2nd String the Key to Success?

by hicalliber on May 21, 2009 3:19 PM PDT Comment 7 comments

Before I begin, I realize this post is a little late after the news of Dean, Johnson, Forcier, and Carter tranferring. My thoughts need time to fester within my thick skull.

Anyways, I've been thinking a lot lately about the aforementioned players. You always hear rumors about certain players and the possibility of tranferring, but I was very surprised to see all of them (with the exception of Forcier) actually decide to do it. That got me thinking about the value of depth on a team. As we have seen from last year's debacle, lack of depth can cause some serious problems. The most obvious example was at the QB position. I'm not saying that with Pat Cowan under center that we would have marched our way to a Pac-10 championship, but I'm fairly certain that we have at least been bowl eligible.

I guess it just baffles me that after a year rife with injuries across the board, we have 4 guys tranferring that would most likely see some decent playing time. I realize that two of those positions (RB, WR) are two of our deepest positions, but I'm pretty sure that DJ would have gotten plenty of targets and a chance to build off of a mediocre sophomore campaign (which probably would have been much better had Cowan not been hurt). Same with Dean...although I think CRN made a mistake by not red-shirting him. Carter seemed like a guy who might get buried, but I feel like that was due to not recovering completely from his knee injury. I'm not sure how changing your uniform can heal a knee injury, but that's not really the point. Forcier makes more sense to transfer because he doesn't really fit our system.

That brings me to my last point...if you look at the most successful programs throughout the country, it is apparent that they have one of several common threads: incredible depth. It's not too hard to bring in a few talented players by promising them starters' playing time. But try convincing a top high school athlete to sit on the bench for 3 years. As much as I hate SUC, they have excelled at this. Why? There are a few reasons:

1. Pete Carroll has shown that college players make their mark in their junior and/or senior seasons (physically, men change quite a bit from age 18-22). One great season is enough to convince most pro personnel to draft on talent alone...see Mark Sanchez.

2. They run a pro-style offense, attracting pro-style talent. Scouts love this.

3. Pete Carroll sells his recruits on the idea that competition brings out the best in players.

It makes me cringe whenever I think about that smug bastard, but it's hard to argue with results. I realize that he's probably a dirty recruiter, but until we see NCAA sanctions it's like it doesn't exist.

I love the way CRN is recruiting and beginning to turn things around, and I think there are a lot of reasons for that. But it scares me when I see talented players leaving the program. I'm glad that CRN doesn't mince words when talking about playing time with players, but I would much rather see those players stick with it and try to compete harder for a starting spot. This will push everyone involved to be a better player and hopfully yield results over time. I'm sure CRN will recruit the types of guys that like to compete, so I'm not too worried. I just thought I would bring this up to see if anyone had any thoughts or comments re: our depth (ie DT and OL look to be trouble spots). I can't wait for the season to start.

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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I Agree -- It Bothers Me That We Are Losing Our "Depth"

Of the players leaving, I am most upset by losing Dean. He is a true blue chip player. Getting him to say “yes” to UCLA was an incredible achievement — and now we appear to be losing him.

I agree, looking backward, it seems he should have been red-shirted. I’d love to hear why he wasn’t.

I don’t think he’s leaving because he does not want to compete — this is a very competitive kid, not just on the football field but in life. Anyone who knows the walls he’s knocked down knows there is no quit in this kid.

So why? My opinion, and that’s all it is, is that we need blocking backs more than we need all our running backs. That until our O line gets decent, our backs will not have holes to run through. And, our QB’s will get killed if we don’t surround them with blocking backs.

We must remember that under CTS, we didn’t recruit linemen, and may have over recruited backs.

So, I don’t think it’s a matter of the type of offense we have or our coaching staff’s ability to sell the concept that competition brings out the best in players — I think it might be that our running backs, though understanding that blocking is part of the equation, also need a chance to run behind a line that can block.

Given a balanced team, I think this coaching staff will be able to recruit deep and keep our players.

