After win against Texas, Neuheisel gets help from supporting cast

Before he engineered a comeback victory over Texas last weekend, before he threw a 33-yard touchdown pass for the go-ahead score, and before he was carried off the field on the shoulder of his teammates, Jerry Neuheisel was just another backup quarterback trying to manage a game.

The sophomore got the call when starter Brett Hundley, the Heisman Trophy hopeful and the piece that makes the Bruins’ offense tick, injured his left elbow in the first quarter of a scoreless game. Neuheisel said this week that he was nervous but began to feel more confident as soon as he got into the huddle.

“It stems from us,” junior receiver Jordan Payton said on Thursday, referring the team’s starting offense. “When he got out there, it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, no.’ It was, ‘What are we going to do to get this done? How are we going to seal this win?’ And there was no question about it, because we knew Jerry knew everything. Once you have that confidence in someone who has it in themselves, it makes it pretty easy.”

Added Neuheisel on Wednesday: “When they looked at me, I was in the game and they all had complete confidence in me, then I knew we were ready to go. Coming out of the locker room at halftime, I knew for a fact we were going to win that game.”

It was the first time Neuheisel had gotten significant playing time, so the starting offense didn’t really know what to expect. He practices and studies like he’s the starter, but it’s harder to gauge how someone will do in an actual game until they’re out there. So, according to sophomore receiver Thomas Duarte, it was important for Neuheisel to know he didn’t have to try to win the game on his own.

“It’s a bunch of vets and guys who have been there, and then the backup jumps in, and it’s like, you can see the mixed feelings about him and everything, because you don’t really know how he’s going to perform and what he’s going to do until the first play happens,” Duarte said on Thursday. “We all came to the huddle and found out Jerry was going to be in, and we didn’t know what to expect. But you get in the huddle and you say, ‘Hey, come on, you’re the leader now, and let’s get it done.’ Because at UCLA, you have one job. If you do your one job, everything else will fall into place. Jerry’s job was to lead us, and it went the way we wanted.”

As soon as Neuheisel entered the game, Texas began loading the box and trying to pressure the new quarterback. Duarte said he knew Neuheisel was going to be fine as soon as the quarterback’s first drive ended in a field goal. The pressure didn’t seem to be bothering him.

“From right then, we knew he wasn’t messing around, and that he believed we were going to win,” Duarte said.

It also helped that Neuheisel’s receivers began to alter their games around their new quarterback. Hundley is mobile. Neuheisel is more of a pocket passer. So the wide receivers began trying to run faster routes, get out of breaks quicker and do whatever they could to make Neuheisel’s job easier.

“This was Jerry’s first game, really, so we knew he wasn’t going to be throwing the ball at first,” Payton said. “So we knew we had to go play as a team, take it to them, and block, block, block.”

Playing the role of backup quarterback isn’t easy. You have to prepare like a starter, even while knowing you might never get a shot at serious playing time. Moments to prove yourself in a game don’t come frequently.

When that time does come, making the most of it is important, not just for the time being but for down the road as well.

“I think that confidence is everything, just knowing he can play and get everything done,” Payton said. “For him, that’s unbelievable. Now it’s like having two starting quarterbacks on your roster. It definitely makes you take a step back and say, ‘Oh, wow. We don’t just have a Heisman candidate, we have a great backup in Jerry too, who took us to win a huge game for us at a pivotal time.’ It’s great for this team.”

For more Bruin observations, follow Everett Cook on Twitter @everettcook