Spaulding Roundup: Ineligible, Suspended Players And The Over The Wall Gang
by Patroclus on Dec 22, 2011 5:02 AM PST
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The Bruins are now 9 days away from their New Years Eve date with Illinois in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in SF. After Tuesday's Senior (and everybody else) cut day, the Bruins were back on the practice field for one final practice before taking their Christmas break. While the whole team decided to actually take part in yesterday's session, 4 Bruin players learned that they will not be taking the trip to San Francisco.
UCLA junior quarterback Richard Brehaut has been suspended for a violation of team rules, and Tony Dye, Alberto Cid and Isaiah Bowens have all been ruled academically ineligible for Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.
No word yet on the team rule that Brehaut broke. And while the main issue with this news is that the 4 players failed to live up to their responsibilities as UCLA student-athletes, the effect is that the Bruins depth is taking a hit entering their final game, with backup duties behind Kevin Prince falling to Darius Bell or Nick Christman. Alberto Cid's ineligibility, together with Wade Yandall and Chris Ward slated to miss the game due to injury, the O-Line is going to face some issues, as Jon Gold blogged yesterday, particularly with Illinois featuring the NCAA's top D-Lineman.
On the other side of the game, Illinois will likely be getting a player back, but missing a couple of others next Saturday. The Chicago Tribune reports that linebacker Trulon Henry is expected to play after a faster than expected recovery from a gunshot wound to the hand, while starting fullback Jay Prosch will miss the game due to a Staph infection. The Illini will likely also be missing a couple of players due to academic ineligibility, with one of the players possibly being Jason Ford, the team's leading rusher.
We wrote quite a bit in the last couple of days on the unfortunate revival of the 'over the wall' 'tradition' by some of the seniors. We mentioned Jim Mora's reaction upon hearing the news and his commitment to changing this tradition, and other negative aspects of the culture surrounding UCLA Football. While I hope that Coach Mora's words and the threat of supporting action will stamp out any thought of future Bruin teams pulling this stunt again, maybe there is something about that wall that just draws players...
Frosh yr i said 1 day ima hop that far corner wall..dreams do come true, had a smooth hop over the wall..now its time for some team bonding
Well, if nothing else we can be thankful that Taylor Embree was able to achieve one of his dreams... to lead his team in cutting practice before a bowl game.
A few moments ago, I mentioned soon-to-be Coach Mora's reaction to the wall-jumping. While he was making the radio and beat rounds discussing the incident, he also had a sit down with Bruce Feldman. While his main story on Mora is a few days away, Feldman did publish part of his interview relating to Mora's take on UCLA's football culture and traditions.
"We'll honor the traditions here at UCLA that lead to us representing UCLA on the football field the way it deserves to be represented. Look at a guy like Troy Aikman or Kenny Easley or Maurice Jones-Drew and those great players, and we want to represent that history," Mora said, as he pointed to some of the pictures of Bruins greats on the walls surrounding him in his office. "There are also some traditions that are counter to that, and in my humble opinion, skipping practice is counter-productive to winning and its counter-productive to what we want to be as a football team.
"I'd heard about it but that has never been a part of my world. I've never been on a football team that would skip practice. I think it is disrespectful to the coaches. I think it's disrespectful to your teammates. I think it's disrespectful to your athletic director and I think it's disrespectful to the men that came before you.
Mora went on talking about this symptom of the rotting foundation of UCLA Football, contrasting with Taylor Embree's 'living the dream' tweet saved above.
"I don't care about the explanation. All I know is that guys left practice unexcused. And it will not happen again. That is the last time that someone will go over the wall and be allowed back inside the wall.
... And that action by those players right there is indicative of the fact that it does need a culture change. It's my job to change it. It is not going to be easy. It is not going to happen over night. It's going to involve in a lot of hard work, but that is the task."
Coach Johnson does not plan on disciplining the players that led the jump. If killjoys such as Kevin Prince and Johnathan Franklin have their way, next year's squad will not have the joy of skipping out of game preparation, forcing their teammates to participate in the full number of practice sessions allowed by the NCAA before playing in the second biggest game of their season.
