Football news: Alex Mascarenas (junior) commits to UCLA

by BruinFanBaby on Apr 4, 2008 7:35 PM PDT

I know we're all focusing on basketball right now, but a little football can never hurt right?

There's been a lot of talk about the 2009 commitment list, which is almost empty. Today, though, the Bruins got a non-binding oral commitment from a solid cornerback. From Dohn:

Mission Viejo cornerback Alex Mascarenas, a 5-foot-11, 180-pounder, gave a non-binding oral commitment to UCLA today.
"He's quite an athlete," Mission Viejo coach Bob Johnson said. "He's probably one of the best athletes in Orange County. He's the best player on the baseball team, if he would have played basketball he would have been the best point guard but he decided not to go out, and he's best sport is football."

I am a student at Mission Viejo High School, so I have a lot to say about this. First of all, Bob Johnson tends to exaggerate things. Mascarenas isn't the best player on the baseball team, nor is he a great basketball player. I know more than half of the players on the varsity basketball team, and they all tell me that he's not a great BBall player. But that doesn't matter, since his best sport is football -- without question.

Mascarenas is an athletic and talented CB. At 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, he's a finesse corner that doesn't get out-run by many receivers. I've seen nearly all of his games, and he seems to improve week-by-week. Last season he began playing WR as well, which helped him immensely at better understanding the CB position. Also, I saw him this morning and it looks like he's spent extensive team in the weight room this offseason. Mission has one of the best coaching staffs in Orange County, and I know that they will prepare him to be a college CB in 2009.

Lastly, it's good to see Mission players going to UCLA. Bob Johnson doesn't like the Bruins because of what happened with his son Bret. It's good to see that he's put that aside and let his players have the chance to be recruited by UCLA. Currently, Chane and Chase Moline, Jeff Baca(incoming freshmen), and Garret Rubio are former Mission players on the Bruins roster.

Now back to the basketball talk. GO BRUINS

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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It was mutual

We didn't really like Bob because of what happened with his son, Bret. Those were pretty dark days.

greg in denver

by gbruin on Apr 5, 2008 4:04 AM PDT reply actions

Bret

I still cringe thinking about the 2 QB rotation of Johnson and Bonds. Thank God for Tommy Maddox coming through.

by Nestor on Apr 5, 2008 8:05 AM PDT up reply actions

uhh, can someone fill me in?

What happened with Bret and Bob Johnson?

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. John Wooden

by MexiBruin on Apr 5, 2008 9:38 AM PDT up reply actions

Here is what I can remember

After Aikman graduated ... UCLA had 2 highly recruited QBs who were going to compete with each other to fill in Aikman's spot: Brett Johnson and Jimmy Bonds ... UCLA at the time just finished 1988-89 season as a top-10 program beating Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl. Everyone expected either Brett or Jimmy would step in and at least be servicable in a decent 89-90 season. Well both of them sucked eggs. They were horrible. Bruins had a horrifying 90-91 season which ended up with 3 wins and a tie against Southern Cal at Mosoleum (our potential game winning FG (was it Velasco or Brad Dal Uiso (sp?) I cannot remember).

So the Bruins head into 90-91 with Brett and Jimmy and a redshirt freshman from Texas named Tommy Maddox. By third game of the season it became clear neither Brett or Jimmy were nowhere close to Tommy in terms of talent and leadership. Tommy became the starter. Jimmy stuck around. Brett got a bitter beer face and transferred to Michigan State (where he continued to stuck up the joint).

The Johnson family vowed revenge on UCLA. Little brother Rob Johnson went to Southern Cal, and promptly went on to go 0-4 as a starter against UCLA during our glorious Eight. Papa Johnson has been bitter over it for years until recently. Looks like he is finally ready to bury the hatchet and admit Brett was never meant to be the starting QB at UCLA, especially when we had someone like Tommy Maddox.

by Nestor on Apr 5, 2008 10:09 AM PDT up reply actions

Velasco

Shawn Wills took a three yards loss on the previous play and Alferdo's 55-yarder hit the upright. Good times! Didn't we got to the Sun Bowl after that and beat Illinois 6-3? Then Bret left for MSU and Rob Johnson vowed to avenge him at SUC (and then went 0-4 against us). I guess it all worked out in the end!

by charnaw on Apr 5, 2008 11:06 AM PDT up reply actions

Yeap we beat Illinois

in a 6-3 shootout. I think Jason Verduzco as the QB for Illinois. Maddox went pro. immediately after that season giving up the chance to become an All American and possible Pac-10 championship, and settling for a journeyman career in the NFL. Oh Well. We got our title with Cook couple of years later and eventually got to the glorious era of no. 18.

by Nestor on Apr 5, 2008 2:28 PM PDT up reply actions

10-10 tie

My 1st UCLA-Southern Cal game. I remember from our vantage point in the student section, it looked like the FG was good. We must have cheered for about 15 seconds before we realized the FG was no good.

BTW I played baseball against Shawn in high school. He played for Hanford. Cocky SOB, didn't like him all that much. His best year was his freshman year, and he also played for the Bruin baseball team as well. A trip down memory lane....

"You don't make it to the Final Four three straight times for no reason..Obviously coaching has something to do with it." Darren Collison

by godblesstyus95 on Apr 7, 2008 3:13 AM PDT up reply actions

Also

Apparently QB Aaron Murray of Plant High in Tampa, Florida has been at Spring Practice.

by SuperBruinMan on Apr 5, 2008 12:14 PM PDT reply actions

Aaron Murray is the real deal

Plant High is the elite high school in Tampa. There was a story in the local fishwrap about the horrible number of fights at school, with stats on all that sort of thing. There were zero fights at Plant. Tony Dungy's son is transferring to Plant. Some ridiculously large percentage of kids go on to collage - 95% or something like that. It's a character school.

Murray replaced Robert Marve a year ago. Marve had "adjustment problems" at Miami (i.e., beer), and he also got into a non-alcohol minor auto accident that injured his non-throwing hand. So he red-shirted, but is slated to be the starter next season.

Murray had a spectacular season at Plant. (His numbers are probably available to be researched, but I don't need to see them because I watched him play.) Plant's passing offense is truly unstoppable unless you have about 16 defensive backs, and Murray executed it well.

I don't know his size or his speed or anything like that. But a smart kid from a "character" high school getting to work under Norm Chow would seem like a natural fit. Murray is the best HS quarterback I've seen since Robert Marve, and Marve is the best I've ever seen.

If we could get Murray to commit, we would be solid at QB. But the thinking here (since last football season) is that he was going to LSU.

by Fox 71 on Apr 5, 2008 2:57 PM PDT up reply actions