Same Bad Movie? Concerns About 2011 UCLA Football Season

I was personally baffled with what they were trying to do with Barr – 6-5 228, and they seemed want to have him run pass patterns from the slot…..Since they seemed to give on Presley as a receiver after his drops in the K-State game, I hope they aren’t on the path to ruining another blue chip recruit by his sophomore year…..

I don’t get how poorly prepared everyone behind the one designated #1 often seems to be on the field since the Toledo era. I recall a winnable Cal game when we were down to J Sciarra Jr. and he appeared way out of his depth, M Moore fumbling consecutive snaps deep in Bruin territory against SUC when Toledo thought that was the appropriate time to switch QBs unexpectedly, the law firm being tossed in with ill advised plays given him against ND, and of course the back ups woes this year against Washington. All but one of these scenarios due to QB game injuries.

Its got to come down to coaching and preperation. I may not be realistic, but even if a QB hasn’t got what it takes to be the starter, coaching prep and philosophy should be such, that if he’s in uniform on the sideline during a game, he must have the mindset that he might have to go in at any time. I just cringe when I see a backup have to come in with the “deer in the headlights” look in his eyes and the coaches giving him plays seemingly not in synch with his abilities and the game situation.

the coaches preach competition. but it’s all about seniority to them. it’s like they think they’re an established program that’s on cruise control. when you’re starting from the ground up, you have to do whatever it takes to build the program, and that’s working with what you have available.

you can tell there’s obvious tension between CRN and CNC when it came to the QBs. CRN took Brehaut out of a redshirt year to give him playtime and experience but CNC kept him on the bench. CNC, you live with Prince, you die with Prince. He’s your boy so you have to live with the consequences. Unfortunately, the rest of us did too.

I bet CRN is giving the ultimatum for CNC to go with Hundley as the starter. And if he doesn’t, he’s gone. No more development into Prince. He’ll just waste it on the bench like the past 3 years. I can understand Brehaut getting starts if Hundley was to redshirt. Brehaut actually has the ability to stay on the field and get better, unlike Prince. But at this point, Prince is just empty unfilled promises.

Malcolm Jones should’ve either been redshirted or been the #2 RB. While I totally appreciate Derrick Coleman and the adversity he’s gone through, Malcolm Jones is a better player.

it seems like at all the positions, it was the higher classmen that got the reps and the starts. only when there was injury did the young ones get in and most of them did quite well.

Coleman ran the ball for 5.9 yards a pop this year which is good for more then half a yard better then Franklin. You can say Coleman doesn’t have the breakaway speed but does anyone remember who had the longest run of the year for us? O ya that’d be Derrick Coleman, a play which turned around the game against Wazzu. Saying MJ is better then DC is just stupid. MJ ran like a freshman, often timid and scared especially after the fumble early in the year. If DC got the carries Jetski did then he would be a 1000 yard back too. He also happens to be our best blocking back by far, no knock on Jetski but he doesn’t pack the punch to hold off blitzing LBs and DLineman all that consistently. Coleman is well deserving of the number 2 spot behind Jetski so enough with the Malcolm Jones cries

Although it is often expressed on BN in relation to various sports, I strongly disagree with the logic of "we should have redshirted him or played him more". This requires you to believe (a) that the coaches knew in September that there was no way a player was going to develop over the course of the season enough to warrant more than sporadic playing time and/or (b) that having chosen not to redshirt a player, you are obliged to give them significant playing time regardless of whether you think there are better options to help the team win. We decided to play Jones some as a true freshman; his performances over the season were ok but not enough to displace Franklin and Coleman. He was also always in line to be the backup if one of the other backs went down, so it made sense to keep getting him reps even as the #3, particularly in our run-heavy offense.

I also disagree with the following trope regularly employed on BN – freshman X looked better than upperclassman Y on the field later in the season, so always should have been ahead of player Y on the depth chart. This seems incorrect for a couple of reasons: 1) freshmen have the steepest learning curve, and a player late in the season has had more coaching and practice, and has likely improved more than an upperclassman in the same position, so claims that a guy should have started earlier neglects the differential maturation process; and 2) most football positions are not just about physical tools and technique, but also about knowledge and fitting within a scheme; upperclassmen are often preferred if they understand schemes better, will reliably put themselves in the right position, and will allow teammates to make plays confident that they will be doing their job correctly. This applies in the case of Zumwalt vs Sloan, also in Riley vs Dye, etc. An international under-21 rugby player from New Zealand might look quick, strong and have excellent tackling technique, but you would think twice about throwing them into a high-level college football game if they didn’t know the game. They might even make some plays, but the overall defense might suffer. Same issue could be applied to Jones – apparently struggled to pick up the blocking schemes in pass protection, but all anyone wants to talk about is his running ability – and Brehaut, who throws a much prettier spiral than Prince and made some great improvisational plays at times, but also goes off-script regularly and recently developed a habit for putting balls in places where only the defender had a chance at a play.

Personally, I’m stepping away from BN football discussions until the dust settles (or until there are major coaching changes made). In the aftermath of the pitiful display against $c we have an outpouring of negativity that is more like a sledgehammer than the scalpel of incisive-and-balanced criticism that is the general hallmark of BN. A lot of criticism directed at CRN and crew is justified, but I’m not sure we’re far away from hearing that Kip Smith should have been given more opportunities to place kick this season and that CRN was playing favorites with Kai Forbath… not directed at muircoach, or even more generally at the other people fanposting their thoughtful takes, but the postseason comment threads have not been very balanced, and include lots of comments from people I don’t think we saw engaging throughout the season with the BN constructive dialogue. Just a personal thought, no implication for other people intended or implied.