"It was the seniors call," said Franklin, a junior. "In my opinion, if I’m here next year, it won’t be happening."
"I was hoping it was kind of out of our system, but clearly it’s not," said quarterback Kevin Prince, one of a handful of players who returned to the practice field to work out. "Hopefully this doesn’t come back to bite us."
..."I tried to voice my opinion about it but the seniors wanted to do it and ultimately it’s their call," Prince said.
Soon after Tuesday's wall-jumping, Peter Yoon mentioned a bit about the background of the team's wall jumping, and wondered why - besides the internal stupidity of the whole thing - the seniors felt the need to trigger this tradition.
The tradition of skipping practice began decades ago as players sought to have a team bonding day instead of practicing. They said they planned to do that Tuesday by going to a movie. But last week Johnson called off practice for a team bonding day and the team played paintball. Was there really a need for another team bonding day?
So basically, the point of jumping the wall was to allow the team to get together and blow off some steam during a rigorous practice schedule. Something that the coaching staff realized and specifically accommodated in the bowl preparation schedule with last week's paintball outing. As well as blowing one of the few remaining practice sessions intended to improve the abilities of a 6-7 team, jumping the wall was also an insult to a coaching staff who will mostly be out of a job on the evening of the 31st.
... the coaching staff stood hands on hips and watched in bewilderment. They had practice plans ready. They were ready to try and help the players get better.
The same coaches who are about to lose their jobs were committed to doing their jobs through to the bitter end. Too bad the players they are trying to help didn't return the favor.
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Bah
If they wanted bonding time maybe they all should have hit the weight room together the morning after 0-50.
Thank god Embree reached his dream and we never have to see him fair catch a punt again (I have hope that someone else is back there vs, Illinois).
by RealisticBruinFan on Dec 22, 2011 6:26 AM PST reply actions
In his defense
he was trying to leave practice early so he wouldn’t hit the bad LA traffic.
[/sarc]
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Bruins tradition ads
You know those UCLA ads that have Kareem, Alterraun Verner et al. talking about their UCLA education and what it has meant to them as men and women? I would LOVE to see a spoof ad of Embree and his dream … that is, if he makes it to graduation. Or calls for a fair catch instead.
You Got That Right
His “leadership” frighteningly reminds me of Logan Paulsen’s a few years back.
Los Angeles Rams and the UCLA Bruins!!!!!
by Minnesota Bruinfan on Dec 22, 2011 10:42 AM PST up reply actions
Or the morning after 20-49. Or 19-45. Or 12-48. Or 6-31.
Five blowout losses.
The seniors can go over the wall after they are on the other side of scores like that. On the other hand, the kind of players that would defeat USC 50-0 aren’t the kind who would want to go over the wall.
by Seth Chandler on Dec 22, 2011 12:13 PM PST up reply actions
Taylor Embree wanted to beat traffic
or he couldn’t wait to show off his fair catching skills at the NFL combine
Dump Dan!
by bruinclassof10 on Dec 22, 2011 4:01 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Those stats make me think of some I saw watching the Boise State game
Their seniors have a record of 50-3. Those three losses were by a total of five points. Kellin Moore never trailed this year (or maybe it’s his career) by more than 7 points.
Something tells me that they don’t go over the wall unless it’s to get into practice.
What the &*%^ is wrong with our guys? And our coaches?
by Fox 71 on Dec 23, 2011 9:25 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Symptomatic of the entire season
Led by seniors who don’t have a clue how to lead (or write, cf Mr. Embree’s well written tweet), we have once again, and hopefully for the final time, although I have doubts on this point, been forced to witness how a losing team goes about its business. It loses because it doesn’t know how to do the hard things to win, and that starts with practice. Yet, it begins at the top does it not? With an athletic department that has no passion, no direction, and no clue, to a coaching staff that is a “lame duck” with no incentive to do anything to stop the practice or respond in a way that would display the real world result for those young men involved. Real world actions elicit real consequences, not just a “I have no intention of disciplining anyone” response. Then again we have come to expect as much from this group of coaches and players unfortunately. And while we are discussing failure, what about these individuals who are now academically ineligible? Do we not have academic advisors / coaches who are supposed to be helping these student athletes get through their classes with passing marks? Maybe they went over the wall on that study hall as well? The whole thing makes me want to vomit!
