Often it is your awareness in the seconds before center that has become Carson Schwesinger From zero star prospect to league hero UCLA defense.
When scanning players along the line of scrimmage, examine body position and gestures that can provide a clue.
Does the offensive tackle place both hands on his thighs? It will probably be a pass.
Does the quarterback lick his hands? He’s probably going to throw the ball.
Does the runner stand a certain way? He’s probably going to accept a transfer.
Descent and distance increase the probability that one play will be decided over another. Schwesinger mentally analyzes the possibilities. Then he runs to where he thinks the play is going to take place.
“Once the play starts,” Schwesinger said, “you really only have one or two possible play options and then you react based on them.”
Your instincts are usually correct.
In the first five starts of his career, the redshirt junior linebacker led the Bruins with double-digit tackles in each game. Twelve against the state of Louisiana. Thirteen against Oregon. Fifteen against Penn State. Thirteen against Minnesota. Ten against Rutgers.
“He’s a heat-seeking missile,” Bruins linebacker Kain Medrano said, “he just gets in there and wreaks havoc any way he can.”
Along the way, the former walk-on has become the Big Ten leader with 6.4 solo tackles per game as the Bruins (2-5 overall, 1-4 Big Ten) prepare to face Nebraska ( 5-3, 2-3). Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. He is also the first UCLA player to record double figures in tackles in five consecutive games since current Dallas Cowboys veteran Eric Kendricks did so in 2014 en route to winning the Butkus Award given to the nation’s top college linebacker. .
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His unlikely rise, combined with a perfectionist approach and wholesome demeanor, led a teammate to call him “Captain America.” Another chose “Sunshine,” a nod to the equally blonde hero of “Remember the Titans.”
“He’s just one of those guys who does everything right, who does everything for the team,” said UCLA safety Bryan Addison, who came up with the nickname “Captain America,” “and then he comes here on Saturdays and plays even better.” .”
What is most impressive is what Schwesinger does every other day of the week. Showing up to practice with the attitude that he must prove himself every time he takes the field, Schwesinger reintroduces himself to his teammates with another highlight play.
“In his opinion, he starts from scratch every day,” the defensive coordinator said. Ikaika Malloewho has made Schwesinger the centerpiece of his plan. “That’s a skill set that’s very rare and he understands that the way he managed to go down this path is not because he took a day off.”
Maybe that’s the only way to do things when you’ve been forced to prove yourself from the start.
The brothers had been playing soccer in the backyard for a long time, even coming up with creative games while jumping on the trampoline.
Now it was time for the younger brother to get serious.
His brother Ethan was already enrolled in a football league where the minimum age was 6, Carson was only 5. At least that’s what it said on his birth certificate.
Portraying the youngest son as a year older than him so the boys could play together meant Dennis Schwesinger could coach them simultaneously.
“I don’t know if it’s okay to say this or not,” Dennis said with a laugh, “but we weren’t altering his birth certificate to make him younger, we were making him older.”
Carson continued to play with older kids even as he advanced to tackle, and no one questioned his size or toughness. As he went from linebacker to defensive end to guard to running back to safety, his father’s words always echoed in his head.
“You’ve got to go in there and outwork them, outthink them, outperform them,” Dennis had told his son, “until no one has any doubt that you should be there.”
When he arrived at Oaks Christian High after one year at Santa Clarita Christian, it was nearly impossible to keep Schwesinger off the field. He played both ways, starring as safety and slot receiver. He also tended to play injured, forcing coach Charles Collins to keep an eye out for whether the brave man was trying to hide an injury.
When he wasn’t practicing or playing, Schwesinger could often be found diving into another film session.
“He’s what I call a football junkie,” Collins said. “He loves the ball, not just the football, but the actual part of the scheme, so that comes from film study and understanding the scheme and anticipation. Being on the other side of the ball, he has a unique advantage because he understands splits, spacing, distance and those types of things, which brings him to the play.”
