Perry Adjusting to Different Role

UCLA’s Tab Perry knows better than anyone that it’s often not how you start but how you finish. That’s why the senior wide receiver is so excited about the Bruins’ final four games, starting Saturday against Stanford at the Rose Bowl.

“I started feeling good a couple of games ago,” said Perry, who has caught eight passes for 127 yards the last two weeks. “It’s like the light turned on in the Cal game. That’s when I started feeling like my old self.”

After sitting out last season and then being dismissed from school for academic reasons in January, Perry had to work hard to regain his eligibility. After being cleared to rejoin the team, he had only five catches in the first five games.

“It’s a lot different now because we have a number of younger guys on the team,” Perry said. “It took me a while to understand my role on the team. It’s changed from being a big-play guy to now being more of a team leader.”

Playing against Stanford is always special for Perry, whose parents and older sister attended the Palo Alto school.

“My whole family went there, but we don’t really talk about it much,” he said. “Since I’m from the Bay Area and Stanford is a Bay Area team, this always is a big game. And since this is my last one, I want to do well.”

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With redshirt freshman safety Chris Horton out because of a sprained right foot, UCLA’s secondary packages will look a little different against Stanford.

“[Dennis] Keyes and Eric McNeal will be the nickel and dime players along with all the regular secondary starters,” Coach Karl Dorrell said. “The only change is that Chris Horton is out of that equation now with Eric and Dennis filling in those roles.”

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Freshman offensive tackle Chris Joseph, who blocked on the field-goal unit the first five games of the season, is done for the season because of a partially torn knee ligament. Dorrell said Joseph would have surgery within the next two weeks and would sit out spring practice.