Maybe Embree
Should have pretended that the end zone was “the wall” all year during punt returns. He might have actually ran towards it. Good riddance with this guy.
by 0725brui on Dec 22, 2011 6:49 AM PST via mobile reply actions
Agree, good riddance!
Sadly, it just reminds me that CRN chose this scmuck to return punts knowing all would be fair catches or drops. Even Donahue returned punts.
What is with this guy…
This is the 2nd time I’ve seen Jr. in response to questions about the wall-jumpers, reference the AD…1st time like he had to ask permission and name dropped grrr-error as if that gave some sort of credence to what he was saying…and now, this one where is he crediting grrr-error…this kind of brown-nosing the AD ain’t getting Jr. very far with me…pathetic.
+1
sadly, Mora doesn’t want to piss off the boss. Yet this is the perfect time, he’s a fresh hire when Donut couldn’t get anyone else to even talk to him. What is he going to do, fire him? Hahahahahaha
I don’t doubt Mora understands some of the rot is coming from above. But he’s just being political, and avoiding that clash. That’s why he was hired right? Do you think Leach would avoid putting Donut in his place?
"Players with fight never lose a game, they just run out of time"
~ John Wooden
Someone new on the job trying to say nice things about his boss? INCONCEIVABLE!
Give him some slack.
by Westwood Wizard on Dec 22, 2011 8:07 AM PST up reply actions
Agreed he deserves some slack
But to bring up the AD in this situation is so out of place it’s almost comical.
Makes me wonder if he’s bringing up the AD position on purpose to send a message to Dan that they’re in this together and that he’s going to need the AD’s support.
That's what I'm hoping
When you say publicly that you and the AD agree there is need for a culture change… well, you ARE kind of saying to the AD that there needs to be a culture change.
But to be perfectly honest, I don’t care even a bit if he wants to brown-nose his boss. He is accountable to his boss and the fans to bring a clean, competitive, well-coached football team to UCLA. His boss is accountable to his boss, and to us, for athletic culture and decisions. (and HIS boss is accountable to us to represent UCLA as a whole).
I’m happy to let Mora focus on doing his thing, and leave it to us to pressure the AD & Chancellor.
I think it's good that he mentions Dan Guerrero
It let’s everybody know that Dan Guerrero agreed with a need for culture change and agreed to help CJM in accomplishing that culture change. Now, if for some reason CJM is getting resistance from Dan, we can hold Guerrero accountable for his promises.
(we would have anyway, but the media can now as well)
Go Bruins!
another way of looking at it
Considering that the team required a waiver to go to a bowl, I think Mora might be invoking Dan as a subtle reminder to the players that they required intervention to go to this bowl and that they aren’t entitled to anything. That they are practicing now is a privilege and their skipping practice is disrespectful- they seem to think they earned this bowl, ignoring the fact that it took people pulling strings on their behalf.
by Westwood is the best wood on Dec 22, 2011 6:04 PM PST via iPhone app up reply actions
while there is no need to relegislate past arguments
it nonetheless seems relevant for next year’s QB situation that Kevin Prince is a guy speaking out about hopping the wall, and returning to work out after hopping the wall; while Richard Brehaut is being suspended for violations of team rules. I just hope people remember this before they start bitching if Prince is starting next year rather than Brehaut.
One of the reasons why our stodgy coaches would never start young guys was the problem of "getting the playbook installed."
Well, I understand that your new offensive coordinator has a playbook with only a few plays in it. No excuses for leaving a kid like Hundley on the bench if the new playbook turns out to be smaller than his playbook from high school/
From other posts, its' been commented that the coach can't or doesn't have much contact or oversight
of his players during the summer. Still, if I’m Mora, I tell Hundley no basketball, and if I’m Howland, I tell Smith to stay in LA (if he can afford it) and PLAY basketball/lose weight during the summer.