While Schwesinger was indispensable to his high school team, bad timing limited his college opportunities. His senior year came during the COVID-19 pandemic. College coaches weren’t exactly flocking to campus.
When then-UCLA coach Chip Kelly asked about linebacker Ethan Calvert, Collins told him to consider Schwesinger. Eventually, Calvert left for Utah and Schwesinger became a Bruin after his only other offer, to a school he doesn’t remember today, would have required him to pay more in tuition.
“Sure enough, it ended up happening that Chip brought him there,” Collins said, “and he immediately saw exactly what he was talking about.”
The first impressions were made far from the place where it is today.
As a member of the special teams scout team, Schwesinger continued to make plays.
“I was blocking kicks (in practice) and I was wondering, what is he doing on the other side?” said Malloe, then the Bruins’ special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach. “I should get him on my side instead of him embarrassing my special teams.”
Working in the shadows, Schwesinger was encouraged when strength and conditioning coach Keith Belton learned his name and kept tabs on how he was doing. He was also defended by Malloe, who made a similar rise from walk-on to starting safety and linebacker on a Washington team that won a share of the Pac-10 title in 1995.
After never playing as a freshman, Schwesinger had dazzled enough in practice to earn a promotion ahead of his redshirt freshman season in 2022. Near the end of fall training camp, Schwesinger was one of the six players Kelly called in front of the team before making an announcement.
Now they were on scholarship.
In addition to the excitement he felt, Schwesinger also realized the importance of redoubling his determination.
“When it’s a goal you’ve worked for and it’s finally achieved,” he said, “you feel a sense of accomplishment, but you also wanted to keep going.”
Schwesinger appeared in every game in 2022 as a reserve linebacker and on special teams, making a combined 15 tackles. Last season, he reprized that role, making two tackles for loss among his 12 tackles.
A year later, he equaled or surpassed his tackle total from the 2023 season in four different games. His ability to predict the play has led to an exponential increase in production, as Malloe said that “between 60% and 70% of the game is won before the game.”
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Schwesinger’s special talent is matched by his ability to make the tackle once he meets the ball carrier. This requires knowing the player’s movements: will he try to run over him, spin around him, or beat him with a burst of speed?
“He understands not only the fundamentals that we work on,” Malloe said, “but how they apply to a particular individual.”
Malloe’s scheme revolves around his 6-foot-2, 225-pound playmaker, the defensive coordinator who does his best to funnel plays to wherever Schwesinger is on the field. That confidence, Schwesinger said, has allowed him to play freer and faster. He has also helped make the most plays on the team, including two sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss.
“You just get out of their way,” Malloe said. “If you let him be him, then we’ll be really good.”
One of the few times Schwesinger didn’t make the play this season, allowing Minnesota’s Darius Taylor to sneak out of the backfield for a last-minute touchdown catch to give the Golden Gophers a victory in the Rose Bowl, Malloe apologized to the linebacker Malloe said it was his play that doomed the Bruins.
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In the next practice, Schwesinger wanted to work on correcting the play so it wouldn’t happen again.
“That’s the part people don’t see: how intense it is to be perfect,” Malloe said. “He understands that it will be nothing more than the level of intensity and how much he studies film, for me he practices like a professional.”
Schwesinger’s film studies are rivaled only by his dedication to his bioengineering major. While most of his classmates slept, watched movies or chatted on the five-hour flight back from Rutgers, Schwesinger allowed himself a brief respite to finish watching “The Hangover” before turning to homework in preparation for a midterm exam.
If a career in professional football doesn’t work out, Schwesinger said, he could develop the next generation of wearable electronic devices in sports. Maybe you could even create something to help others develop their instincts before a play.
In the meantime, he’ll continue to work to remain a central part of UCLA’s defense, even if there appears to be no way to displace him now.
“No matter how good you think you are,” Schwesinger said, “you have to make sure everyone else thinks you’re good enough to place.”
This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.