Spaulding Roundup: Pacing Prince, KSU’s Depth Chart & Other UCLA Notes
by Nestor on Sep 1, 2010 5:19 AM PDT
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PrintWell it appears that Kevin Prince continued to improve and head towards the right direction in terms of recovery during second day of game week practices. According to reports Prince "practiced at full speed for the second consecutive day" yesterday. For the "first time" since camp started he threw long passes on consecutive days. Peter Yoon from ESPNLA thinks that the strained oblique "will not be a factor in his ability to play Saturday."
Coach Rick Neuheisel is still not in any rush to name a starter for this game. While Kevin is making progress his sharpness understandably is not where the team needs it to be. Jon Gold described him as a "bit rusty" as his timing was off. Moreover, CRN wants to make sure that the coaches are not rushing Prince back in too fast. It is not going to help us in the long term if Prince has to deal with lingering effects of this injury all season.
Here was CRN answering questions about pacing Prince back into practice and other matters following practice yesterday (via Jon Gold):
Neuheisel also made it clear that he is not worried about preserving Richard Brehaut's redshirt season. He and his coaches are focused on winning this year. Ideally we all would have loved to have redshirt Brehaut this year. I think there will be chances to redshirt Brehaut down the line. I can see Brehaut being available to step in this year and next year, and then redshirt his fourth year (when we should have seasoned Darius Bell and Nick Crissman in the program and a redshirt freshman available on our roster). This scenario would give Brehaut the opportunity to take over the team in his fifth season.
Anyway, I wouldn't suggest people worrying about QB redshirting issues all too much right now and focus on Kansas State. More on that after the jump.
Going back to Kevin Prince, here were his full comments following practice (via Gold):
Hopefully Prince continues to feel better today following his third day of practice. In terms of practice notes Gold posted few bullets immediately after it was over. Thought his observation on Jordon James was interesting:
Still need to see more from Jordon James, but he had a couple of runs that really impressed me. He said in a brief interview the other day that he did not expect to redshirt, and I would be surprised if he did after watching him more.
I think the issue with James in his first year will be durability. If he can stay healthy (he got nicked and had to sit out a chunk of pre-season camp), I think he might have a shot to break in. It might make more sense for him though to work on getting bigger and stronger in a redshirt season. Then again, if he can stay healthy and make an impact right away (not just in terms of picking up yardage but showing ability to pick up the offensive scheme), I am sure the coaches will not keep him off the field.
Meanwhile, over in Kansas, the Wildcats released their depth chart for our game. TB at Bring On The Cats (who don't forget is coming on our podcast tonight at 6 pm PST) posted his quick takes on the chart. Looked through it a bit this morning. KSU's offensive line average size is around 314lbs with four upperclassmen (3 seniors) and a sophomore. They will have some big boys trying to open running lanes for Daniel Thomas and protect Carson Coffman from our defensive front-4 (which weights around 288lbs). On the other side our OL (averaging around 317lbs) interestingly going to have a slightly more pronounced size advantage against KSU's front four which averages around 270lbs.
Of course the size advantage in these matchups is not going to matter much if our guys don't play with intensity, passion and focus. I am not sure how much comfort we can take in the fact that our OL "held its own" despite losing starters during scrimmages and did not "fall apart." It is going to be whole different matter playing with focus and intensity against live opponents fired up by their home crowd.
Conversely, we will have to see how new guys like David Carter and Justin Edison responds as DT anchors as they will certainly be facing a KSU team looking to run at them relentlessly. From the LA Times:
"I'm anxious to see what these young guys do," defensive line coach Todd Howard said. "They have worked awfully hard and they have ability. The only thing we don't have is experience."
They will start accumulating that experience in tough circumstances on Saturday.
GO BRUINS.
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RS Brehaut
Nestor wrote:
Neuheisel also made it clear that he is not worried about preserving Richard Brehaut’s redshirt season. He and his coaches are focused on winning this year.
