UCLA's Olson ready to shift attention to football

By JOE CURLEY
Scripps Howard News Service
Friday, August 03, 2007

Already the oldest player on what is being billed as the Pacific-10 Conference's most experienced team, UCLA quarterback Ben Olson, 24, gave that statistic even more weight during the offseason.

He got married.

Olson married the former Andrea Anderson, a young singer introduced to him by a mutual friend, after a year's courtship May 11 in St. George, Utah.

"They can really call me the old guy now," joked Olson this week, via phone from his new wife's family home in St. George.

Call it the first hitch pattern of UCLA's 2007 football season.

Olson, the only player on the roster born before 1984, was already considered one of the team's more mature student-athletes. He missed the 2003 and 2004 seasons at Brigham Young while on a church mission in western Canada and was named 2006 Pac-10 All-Academic honorable mention despite missing half the season with a knee injury.

"I really don't feel that much older," said Olson. "Although there is a different responsibility being married and having a wife."

It's a little bit more than having one more teammate.

"Being married is the best thing in the world because it's a partnership," said Olson. "We were just talking about this the other day. I'll never go through anything by myself again."

It's not a thinly veiled reference to last December, when Olson, despite being promised a return to his starting position upon his return from injury, was forced to watch Patrick Cowan play in both the Bruins' season-defining victory over USC and Emerald Bowl loss to Florida State.

"I didn't really feel alone in that sense, I had my immediate family," said Olson. "And (Andrea) was there with me through the whole season last year. She was a huge support for me during some of the difficult times that I went through."

Olson started the first five games of the season, before tearing the medial collateral ligament in his left knee in the first quarter against Arizona.

Olson had completed 64 percent of his passes for 822 yards and five touchdowns, all to different receivers.

He completed 25 of 33 passes for 318 yards and three touchdowns in his starting debut against Utah, leading the team on a 79-yard scoring drive on his first possession as a starter. The 318 yards represented the most in UCLA history for a starting quarterback making a winning debut.

Football convention may dictate a starter doesn't lose his position by injury. But tell that to Olson, who, despite returning to health, watched his understudy Cowan play in the two biggest games of the season.

"It's something that's kind of funny," said Olson. "I did learn a lot from the experience that I went through last year. Things don't always go like you plan them. That's how life is. You just need to adjust and move forward. Last year was a prime example of that."

In that vein, Olson, who won the starting job back in spring practice, looks forward to this fall.

"You can't dwell on the past," said Olson. "This is a new year and it's exciting."

Instead, Big Ben is excited about entering fall camp as the starter for the first time in his career.

He has the reins of a team that returns 20 starters -- 10 on both sides of the ball.

"We just want to win football games," said Olson. "We have a lot of experience now. We have the players we believe can do some big things, which is why the expectations are big this year. We just have to go out there and turn that potential into results."

His offensive line returns 13 of the 14 players listed on the Emerald Bowl depth chart, that combine for 90 starts, plus tight ends Ryan Moya and Logan Paulsen, who is on the Mackey Award watch list. His potential targets include seniors Marcus Everett, Brandon Breazell and Joe Cowan, plus budding youngsters Gavin Ketchum and Terrence Austin.

"We've got a lot of really talented receivers," said Olson. "We're expecting to make a lot of plays."

He's hoping to make plenty in the home opener Sept. 8 against BYU, his former school.

"It'll be fun," said Olson, "There's a couple guys on the team that I know very well, but I'm not looking into it as anything more than just another game."

Even if the Cougars linebacking corps includes Bryan Kehl, Olson's former roommate, and David Nixon, who Olson hosted as a recruit.

"I'll ask him what defenses they're going to run and what blitzes they're going to bring," joked Olson of Kehl. "I'm sure he'll give me that information."

Before reporting to camp this weekend, Olson spent his last week of summer resting in Utah with his new in-laws. Even floating on the lake with his nose out of the playbook, the game wasn't very far behind.

"Her dad coaches (football) at a local high school," said Olson of his new wife, Andrea. "So she knows quite a bit about football. She gives me tips."