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Publication: Daily Bruin, , University of California - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
The 2022-2023 season in UCLA athletics has seen many highlight plays across a wide array of different sports. With the sports year coming to a close, the Daily Bruin Sports editors are looking back at some of the top plays of the year across campus.
Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s juke leaves Huskies in the dust
Sam Settleman, Sports editor
Thompson-Robinson sidesteps a pair of defenders as he walks into the end zone. (Jack Stenzel/Daily Bruin staff)
It looked straight out of a cartoon.
Dorian Thompson-Robinson stood a yard out from the goal line, but two Washington defenders had converged on him, seemingly blocking any way through. The quarterback planted left, dipping his head inside as if preparing for impact.
But Thompson-Robinson wasn’t going inside. He wanted no part of that contact.
The pair of Husky defenders, closing in on the quarterback from opposite directions, lunged toward Thompson-Robinson. But neither caught the elusive quarterback. They caught each other instead.
After faking inside, Thompson-Robinson shifted back outside in the blink of an eye. With nothing but green grass left to beat, he walked untouched into the end zone as the Washington defenders lay in a heap behind him.
UCLA football was 4-0 at the time, facing its first ranked opponent of the season – No. 15 Washington. The Huskies boasted one of the top offenses in the country, but Thompson-Robinson was built for the Friday night lights.
That nifty juke wasn’t even the first time that day Thompson-Robinson turned heads with the ball in his hands. Just before the half, he scrambled out of the pocket and soared over a defender with his signature hurdle.
The Bruins assumed full control by halftime, up 26-10 with their offense firing on all cylinders. And on the first drive of the second half, Thompson-Robinson and company marched down the field once again.
With the ball at the three-yard line, Thompson-Robinson hurried his team to the line. He put the ball in the chest of running back Zach Charbonnet before pulling it himself and making a beeline for the end zone.
With one sidestep, he left two defenders in the dust. And with his third touchdown of the night, he...