PASADENA, Calif. – The surprise wasn’t that senior Jason Wells started his first game for the Washington Huskies since 2007. It was how much UW defensive coordinator Nick Holt relied on him Saturday to man the secondary at free safety.

What figured to be a time-share at the position between Wells and true freshman Nathan Fellner became a one-man production. Of the 71 UCLA offensive plays, Wells was in on an 60 to 65 of them.

And the senior from LaVerne, Calif., started his day with a thud – separating Bruins tight end Logan Paulsen from the football on the second play. And it didn’t end too badly, either – he had his second career interception, coming in the second half.

UCLA won, 24-23, in front of 72,924 in The Rose Bowl.

“He deserves it. He’s mentally sharper than our freshman (Fellner), and he played really well today,” Holt said. “I wanted to get him in this year, because of all the adversity that he’s had.”

Injured for much of his career, Wells started five games in 2007, including a Sept. 27 game at this very place, the Rose Bowl. The next week, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his knee against Southern California in Seattle.

Sarkisian came on board in December, and immediately Wells figured to be in the running for a starting position.

But in March, during an early-morning run with the team during offseason conditioning, his right Achilles’ tendon “snapped” on him.

“Watching everybody run around, I thought, ‘Man, I just lost my opportunity,’ ” Wells said.

Every time he tried coming back during the preseason, or in the early weeks of the September schedule, he tweaked the injury and had to sit out days at a time to allow it to heal.

But two weeks ago, because of the way he was running around without limitations, Wells said he knew he was close to being fully healthy.

On Thursday, coach Steve Sarkisian notified him he would be the starter against UCLA.

“They told me Thursday I’d get to play a lot,” he said.

Extra points

Sarkisian said he did not challenge Terrence Austin’s double-clutch 29-yard TD catch for the Bruins early in the third quarter because in a game he thought would go down to the wire, “we needed all three timeouts.” Nobody on his staff gave him any feedback on whether the ball bounced on the field during Austin’s sliding catch. … Starting left tackle Ben Ossai and right guard Senio Kelemete did not start because of an undisclosed team-rules violation. Drew Schaefer started in Ossai’s place and played all but three series. “Whether it’s one play or 100 plays, I’m ready to go,” Schaefer said. Morgan Rosborough made his first start in place of Kelemete. … UW running back Chris Polk injured his ribs early Saturday, but played – and posted his third 100-yard game of the season (132 yards). … Quarterback Jake Locker said he took a hit in his “groin” area, but should be OK. … UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel is now 2-0 against the Huskies since his contract was terminated in 2002.

Todd Milles: 253-597-8442

todd.milles@thenewstribune.com

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