Given the O-line and the last few years history of injuries at QB, the second best QB must not redshirt as he is guaranteed some major playing time. I don’t think this should be a question. We will need Brehaut this year, the only question is how much.
Agreed.
If KP has the same mindset as last year, I’d bet good money that he’d miss at least one entire game this season due to a probably avoidable injury. While you have to love his ‘win at all costs’ mentality, we have to hope that Neuheisel and Chow have hammered into his brain that there are times when you have to take a loss in order to play another down. I’m sure they’ve repeated it over and over and over…time will tell whether he absorbed it or not.
Roses are red, violets are blue...f*** $C.
At ULV, our new QB coach just came from Idaho...
His philosophy: As long as we get up or if the team is in dire need of energy, we can keep running, but if we get the first down he wants us to slide so we don’t get hurt.
I’ll just apply that to KP… If the offense is struggling and he sticks his nose in, then as long as he gets up okay, then it’s fine by me.
"The true athlete should have character, not be a character."- John Wooden
Yup
We need that ready to go QB, no matter what KP’s condition. CRN will probably keep KSU (& us guessing) right up to game time… I would anyway :)… We all know KP is the starter, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll start this game. If he is the future, there is no need to rush him into service & risk further injury which would probably impact CRN’s PAC10 game plans.
GOT 106? UCLA, LEGENDS MADE HERE. NO DOUBTS, NO EXCUSES, NO MERCY.
by Bruin4ver on Sep 1, 2010 7:56 AM PDT via mobile reply actions
... Since,
CRN & CNC have likely designed plays utilizing KP’s size & mobility, which makes wonder how much of the pistol we’d see with RB starting.
GOT 106? UCLA, LEGENDS MADE HERE. NO DOUBTS, NO EXCUSES, NO MERCY.
by Bruin4ver on Sep 1, 2010 8:04 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
sad to say,
Brehaut will never red shirt as a bruin. He has been in the program longer than Bell and has more tools than Crissman, and I do not see either of those two will leap frogging him on the depth chart (call me crazy). It would make no sense to play Crissman or Bell if Brehaut is the better option. He will forever be be competing with Prince for playing time which will be a continuous up hill battle that will get steeper throughout his career. And CRN will always be saying “we gotta win this year,” sorry to say it but CRN is not going to do Brehaut and favors by redshirting him. CRN knows he has the ability to recruit and do it well enough to be assured of having top talent at that position…. Given that, if Prince shows any signs of poor timing or rustiness early on in Manhattan, dont be surprised to see Brehaut called into action given his strong camp. Even though I try and stay clear from these things, this almost may be a blessing in disguise, because know we have a legit back up that knows the offense and has had quality reps (including a live scrimmage) with the first unit.
On the other hand I feel like our defense will be able to handle Daniel Thomas and KState’s offesne a lot better this year. I know we only gace up 9 points last year but we did give up a lot of yards. We are going to be quicker than in previous years and that can only benefit us against this spread option attack.
A bruin is good forever, a Trojan is only good... ahh eff it, just use tin foil
Way too early for that call
Brehaut is only a freshman. As I said if we get a QB recruit this season and redshirt him next year, we will have a good shot at shirting Rich in his 4th season. So it is way too early to make that kind of assertion.
Of course this is all given all QB's remain healthy
If any QB we get this year starts over Brehaut in a given year, I def dont see Brehaut regaining that job in the next year. CRN will always play the best guy with the most experience. But of course this is all a long way off and we have differing opinions.
A bruin is good forever, a Trojan is only good... ahh eff it, just use tin foil
Yeah I agree with ...
This all depends on QB’s staying healthy. Let’s hope finally the fortune smiles on us. We can always hope.
with the redshirt rule...
