Manning the field

UCLA cornerback Ricky Manning bounded off Spaulding Field
looking like Tigger prior to the Washington game last year. He
seemed to skip from the 20-yard line to the locker room in three
hops, as if he were on a trampoline.

“Is that Reggie Williams on the phone?” he had asked
a reporter conducting a telephone interview a few minutes earlier.
What ensued were five unprintable minutes of trash talk that hyped
Manning to the point that he was not sure he could sleep for four
whole nights before playing Washington.

“You can’t keep Ricky from being amped up,”
UCLA head coach Bob Toledo said of the fourth-year student.

That is why, despite being 21 years-old, playing professional
baseball, driving a 2002 Cadillac Escalade, and talking about bills
and credit like a middle-aged banker, Manning has a baby-sitter.
Graduate assistant Mike Babcock has the task of watching Manning
before games to make sure he does not get into trouble.

“Because I used to go over and sit by them and watch their
routes and talk a little trash. Every receiver you can think of, I
got into it with them,” said Manning, who has been All Pac-10
both of the last two seasons.    

Manning’s style has changed considerably since last year,
in part because of well-publicized trouble off the field.

In August, Manning was arrested for one count of felony assault
stemming from a fight outside a local bar in April. According to
Manning, he tried to quash a disagreement between a friend of his
and one of the alleged victims. The men, who were older and
intoxicated, then waited for Manning outside the bar. A fight
ensued between the two parties, which Manning and his companions
won. Manning, who broke his hand, told head coach Bob Toledo the
next day, but never thought any legal action would come from
it.

“I asked him what had happened. He explained it to me, and
at that point I felt good about what he was telling me. In my
opinion he was trying to protect himself,” said Toledo, who
emphasized he was still unhappy that Manning was involved in a
fight.

The case has yet to go to trial ““ if it ever does. But it
has already aged Manning, who chose to remain outside of Westwood
when his roommate, fourth-year punter Nate Fikse, wanted to return
to the chaos of campus life.

While the incident changed Manning’s off-field lifestyle,
his maturity on the field came from the gridiron and the meeting
rooms. In spite of the public image the arrest gave Manning, he was
affected by a video on sportsmanship.

“Warren Sapp was going against Brett Favre. You can hear
the mike, they are talking loud during the game and  they are
like, “˜I almost got you there Brett’. It stayed with
me,” Manning said. “I want to be someone who is liked,
not thought of as a jerk.”

Perhaps the video was not quite enough. After starting the
season with a new attitude, it took one of his worst games to make
Manning his best. At Oklahoma State, Manning was repeatedly
out-jumped by 1,000-yard receiver RaShaun Woods who finished the
game with seven catches for 143 yards. Manning finished with four
pass interference penalties. Although Manning felt mentally alert
but physically unwell at that game, it quieted him.

“If I focus every play, I won’t get beat and if I
do, I’m getting beat at 100 percent going 100 miles an
hour,” Manning said. “One thing I did in the San Diego
State game was really focus instead of getting all involved
emotionally and going back and forth with the trash
talking.”

At San Diego State Manning matched up on J.R. Tolver and held
the nation’s leading receiver at that time, to three catches
for 30 yards.  

“I still get in their heads but in a different way. Last
year I got in their heads with my performance and mainly my
mouth,” Manning said. “This year I toned it down. If
they are intimidated, it is by watching film and watching what I do
to other receivers. If not, oh well, they’ll see the
results.”

The payoff has been three interceptions, four pass defenses, one
forced fumble, and 27 tackles so far this season.

“If you had 11 Ricky Mannings you’d almost win every
game I think. No one gives any more effort than Ricky
Manning,” Toledo said. “He doesn’t just talk the
talk, he walks the walk.”

Even the opposing coaches agree.

“Manning plays with a lot of swagger and deservedly
so,” Washington head coach Rick Neuheisel said.

Last year, Manning held Washington’s Reggie Williams to
four catches for 61 yards during a season where he set a Pac-10
record for freshmen with 55 catches for 973 yards. This year
Williams is averaging 107 yards per game and the second-year
student is already fourth on UW’s all-time career receiving
list.

“Last year he was a freshman, he had a lot of stuff to
learn, that is why he couldn’t really do anything against
me,” Manning said. “We’ll see how much he has
improved.”

While Williams undoubtedly will be more prepared to play this
year, Manning has more than enough intensity to match him.

“It is hard to find guys Ricky’s age with that
spirit,” defensive coordinator Phil Snow said.

With the coaching staff watching over him, Manning will stalk
the sidelines. Away from bills and legal troubles and baseball
contracts, he will be focused. And in three hops, Manning will be a
boy again.