Over the wall was the lesser of two evils
Where are the comments about 3 players being ruled academically ineligible…including a guy that had fought back from injury and elected not to take a red shirt year.
Love to hear Mora talk more about that. Seems to me to be the bigger personal accountability issue AND at least as important for the players careers.
by Bruin Dad and Grad on Dec 22, 2011 8:15 AM PST reply actions
I'm glad Taylor dreams about hopping the wall
It sure beats the dreams of football players from elite programs, like say, I don’t know, winning a conference title, beating your rival, getting to a BCS bowl game, becoming the best player you can be, getting drafted to the NFL. Keep dreaming big, Taylor. I hope your years of mediocrity have been everything you dreamt it would be.
where was coach Johnson??
So let’s sort this out. Guerrerror appointed Johnson interim coach. Johnson did not BOTHER to chat with Mora about this, like, saying, “Would you like it if i told the seniors if they did this they wouldn’t play in Frisco?” Or even allowed on the plane. WHY, after this, is Johnson still coaching the team?? Seems to me he was the responsible adult on the field, who could have made an important point for Ucla football, as well as a name for himself, by making the statement the seniors needed to hear, and laid down that opportunity. And Mora has gone out of his way to defend Guerrero, not realizing in his defense he is drawing attention to the reason Dan is under pressure of being fired himself: Incompetence, in this case how Dan does not care to instruct his interim coach to break this “tradition”. How about the tradition of getting the Victory Bell back? We already knew Dan doesn’t care about that either.
If Mora had any imagination, he would have instructed Johnson to announce to the seniors, like to elementary kids going on a field trip, that a bus would be made available for the “senior movie” or whatever bullshit they supposedly were planning to do, and that it would be scheduled for another day. It should be noted forever this tradition will have ended with the school embarrassment of a 6-8 bowl team, made possible by Guerrero. ~~ Ucla ’72
Agree. They all piss me off,
the players, CRN, Johnson and Chianti Dan. They aren’t even the “gritty little Bruins”. They were just plain soft for the last 10 years.
Looks like Mike Johnson's Akron hopes just hopped the wall
ESPN reporting that former Auburn coach Terry Bowden has been hired as HC.
I’ll bet MJ wishes he hadn’t been so accommodating to a bunch of selfish, under-achieving malcontents who don’t give a crap about him or the uniform.
That's a pretty good hire for them
If I remember correctly, he was interested in the UCLA job a while ago. He’s done well with Arkansas State.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
One day he's going to hop it?
Didn’t he already do it like 3 times already?
Personally, I'm really pissed off at Brehaut.
First, he spends last Spring playing baseball when he clearly did not have command of the playbook the previous Fall.
Then he gets suspeneded for who knows what. Does anyone know?
Hey, Brehaut!! YOU ARE NOT BO JACKSON!!!
Last time I checked you were on a FOOTBALL SCHOLARSHIP.
Trust me son, you have a lot of room for improvement. If you don’t want to committ 100% effort to the football team then quit and make room for another scholarship player.
You are not nearly as good a QB as Drew Henson from Michigan and look what happened to him.
Cool it Chicago
Brehaut is a good baseball player, good enough to be allowed to play for a very good UCLA baseball team.
As for his command of the playbook, I suggest you go back and look at his stats before he got hurt.
There is nothing wrong with playing two sports. There is definitely something wrong with getting suspended though.
Finally, there is only one Bo Jackson, so no point in comparing to him.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
I went to some UCLA baseball games...
and the most I saw of Brehaut was bullpen catching. He is the 2nd string catcher. Granted, it is an excellent team, but he is hardly a leader on the Bruin baseball team. His lack of commitment to football shows more in being ineligible but it also shows in not taking ownership of the QB position. He was a highly rated QB coming out of high school. If he truly prefers baseball, people should slow down before they start booing Prince. At least he shows heart, character and leadership. Looks like it’s time for Brett Hundley for sure now.
