(upbeat music)
- This is a linebacker.
This is that linebacker lined up
in the offensive back field.
And this is him taking a fourth quarter hand off
66 yards for a back breaking touchdown.
(crowd cheering)
- [Announcer] How about that!
- This guy ran and tackled and scored his way
to winning both the defensive and offensive, Pac 12,
Freshman of the Year honors.
The thing is, this whole situation almost
didn't happen.
Which means we all would have been deprived
of what made Myles Jack's 2013 season,
the absolute best.
(drum beat)
As a true freshman for the Bruin's,
he quickly proved his place, by flying all over the field
and making Jim Mora look competent.
Which is even wilder given his age.
See this shit?
That's a 17 year old making the play.
UCLA had a lot of good players that year,
so Jack started the season a little under
the national radar.
He snagged a game sealing interception
against Utah, got some cardio in on the return,
and then followed that up against Cal
by leading the team in tackles.
And granted, UCLA stumbled at number 13 Stanford
and number two Oregon, but Jack helped
the Bruin's maintain a number 25 ranking
the entire season.
That's especially nuts considering it was done
in a Pac 12 conference where half the teams
were ranked at season's end.
But what we're really here for is November 9th, 2013.
Myles Jack's coming out party in Tucson.
After UCLA got hit with injuries
at the running back position,
Mora started tinkering with a power package.
The goal of this was really just to pick up
some of the tough yards, third and one situations,
nothing too fancy.
They started messing around with the concept
on the Wednesday before the game
but never really considered it for Saturday.
Jack described it simply as joking around.
You know, just a goof.
And they laughed and laughed
and at the last minute said
"(beep) it.
"Jack's gonna run the ball".
But before we get to that,
Jack still started the game on defense
and was a complete wrecking ball.
Arizona completely neutralized his defensive co star,
Anthony Barr, preventing him from recording
a single tackle.
So Jack stepped up for a highlight field night.
Including a fumble recovery in the end zone
when Arizona was threatening to make it
a one score game.
All of this was coming against an offense
that had the lightening fast Ka'deem Carey
paving the way.
This dude had at least 20 touchdowns
and nearly 2,000 yards rushing in back to back seasons.
And yet, the next day, the running back
everyone was talking about, was a linebacker.
Jack's first carry came on a third and one situation.
UCLA faithful were probably hoping that
he would fall forward, gain a yard,
get the first down, and move on.
Instead Jack did this.
(crowd cheering)
- [Announcer] And the first down here,
and that is Myles Jack!
- [Main Speaker] If you pause it right.
You can pinpoint the moment everyone on defense
shat themselves.
The rest of the night, Jack was like a 220 pound
bowling ball bowling through defenders.
He never went down easy and was really was just
warming up for what would become a must see highlight
for the entire season.
Fourth quarter.
Ball game in the balance, and at this point,
everyone in the stadium knows the ball
is going to number 30, but that didn't mean shit.
Jack took the handoff and, while they tried,
none of these poor souls had any hope
of slowing him down all the way to the end zone.
(crowd cheers)
- [Announcer] Jacked up in D!
- [Main Speaker] Oh and bonus points for the
calmest of celebrations, even while surrender cobra's
were hatching in the stands.
One week later, he'd have even one more reason to celebrate.
Again, starting the game at linebacker,
Jack plowed into the end zone two more times,
in the first quarter alone.
He scored once in the second.
(crows cheers)
- [Announcer] Touch down UCLA!
- [Main Speaker] Again in the third.
- [Announcer] Myles Jack!
- [Main Speaker] Making it a decent four touchdown night.
Myles Jack was like one of those math problems,
where there's two trains on the same track
bound for a head on collision.
But he's both trains and there's absolutely
no solution for stopping him.
That is, until Jim Mora tried to
Good Will Hunting his running back situation.
Facing Arizona state Jack didn't start or play
at linebacker for the only time all season.
Mora needed him at running back full time.
Jack said cool, scored again,
and nearly hit the century mark.
As running back to return to health,
so did Jack to his starting linebacker duties.
But that didn't keep him from scoring
against USC in the regular season finale.
To close out his freshman year,
Jack took a trip to El Paso for the Sun Bowl
to face off against Virginia Tech.
He found pay dirt once again, this time
on a pick six he made look way too easy.
And reminded everyone which side of the ball he belonged on.
The barely 18 year old linebacker finished the season
with stats in just about every meaningful category
on both sides of the ball.
He took home the Pac 12 defensive and offensive
Freshman of the Year honors.
And would lead the Bruins to the number seven ranking
going into the 2014 season.
But this isn't about that.
This is about 2013 Myles Jack.
The true freshman, who was a perpetual YouTube
highlight, forced me to actually stay up
to watch Pac 12 After Dark and was simply
the (beep) best.