Roundup From BN Walk: Football Workouts, Baseball Summer, Blue Chip Bruins & Other UCLA Notes
by Nestor on Jul 9, 2010 5:26 AM PDT
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PrintLot of news to pass on before we all get ready for this weekend. We have some news from summer workouts, baseball summer league details, and also some blockbuster recruiting news from women's hoops. So let's get right to it and start with football. Taylor Embree just put up his third summer blogpost on the official site. His notes on off-season workouts - dubbed "82 Review" - are pretty interesting:
So far in the weight room we have seen some big numbers from individuals and the team as a whole has stepped up the intensity resulting in a great first half of summer lifting. Along with our excellent weight training, Coach Linn has us working hard on the agility aspect of our training. We have a series of cones and ladders that we go through which are set up to create competition among each position. These agility drills are my favorite workouts we do over summer because it is a chance for us to work on our stop and go speed and getting in and out of breaks.
Along with workouts we also have throwing three times a week. This has been exciting because we get a chance to teach the new freshmen the plays and compete against them. Anthony Barr impressed everyone when he made a nice catch on a ball thrown behind him, spinning around and using all hands to snag the ball. Malcolm Jones has made some nice catches on some check-down routes and it is clear to see how explosive he can be with the ball in his hands. Players on both the offense and defensive side have made big plays. Jerry Rice has made a few nice catches - the most impressive one was on a post-route over two defenders for a touchdown. On defense, Rahim Moore had a nice interception in the red zone preventing a touchdown.
As always, we have to maintain perspective before getting too excited from reading about summer workouts. Keep in mind every team in American according to their players and fans, get bigger and stronger during off season (it always happened to us during Dorrell years too). So folks should contain their enthusiasm a bit about these reports.
That said, I do think it is interesting to hear Barr getting his shot on the offensive side. From what we had heard coaches were going to give him a shot at RB at first, before contemplating move somewhere else. From his comments this off-season (on BRO's subscription article), Barr seems very open to whatever plan coaches draw up for him but for this summer at least it seems like he is starting at offense. I do love the note about Jerry Rice though. Remember he is a walk on and not sure if he will ever get meaningful game actions, but just a lot of fun to see that name flash in UCLA related updates. More after the jump.
Moving over to baseball, Kendall Rogers from Rivals.com is looking ahead to Omaha in 2011. He picks a certain team as a "safe bet":
UCLA
The Bruins are one of the safest bets to return to Omaha next season. Sure, they have the tough chore of replacing pitchers Erik Goeddel and Garett Claypool and likely Dan Klein, Rob Rasmussen and Matt Grace, too. But they welcome back the nation's best one-two punch in Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer. The bullpen will need some restructuring, though. At the plate, the Bruins should be better than the unit that hit .304 this past season. The Bruins must replace Blair Dunlap but welcomes back Tyler Rahmatulla, Cody Regis, Chris Giovinazzo, Beau Amaral, Dean Espy, Cody Keefer, Steve Rodriguez and perhaps even Niko Gallego and Brett Krill. This UCLA team will be amazing if the bullpen can figure out some roles.
As excited as I am about next year's baseball season, keep in mind how highly we were ranked just two years ago before crashing and burning with a sub .500 season. I don't expect that to happen this year because of the experience, but still as fun as it is read about UCLA as huge favorites to return, you can't take trip to Omaha for granted (just think back to what happened to squads like Texas and Virginia this past season).
The Bruins are getting back to work this summer though. The baseball program is sending our boys to prestigious summer leagues all over the country:
The UCLA baseball program has sent 21 players around the nation to play in the most competitive summer leagues. Beau Amaral will play for the Chatham Anglers (Massachusetts) in the Cape Cod League, while Gerrit Cole and Steve Rodriguez are vying for spots on the U.S. Collegiate National Team.
Cole and Rodriguez have been invited to National Team Trials in Cary, N.C. and will find out whether they have made the 22-man roster by Monday, July 12.
UCLA has sent 10 players to the West Coast League, two to the Northwoods League, two to the New England Collegiate League, two to the Prospect League and one to the New York Collegiate League.
Full details of where everyone is going is available at the official site. Going to a summer league game in Cape Cod is an amazing experience. If you have been lucky to live around New England, I highly recommend it.
Lastly, let's end with some awesome recruiting news from women hoops front. Coach Nikki Caldwell is rocking it on the recruiting trail:
Justine Hartman, the No. 8 ranked prospect in the 2011 class according to ESPN HoopGurlz, verbally committed to Boston College in January. According to her father Matt Hartman, she decommitted from BC on June 28th. After that time she made an unofficial visit to UCLA and committed to Nikki Caldwell and the Bruins shortly thereafter.
