Interesting note on Dohn’s blog re. Richard Brehaut, incoming QB recruit and one of the key corner stones re. next year’s class:

UCLA commit Richard Brehaut, a quarterback from Los Osos of Rancho Cucamonga High, is going to try and graduate early and enroll at UCLA for the spring quarter. That is a huge deal because it will allow Brehaut to compete in spring practice.

There are some negative and positive angles re. this development. I will start with the negative and it’s not too difficult to figure out what it is. The story of J.P. Losman should be familiar to everyone in Westwood.   WWL's Mark Schlaback's story on early enrollments of hot shot college QBs included the obligatory reference to Losman/UCLA:

Enrolling early didn't work out for Buffalo Bills quarterback J.P. Losman, either. He spent less than four months at UCLA after enrolling early in 1999, and finished his college career at Tulane. Blake Barnes, a junior quarterback at Georgia, also enrolled early but has played only sparingly as a backup. Jevon Snead enrolled early at Texas last year, but lost the starting job to Colt McCoy, then transferred to Ole Miss this spring.

Even Tebow, who had as much success as anyone after enrolling early last year, said getting a head start in college football isn't for everyone.

"You don't have to enroll early," Tebow said. "I definitely think it depends on the school you go to and the offense they run. It's not for everybody."

But on the flip side … times are a little different now at UCLA. It is not that unusual any more for hotshot freshmen to enroll in school early. In our current program Kevin Craft himself checked in early (along with Embree IIRC). By all account Brehaut seems to have been more involved with our program than Losman ever was. Also, I am presuming CRN, Chow and rest of the staff will do much better job of phasing this kid in our program.

As for the QB depth chart, it will interesting to see how Brehaut (if he in fact enrolls early) performs in this spring’s QB competition. It figures to be intense and competitive (in a healthy way I think) featuring an experienced Craft, talented Prince, seasoned (at least in terms of years in the program) Forcier, Crissman (if he is recovered from his right shoulder injury which may or may not requre injury surgery), and Brehaut.

No information right now on whether Cowan will try to come back for his sixth year. I don’t see Olson coming back and I also think Osaar Rasshan should think about switching positions, if he wants to think about a career in the pros beyond UCLA.

Anyway, Brehaut’s arrival will certainly heat up the competition even more and make things more fun at Spaulding. It will be fun to see and read about CRN and Chow coaching up these QBs next Spring.

GO BRUINS.