Great expectations

Wednesday, November 12, 1997

Great expectations

FOOTBALL Can one of UCLA’s brightest stars live up to his
potential?

By Mark Dittmer

Daily Bruin Staff

With nine games down and two to go, Skip Hicks has rushed for
878 yards on 177 carries. For a running back at this point in the
college football season, those are pretty good numbers.

But for UCLA’s Hicks, it’s a lot harder to define just what
"pretty good numbers" are.

"When I came in here I was thinking I’d come here for three
years, win a Heisman, get 2,000 yards a couple of times, and be the
first pick of the (NFL) draft," Hicks said.

Four years have passed since Hicks arrived in Westwood in 1993.
Hicks is not in the NFL; he is not a Heisman Trophy winner, and he
has not come close to a 2,000-yard season.

Nor is he a failure. The fifth-year senior is on pace to be
UCLA’s leading rusher for the second straight season, and he has
scored more points than any other player in UCLA history.

But for all of the accomplishments in his college football
career, it is tempting to ask if Hicks might be doing more. Is
there more untapped potential left in Skip Hicks?

* * *

Hicks’ performances for UCLA have seen more ups and downs than
the stock market.

After a successful freshman year in which Hicks was the first
true freshman ever to lead the Bruins in rushing (563 yards), Hicks
injured his knee during the off-season and missed the beginning of
his sophomore season.

With Hicks out, fellow sophomore Sharmon Shah began to establish
himself as one of the nation’s best running backs. Hicks played
behind Shah (who has since changed his name to Karim Abdul-Jabbar)
in 1994 and 1995.

"It’s very frustrating knowing that I have the ability to do a
lot of those things but not being able to do it because of injury,"
Hicks said of the two years he spent waiting for his chance in the
spotlight.

When Abdul-Jabbar left for the pros, Hicks was once again the
starting tailback in UCLA’s backfield. In his two years as an
understudy, Hicks hadn’t lost any of his confidence.

Hicks wasted no time before publicly setting goals for himself:
He set his sights on a 1,500-yard season and 20 touchdowns.

"I always had confidence in myself, even through the injuries,"
Hicks said. "I knew that if I was ever to come back I’d be able to
do the same things."

Hicks’ return was – you guessed it – up and down.

On the upside, Hicks rushed for just over 1,000 yards and
reached his goal of 20 touchdowns with four touchdowns in the
Bruins’ final game against USC.

"I started off kind of good and then hit a slump, and then
peaked out there at the end of the season," Hicks said.

When the slump came, Hicks heard about it. He came under fire
from the coaching staff for playing below his potential.

"Skip Hicks has got too much ability to be satisfied with the
way he’s been playing," UCLA head coach Bob Toledo said of Hicks
after UCLA lost to Michigan, 38-9.

"I’m trying to find out what his hot button is and see if I can
make him mad. Mad at me or mad at the defense, so he’ll run
harder."

Hicks bounced back up to rush for 175 yards against Oregon the
next week. But after Hicks ran for just eight yards on seven
carries against Washington two games later, Toledo opened up
competition for the running back spot.

"We are going to see who can hang on to the ball and can fight
for some yards," Toledo said, alluding to Hicks’ two fumbles in the
preceding two games.

Hicks was able to defend the spot in practice, and he came back
strong the next week with 146 yards rushing against California.

Since then, Toledo has gone off the offensive, and Hicks has
been playing up to Toledo’s expectations.

* * *

Each runner has his own style, and Hicks’ style may add to the
perception of some that he is not playing up to his potential.

"He’ll never run as hard as I want him to from his alignment to
the line of scrimmage ’cause that’s not his style," Toledo said
Monday as his Bruins prepare to meet the Washington Huskies. "I
want him to hit the line of scrimmage real fast and that’s not
Skip. He’s a glider and when he sees a crack he accelerates and
he’s got great speed."

Toledo and assistant coaches also note that from a distance, it
doesn’t look like Hicks is running hard, even when he is.

"He’s an interesting guy," Skip Peete, UCLA running back coach,
said of Hicks. "He’s a very talented individual and a lot of things
come easy to him. When you see him run, a lot of people say, ‘he’s
not running fast,’ but he’s running fast. He just has that motion
to him where he looks effortless."

Toledo agrees.

"I think he’s always trying. I think he gives the impression
that he’s not running hard. It looks like that. If you’re a fan in
the stands it appears that way."

Hicks’ running motion is something he doesn’t intend to change.
But he is working on another of his tendencies, a habit he’s trying
to break: Hicks fumbles too much.

Though coaches say it’s been less of a problem this year, a
Hicks fumble against Tennessee may have cost UCLA that game.

"Fumbling is a weird deal," Peete explains, "because some guys
are good backs and for whatever reason they give up the ball. Some
of the fumbles that he’s had have been where he’s been really loose
with the ball. But I think he’s doing a better job of trying to
secure that and keep the ball closer to his body."

* * *

This season, Hicks’ starting spot has never been in question. He
is averaging more yards per carry and is putting together a more
consistent season week in and week out.

Still, there are plenty of ups and downs.

For instance, Hicks showed how great he can be by running his
first carry of this season 92 yards to the Washington St. 2-yard
line. He rushed for 190 yards in that game, but he was also the
goat of that game, missing in action on the game’s final play. UCLA
would come up short on fourth-and-one, with Hicks on the sideline
in large part due to a miscommunication between himself and
Toledo.

And then Hicks went through another up, rushing for 80 yards on
16 carries against Tennessee and catching seven passes for 117
yards. But then came a low: Hicks fumbled on a potentially
game-winning drive late in the game, and the Bruins eventually lost
by six.

He has improved enough to satisfy, UCLA coaches … sort of.
Toledo says that Hicks is playing up to his potential, but he also
claims to have expectations for Skip that he knows can never be
met.

"It’s just … he doesn’t hit the line of scrimmage as fast as I
want him to," Toledo says. "Everybody’s got their own style, and
that’s his."

And so Toledo is at once satisfied with his star tailback while
at the same time claiming he will never be satisfied. It’s a
paradox that Hicks feels he can take in stride.

"What they’re probably saying is that I’m playing up to their
potential of what they’re expecting of me … but I have so much
more that I can do," Hicks said. "If I work harder, there’s no
telling what I’d be able to do, what I’d be able to get."

AARON TOUT/Daily Bruin

Skip Hicks, a fifth-year senior, has scored more points than any
other player in UCLA history.