"Obviously, it was a tough decision and she very much liked the BC staff and their vision for their program," Matt Hartman said. "However, based on shifts in priorities and a desire to be closer to family based on recent family events, she decided she would like to stay close to home. She has always liked the UCLA staff and she is excited to be a Bruin."
Hartman is the second commitment for Caldwell and Co., joining fellow southern Californian Kacy Swain of Temecula. Swain is a 6-foot-3 versatile forward who will complement the 6-2 post from Brea Olinda High School. The commitment gives UCLA two recruits ranked in the top 20 of the class.
Welcome to Westwood Justine and Kacy. Major HT to TrueBlueBruin24, who took a break from his vacation in Europe to specifically email us about the development above. Needless to say it should gin up the excitement level for Caldwell's program to another level this coming season in Westwood.
GO BRUINS.
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Happy talk during the Dorrell years (eternity)
Your point about that we must be cautious about the tantalizing positive vibes we are getting from the off season conditioning and workouts warrants emphasis.
During the Dorrell years, from December until September, all we got was good news piled on great news laced with even better news which was followed inevitably with bad news on the football field. We were victimized by what amounted to a cross between a propaganda machine and self-delusion (by coaches, players and fans).
Now, we are a big step ahead of where we have been; but all this positive news (and it is great to read—keep it coming as it makes my day) must be kept in context—we have to win.
by peggysue69 on Jul 9, 2010 5:52 AM PDT via mobile reply actions
Ryan et al
I noticed Bauer is absent from the list. Any iodea what he is doing for the summer?
following duke basketball recruiting
A bruin is good forever, a Trojan is only good... ahh eff it, just use tin foil
Man
his dad was enemy number 1 when I was a Rams fan back in the day, but he sure was good. I hope his son is a late bloomer and takes after pops :)
According to Ted Miller, we have the top defensive "three headed monster" in the Pac10
Ranks the top 5 combinations of lineman, linebacker, and secondary players on pac10 teams here.
Great updates
Re: Football
Yes, we must not get excited about these updates. However, there is a huge difference between updates during the Dorrell offseasons and updates now: the players. The current batch is simply much better. That being said, let’s keep our excitement in check.
Re: Baseball
This is how teams build up consistent success: continuity and sending tons of players to great summer leagues. I don’t expect to get to the final series again, because so many things need to fall into place for that to happen. Also, will the Pac-10 be as good as it was this year? The competition in the conference was simply ferocious. It helped UCLA in the long run.
Re: women’s hoops
I don’t ever remember hearing such exciting recruiting news before coach Caldwell. She is building a consistent, successful program. I hope we hear a lot from them next season.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
No Doubt
That the players RN is bringing in are much more talented than during the Dorrell years. But keep in mind that the kids CTS recruited at the end of his stint, we are relying on to win football games this year, and they are the ones who are turning our program around. The three-headed monster that is mentioned above, were all commitments under Dorrell. But under CTS, its extremely safe to say, they would not have turned into the NFL caliber athletes they are today (ref. CTS’s gift that was our 2002 recruiting class).
I just get defensive when someone says X Bruins are better than Y Bruins. Especially when Y Bruins had to suffer through a sh!tty coach, that’s all.
They were originally CTS recruits
but Neuheisel still had to close them.
For Moore at least...
don’t recall about the other 2
You are correct
But I would counter by saying exactly what you did, which is that they had a subpar coach, and their conditioning coach might not have been the best either.
And let’s give Walker his due, I believe he’s the one who brought these guys in. I don’t think there’s really anyone on offense who fits that bill as much in terms of helping us win games.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Regaurding high expectations
Its the offseason and we are undefeated, what is there not to be optomistic about? There still alomst three months till we (including me) get on a plane for Kansas to play the Wildcats. it almost seems to far away that it is never going to happen, so the only thing to hold me over till then is to be relentlessly positive. I guess my passion bucket is to full.
A bruin is good forever, a Trojan is only good... ahh eff it, just use tin foil
Excited is ok
I guess I should have been specific.
High excitement…absolutely.
High expectations…not warranted.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
No you were specific enough
I knew as soon as I posted “regaurding high expectations” that it was the wrong wording, cause losing a game here or there wont change my commitment to UCLA football.
A bruin is good forever, a Trojan is only good... ahh eff it, just use tin foil
Can't wait..........
Hotel is book, tickets purchased and plane booked…Let’s get it on! Since my wife is a KSU alum, the smack talk has been flying since the final gun at the Rose Bowl game last year. All I’ve heard from wifey is “Wait until September!” I love the lady but I love my Bruins more. Let’s get ’er done so we are 1-0 when we leave Manhattan.
injury report
Does this mean Barr is fully recovered and can we get a current injury report on others Nestor?
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