UCLA Bruins have a leg up

As coaching rhetoric goes, this hardly ranks with "win one for the Gipper." Still, UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel has gone about convincing his team that sending punter Aaron Perez onto the field is not crying uncle.

When Perez casts his punts against blue-gray October sky, victory is at hand . . . really.

"People hear 'punt' and the first thought is, 'Oh we didn't score.' Or, 'we didn't get a first down,' " said Perez, a senior. "But if you have a punter who can help you in the field-position game, you put the defense on the field where it can create some turnovers or back the other team up and make them punt. The field keeps getting shorter and shorter, and you win."

This is a necessary philosophy for the Bruins this season. With an offense going through on-the-job training and a defense that has a hefty resume from the last two seasons, the best option sometimes is to have Perez give things a swift kick.

That was an integral part of the game plan against Tennessee in the opener. Perez averaged 46.8 yards a punt in the 27-24 victory, two that covered 55 yards.

This might not provide scintillating talk radio fodder, or make the cut on the highlight-reel editing, but to hear Neuheisel preach, this is football gospel.

"It's imperative that we make it a long field," Neuheisel said. "With Aaron Perez and his leg, we can do that. As we grow in terms of our explosiveness and our ability to run the ball, we've got to be mindful of field position. So punting is not a bad thing."

Perez never thought so.

He has been at it for eight years now, ever since a friend called him a week before freshman football season started for Covina Charter Oak High.

"He knew I was a good soccer player and said, 'Come out and kick for us,' " Perez said. "The first game I played in was the first time I was ever at a football game. Three games later, I was on the varsity."

Perez attacks his new hobby with the same competitive, obsessive style he reserves for video games.

"He can be obsessive," said Bruins long snapper Christian Yount, one of Perez's close friends. "The guy was once ranked No. 1 in the world at the FIFA online video game because he played it constantly. He's obsessive about ketchup. He puts it on everything. I've seen him ruin some good meals by putting ungodly amounts of ketchup on it."

That attitude prevented Perez from being satisfied with merely earning a scholarship.