… is there any reason why next season Brehaut couldn’t be the official #2 in case Prince goes down, but only use him if he is needed to start a game, or if Prince goes down early in a winnable game? ie use others on the depth chart for mop-up duty or taking over if Prince goes down in a game that is already beyond redemption? That way you give yourself the option of redshirting Brehaut if Prince stays healthy without having to say that some other guy is going to be the guy if Prince misses games.
Is that kind of scenario feasible within the rules? It seems like that would split the difference between the two of you here.
Yes but...
But coaches do not think like fans do. We would love to see Brehaut have possibility of redshirting. But CRn could care less because he will always be concerned about putting the best product on the field for fear of his job. He had the best opportunity the red shirt him last year because we had a viable number 2 qb, but for some reason thought he should get some mop up duty against SDSU, who knows but it speaks his plans for him.
A bruin is good forever, a Trojan is only good... ahh eff it, just use tin foil
well...
he got him in a lot of games last year… and if he is trying to put the best product on the field, it is reasonable for him to think about the benefit of being able to put Brehaut on the field an extra year after Prince leaves. Maybe not right now – there is always a potential concern that redshirting someone early ends up giving them extra eligibility at another school after transferring, so you get no benefit – but in his 3rd or 4th year, the benefit of keeping him a 5th year may become more pressing to CRN et al.
by britishbruin on Sep 1, 2010 10:46 AM PDT up reply actions
I know
Brehaut played in other games last year, but his red shirt was burned in the SDSU game, so he could have played all he wanted after that with no effect. IMHO CRN will not sacrifice having a lesser back up (given, a backup at some point will be forced into meaningful action, at every position, every year) one year to have Brehaut start the next, given his confidence in recruiting. And on one account you are wrong if I interpreted you correctly. Redshirting a freshmen makes it harder for them to transfer down the line. Because most transfers use there red shirt year as their transfer year. They do not get a sixth year of eligibility if they red shirt there freshmen and transfer in there junior. They would have to give up a year of eligibility. Again I would glad to see how this all plays out.
A bruin is good forever, a Trojan is only good... ahh eff it, just use tin foil
My concern with KP
What is going to happen the first time KP runs the zone read and tries to run with the ball? Will a shot to that oblique area aggravate the injury? I for one will be holding my breath everytime he takes off with the rock.
lol yeah
His oblique is going tobe fine by Sat if he’s throwing hard for few days w/o pain… The imporant thing is he rusty or can he actually get the rock the our receivers consistantly. Last year everytime he was hurt, he looked like crap for a few weeks. Hopefully this year his timing isn’t as elusive.
The new 8 clap
1 2 3 4 5 5 6 7 8 U… Buckle… that… strap, U-Buckle-that-strap, On-Really-Tight!
question re size advantage
obviously in a 3-yards-and-a-pile-of-dust offense where you ram it down opponent’s throats, strength and weight are almost the be-all-and-end-all. From watching videos of the pistol that 03rdn9 posted, is it fair to say that it is more about changing the point of attack and keeping opponents off-balance, in which case mobility might be just as important as size?
Is there a good proxy measure for that for linemen? (e.g I’m guessing that the Navy triple option guys have a pretty light line across the front, but that they have relatively good 40-yard times etc…)
Jordon James
fwiw, I sat next to Darius Savage at the kickoff dinner last week and I asked who of the freshman stood out to him and he did not hesitate to say Jordon James.
by RealisticBruinFan on Sep 1, 2010 9:25 AM PDT reply actions
Brehaut will play a huge role this year.
Unfortunately with injuries that don’t heal properly will always be a problem. KP is practicing non contact. We really don’t know how he will respond to contact. I will say this, with an abdomnial tear or even strain, they take a long time to heal. If he can’t rotate to throw, his passes will always be rusty. If a huge defensive end or tackle lands on him, which could happen with our OL. it could be dangerous. I’m glad they have stayed cautious to this point. I wish him nothing but success. I’m excitied for all the bruins this year.
OT but I am laughing out loud listening to the NFL guys totally trashing matt leinart.
Poor baby.
Go Bruins!
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