Ironically, and it’s sad to say, I’ll bet this year we will go deeper down the depth chart at QB and RB because — due to the weakness in the O line, people in the backfield are likely to get hurt. Some of the guys who are leaving may have moved up to be starters by mid-season.

sjh

by Class of 66 on May 21, 2009 3:51 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

The one explanation I heard

Dean was put in late in one of the early games last year with the expectation that he would get much more playing time later in the season. He then sprained his ankle, which was a huge set back and made it difficult for him to ever get time again. But (apparently) since it wasn’t really a season ending injury he wouldn’t have qualified for a medical redshirt.

by SuperBruinMan on May 21, 2009 4:54 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

That makes sense

But my question is, what allows for a medical redshirt? Do medical examiners play a part? Or is it a matter of how much they participate in practice/games? I would think it’s the former to discourage dishonest use of such redshirts. It’s really a shame about Dean…I loved that we grabbed a great talent from TX.

Go Bruins.

by hicalliber on May 21, 2009 9:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

Although I’d hate to see us move down our depth chart on RB, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Knox get a chance during the season. He is in the mold of MJD from what I hear.

As for QB, an ideal scenario would allow Brehaut to red-shirt and let Prince run the offense for 3-4 years. If Prince gets hurt (hopefully not), we have Brehaut waiting in the wings. I get the distinct feeling that those two will be competing very hard against one another for quite a bit. I’d be happy to see either one under center based on the news coming out of Spaulding.

Go Bruins.

by hicalliber on May 21, 2009 9:54 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I hate to be cynical but . . .

Cheaty Petey has also managed to keep good depth on his bench by making sure they are well paid. (OK, so I can’t prove that. But, given all the report coming out of South Central it’s not a huge leap.)

I agree with ‘66 ie: blocking backs as opposed to running backs. It is quite possible Dean told himself "I came here to run the ball not to be a 6th lineman. While I feel improvement is right around the corner, I’m not putting my health on the line.

The silver lining here is that UCLA is now a place QBs want to come and learn under NC and RN. It is also a place where a nationally recruited RB can leave and we still have a good stable of horses to rely on. We are going to be a national power again soon under these conditions. Once the coaching staff has rebuilt the O-line to what it was when monsters like Jonathon Ogden roamed our sidelines, the top notch RBs will stay and put up the kind of records I witnessed Deshaun Foster and MJD put up.

Go Bruins.

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

by MexiBruin on May 21, 2009 5:53 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

It's a Numbers Game

When we signed 27 players in February (or whatever the final # was), we signed 8 more players than the 19 scholarships we had available. Attrition by transfer or retirement became inevitable.

As to the players who are leaving, it is likely that Neuheisel hand-picked them and encouraged each one of them to seek greener pastures at another (obviously lesser) university.

It is not surprising that the players who are leaving are running backs, wide receivers and a run-first quarterback. The run-first QB is just a bad fit for this offense (and was a bad fit for Dorrell’s offense, too, as was Rashaan, leading one to wonder why they were signed in the first place). Our RBs noticeably have lacked speed ever since MJD went to play on Sundays, and we really haven’t had a breakaway receiving threat since … Craig Bragg? (perhaps Terrance Austin is that guy but hasn’t had the QB to get him the ball downfield). Neuheisel has identified lack of speed as one of his two primary concerns. The new freshmen class has some speedsters, so he must feel that they are going to come in and get every chance to contribute, meaning that if Dean is 6th on the depth chart now, he would easily drop to 7th or 8th in the fall.

A coach also cannot kick just any player to the curb. It would be cruel to kick to the curb a senior who has burned his redshirt (Rashaan, for example). But a sophomore who has a redshirt year left? He’s giving that guy a chance to play 3 years at another school. Moreover, the senior is already set to free up a scholarship for next year’s class, so taking his scholarship away now and giving it to an incoming freshman would actually reduce the # of scholarships we have available for the 2010 signing period. If a sophomore leaves, it doesn’t affect scholarships available in 2011.

One thing I do not get is why isn’t he getting rid of guys on the o-line who have proved they cannot play at this level. I’d be interested in hearing someone’s opinion on that. Then again, we still are 3, 4 or 5 players over the scholarship limit, so the next round may involve some of the 3rd string offensive linemen, with a preference toward those who are not seniors.

by BruinsRule on May 21, 2009 6:29 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs