading tackler over the past four years.

The Fresno native began playing football in the sixth grade on the same team as his older brother, Mychal. Their nearly one-and-a-half-year age difference forced the younger Kendricks to keep up with players older than him.

“(We) always played on the same teams even though I was a lot younger,” Kendricks said. “I was always faced with adversity. (But) it was always awesome and I wouldn’t change it for anything.”

As odd as it may sound, Kendricks said he played timidly throughout his middle school years, daunted by the bumps and bruises he sustained.

That quickly changed.

Eric watched Mychal, later a Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year for Cal in 2011 and current linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles, star for Herbert Hoover High School’s varsity football team as a running back and linebacker.

When his brother received scholarship offers to play football at the college level, the younger Kendricks realized his childhood dream of playing football for UCLA was a possibility, and changed his approach to the game.

“About a couple games into the season I kind of flipped the switch and started not caring about my well-being,” Kendricks joked. “ I just started taking (football) more serious my freshman year, and sophomore year I was on varsity and the rest is history.”

Kendricks learned to hit. Just as important, he learned to take one, too.

***

Late in the 2013 season, 11 days before UCLA’s bowl game against Virginia Tech, Kendricks’ body had finally had enough.

The then-redshirt junior linebacker underwent surgery on his right ankle, an injury that plagued him all year.

It was hardly the only one.

Last October, Kendricks was taken to the hospital at half time of UCLA’s game against Stanford to have his kidney checked out for what was later determined to be a back bruise.

A week later Kendricks took an anesthetic shot to keep him on the field against Oregon. A sprained shoulder would keep him off of it. The injury left him in tears, not because of the pain, but because it forced UCLA’s leading tackler to watch helplessly from the sideline as the Ducks cruised to a 42-14 victory.

Midway through the season, Kendricks had three separate injuries that would typically merit an extended stay on the sideline.

Kendricks, however, missed just one game in the regular season, sitting out UCLA’s tilt with Colorado.

“Nine out of 10 guys wouldn’t have played with the injuries he had, there’s no doubt about that,” said defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, who spent 10 seasons in the NFL. “Not only did he play, he played at a high level. You know he’s going to play this game for a living because of that.”

Like he did as a reluctant sixth-grade running back, Kendricks willingly played through the pain. Though he said that sitting out was “always in the back of (his) head” and teammates told him he could take time off, Kendricks soldiered on.

That determination to play has endeared him to coaches and scouts alike, but, most importantly, to his teammates. Over the last two years, Kendricks has emerged as the undisputed leader of the UCLA defense, serving as its captain for each of the last two seasons.

“Him going through all that … it’s another testament to how much he cares about this team, how much he cares about us and how much he will fight for us,” said sophomore nose tackle Kenny Clark. “It just shows us that we also need to play for him … we just need to look on that and play like E.K.”

Kendricks’ resolve and intensity make him an inspiring leader.

His willingness to sacrifice his body makes him a great linebacker.

But it’s his mind that makes him a special player.

***

Flashback to the Stanford game a year ago. In the two quarters Kendricks played, the UCLA defense allowed just a field goal. With Kendricks removed, the Cardinal put 21 points on the board in the second half.

The reason for the difference?

Well, it helps to know what’s coming. Play after play in the first half, Kendricks barked out exactly what the Cardinal offense had dialed up, totaling 10 tackles before his exit.

“It got to a point, I think on the second drive that he told us every single play that was coming,” said sophomore linebacker Myles Jack. “I remember one time he called out a play and he said ‘lead left’ and the lineman kind of looked up at him and smiled because he was calling out every single play and he was correct.”

Kendricks’ clairvoyance is rooted in the same seriousness and dedication that allowed him to learn to love to tackle as a high school freshman and persevere through a rash of injuries a year ago.

“He’s become a student of this game, as focused and as hard as he works out here on the practice field, he’s the same way in the meeting rooms,” Ulbrich said. “He’s a guy that this means a lot to him, it really does. And that’s put on full display every Saturday when he goes out there.”

Now, with his injuries behind him, Kendricks is free to focus on not what he is facing, but who he is facing. On this coming Saturday, that means Oregon. And Oregon means a stringent test for a defense dealing with early season adversity.

Adversity, however, is one thing Kendricks isn’t worried about.

“I feel like I can go against anything and prevail,” said Kendricks of what he learned from last year. “I’m excited for this week and I’m going to work my butt off this week and get ready for this game. I couldn’t be more happy.”