Roundup from BN Walk: News & Notes

by Nestor on Jul 13, 2008 3:00 AM PDT in News

Let's start our Sunday walk with a heavy dose of Brian Dohn, who posted the following notes re. the football team:

I was at UCLA's 7-on-7 Thursday and the thing that jumped out at me was the ability of several of the freshmen defensive backs, particularly Aaron Hester and Rahim Moore. Both are instinctual, although their technique needs work.
Several returning players were also raving about freshman receiver Antwan Moutra. Freshman receiver Nelson Rosario did not participate because of a hand injury, but it is not thought to be serious.
Also, quarterback Ben Olson (foot surgery) is cleared and began running, but did not throw in the drills. He said he is hoping to start throwing Monday.
There is one notable position change. Chinonso Anyanwu moved from defensive end to strong side linebacker.

I like the move of Chinonso to LB. He probably wasn't going to fill up his frame to become a DE. LB position will be a better fit for his size. I don't put a lot of stock into reports from summer 7 on 7 drills. So will wait till the Fall camp to hear about whether Moutra emerges as an option at WR. If he does (along with Rosario) it would be good news for the offense.

Also Dohn posted his responses to lots of Qs over this weekend in which he agreed with our assessment re. recruiting that there is no reason to sound the alarm:

I don't think there is a reason to be alarmed because if UCLA plays well (that does not mean win games) and recruits see progress and excitement toward the program, they will come to UCLA. I understand why there have been so few commitments, and it has triggered my antennas to be up, but I have found no reason for alarm.

Moving over to hoops, UCLA officially released it's tentative Ben Ball schedule for 2008-09 season. No surprises from the information we have already read on BN. Morgan Center also released women's hoops schedule which you can check out by going here.

Elsewhere, Kevin Love signed his pro K with Minnesota and a familiar name might be joining the Washington Huskies basketball program:

Chace Stanback, a freshman basketball player who decided not to return to UCLA, has visited Washington and is considering joining the Huskies.

Stanback, a 6-foot-8 guard/forward, played sparingly in 25 games last season for the Bruins. He averaged 1.0 points and 0.7 rebounds, in 144 minutes.

Stanback visited the UW campus, according to Harvey Kitani, his coach at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles.

"He took a visit there two weeks ago or so," Kitani told the Los Angeles Daily News.

Kitani said Stanback has visited North Carolina State, and plans to visit UNLV. Stanback is originally from North Carolina.

Stanback is a cousin of Isaiah Stanback, the former Washington quarterback.

Good luck to Chace. Wherever he ends up, hopefully it all works out for him.

GO BRUINS.

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Patience

Recruiting must be one of the tougher jobs in Coaching. You scout the players you need and among those, the ones you feel can mature into great players. Then you make your offers, stay in touch and wait them out. You have to take into consideration that as you wait for some first choices, others may be taken. And the players are thinking the same thing. Not for the faint of heart.

For the players who are not committing, you have to give them credit for taking the verbals seriously and having confidence in their own ability to wait and see. Likewise, I give credit to our coaches for being patient. As I read once, and agree, early committments can hurt teams more than players since the schools are expected to live up to their verbal committments. If some players are waiting to see how the season fairs for the Bruins that is great. It means that we are under serious consideration and I have no doubt that they will be impressed with the ability of our coaches and players.

So looking at the offers we have made, I think we are doing just fine.

Go Bruins !

by northbaybruin on Jul 13, 2008 12:16 PM PDT reply actions

Does Chase have to sit out an extra year at UW?

Have they changed the rule, or was there such a rule in basketball? Anyhow, I just wonder how he is going to do. At the state finals 2 years ago, Fairfax wins by over 25 and he scores like 5 pts constantly missing long shots when he could just dominate by going to the rim. Not playing for CBH may have been a further sign with little prospect of playing. Too bad because we now have no one from that class.

Go Bruins!!!

by whittier71 on Jul 13, 2008 8:07 PM PDT reply actions