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UCLA fourth-year cornerback Ricky Manning will square off against Washington wide receiver Reggie Williams when the Bruins take on the Huskies Saturday in Seattle.

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UCLA cornerback Ricky Manning bounded off Spaulding Field looking like Tigger prior to the Washington game last year. He seemed to skip from the 20-yard line to the locker room in three hops, as if he were on a trampoline.

“Is that Reggie Williams on the phone?” he had asked a reporter conducting a telephone interview a few minutes earlier. What ensued were five unprintable minutes of trash talk that hyped Manning to the point that he was not sure he could sleep for four whole nights before playing Washington.

“You can’t keep Ricky from being amped up,” UCLA head coach Bob Toledo said of the fourth-year student.

That is why, despite being 21 years-old, playing professional baseball, driving a 2002 Cadillac Escalade, and talking about bills and credit like a middle-aged banker, Manning has a baby-sitter. Graduate assistant Mike Babcock has the task of watching Manning before games to make sure he does not get into trouble.

“Because I used to go over and sit by them and watch their routes and talk a little trash. Every receiver you can think of, I got into it with them,” said Manning, who has been All Pac-10 both of the last two seasons.    

Manning’s style has changed considerably since last year, in part because of well-publicized trouble off the field.

In August, Manning was arrested for one count of felony assault stemming from a fight outside a local bar in April. According to Manning, he tried to quash a disagreement between a friend of his and one of the alleged victims. The men, who were older and intoxicated, then waited for Manning outside the bar. A fight ensued between the two parties, which Manning and his companions won. Manning, who broke his hand, told head coach Bob Toledo the next day, but never thought any legal action would come from it.

“I asked him what had happened. He explained it to me, and at that point I felt good about what he was telling me. In my opinion he was trying to protect himself,” said Toledo, who emphasized he was still unhappy that Manning was involved in a fight.

The case has yet to go to trial – if it ever does. But it has already aged Manning, who chose to remain outside of Westwood when his roommate, fourth-year punter Nate Fikse, wanted to return to the chaos of campus life.

While the incident changed Manning’s off-field lifestyle, his maturity on the field came from the gridiron and the meeting rooms. In spite of the public image the arrest gave Manning, he was affected by a video on sportsmanship.

“Warren Sapp was going against Brett Favre. You can hear the mike, they are talking loud during the game and  they are like, ‘I almost got you there Brett’. It stayed with me,” Manning said. “I want to be someone who is liked, not thought of as a jerk.”

Perhaps the video was not quite enough. After starting the season with a new attitude, it took one of his worst games to make Manning his best. At Oklahoma State, Manning was repeatedly out-jumped by 1,000-yard receiver RaShaun Woods who finished the game with seven catches for 143 yards. Manning finished with four pass interference penalties. Although Manning felt mentally alert but physically unwell at that game, it quieted him.

“If I focus every play, I won’t get beat and if I do, I’m getting beat at 100 percent going 100 miles an hour,” Manning said. “One thing I did in the San Diego State game was really focus instead of getting all involved emotionally and going back and forth with the trash talking.”

At San Diego State Manning matched up on J.R. Tolver and held the nation’s leading receiver at that time, to three catches for 30 yards.  

“I still get in their heads but in a different way. Last year I got in their heads with my performance and mainly my mouth,” Manning said. “This year I toned it down. If they are intimidated, it is by watching film and watching what I do to other receivers. If not, oh well, they’ll see the results.”

The payoff has been three interceptions, four pass defenses, one forced fumble, and 27 tackles so far this season.

“If you had 11 Ricky Mannings you’d almost win every game I think. No one gives any more effort than Ricky Manning,” Toledo said. “He doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk.”

Even the opposing coaches agree.

“Manning plays with a lot of swagger and deservedly so,” Washington head coach Rick Neuheisel said.

Last year, Manning held Washington’s Reggie Williams to four catches for 61 yards during a season where he set a Pac-10 record for freshmen with 55 catches for 973 yards. This year Williams is averaging 107 yards per game and the second-year student is already fourth on UW’s all-time career receiving list.

“Last year he was a freshman, he had a lot of stuff to learn, that is why he couldn’t really do anything against me,” Manning said. “We’ll see how much he has improved.”

While Williams undoubtedly will be more prepared to play this year, Manning has more than enough intensity to match him.

“It is hard to find guys Ricky’s age with that spirit,” defensive coordinator Phil Snow said.

With the coaching staff watching over him, Manning will stalk the sidelines. Away from bills and legal troubles and baseball contracts, he will be focused. And in three hops, Manning will be a boy again.