I'm not a Brehaut fan,
but I thought he should have cleary had the starting job this year going into the season. But CRN was going to go with Prince no matter what. And I can’t belive CRN started Prince against Texas.
So I don’t know what’s in Brehaut’s head, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he said "I’m getting screwed by CRN, the imbecile (although good Bruin), so I need another option.
Again, no real sympathy for Brehaut, especially considering he just got suspended. And I don’t know how we are going to have a good year without Hundley stepping up.
I read where Jackie Robinson's worst sport was baseball
I’m willing to let guys try there best at more than one sport. Plenty of guys have had success doing that.
"if I’m here next year"
Why wouldn’t you be here next year Mr. Fumble?
by Bruins#1 on Dec 22, 2011 2:23 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
UCLA athletes
seem to have a history of taking the money and running lately. Especially the basketball players.
Just great!! He's wasting his time as a 2nd string catcher wtih no pro prospects.
Brehaut is not taking ownership of the QB position otherwise he would be spending all his time focusing on football ala Cade McNown between his sophomore and junior season. Perhaps, he realizes his limitations. He should quit football if he does not want to give it his all. Or perhaps he should be suspended or removed from the team permanantly as an example of lack of effort.
From prior BN post:
Brehaut was asked this week if he thought Mora would be supportive of his baseball pursuits.
“I hope so,” Brehaut said referring to Mora. “Because I’m definitely, I’m playing, so I hope he’s OK with it. Hopefully he is. That will be something that I’ll sit down and obviously will have a long talk with him about. I think I’ve proved that I can do both and be successful this past year. So I hope he understands that and the feeling is mutual about that.”
And if it isn’t?
“If he forced me to make a choice I would definitely have to sit down and have a long talk with my family about that,” Brehaut said. “But that’s something in the future and I’ll talk to him about that and we’ll see.”
DOES NOT SOUND LIKE AN ATHLETE COMMITTED TO FOOTBALL! THIS IS WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR FOOTBALL TEAM. GOING OVER THE WALL IS JUST ANOTHER SYMPTOM.
"I think I've proved that I can do both and be successul this past year"
Did I miss something? When and where was the success? Losing record. Coach got fired. Hammered in Arizona, Utah and at the Coliseum. It that is success, then I guess he topped it off with getting suspended. Add clueless to his list of attributes.
That's defined as success or "turning the needle" in Guerrero lexicon
We need a new AD
Dump Dan!
by bruinclassof10 on Dec 22, 2011 5:26 PM PST up reply actions
He was certainly not the issue while healthy, which he was not for Utah, Arizona or USC.
He was 3-1 as a starter and led the offense to 34 points after Prince got hurt against Houston and 20 points after Prince’s 3 INT in the 1st quarter at Texas.
6 TDs with no interceptions in those games until getting thrown into the Pac-12 title game on 1 leg and having Rosario not go after a deep ball.
Very revisionist history. If he stays healthy all season or simply gets to start the games he should have (Houston & Texas), this team (even with CRN on the sideline) probably wins 8 games. And definitely doesn’t get shutout by SC or steamrolled at Utah.
None of us know what rule he broke. Let the facts come out.
"I have one word for you...Be careful."
-Jose Guillen
I respect your opinion, but I think you are missing my point.
Yes, Brehaut played fairly well when not injured. But how much better would he have been if he was fully committed to football?. Would he have been injured? Would we have lost 50 to zero to pUSC? Have you ever seen a dual sport athlete improve in his primary sport by playing a secondary sport (notwithstanding Jackie Robinson, Bo Jackson, Dion Sanders, Jim Thorpe, and wide receivers who improve their speed byrunning track)?
by Chicago Bruin on Dec 22, 2011 10:35 PM PST up reply actions
To be fair, I wasn't so much disagreeing with your point as I was WoodenMan's
Obviously, 100% committing one’s self to anything will result in improvement. And playing two D1 sports is demanding for even guys on the Jackie Robinson, Bo Jackson level of athleticism.
The question I ask is how much commitment is necessary to succeed?
Because, the overall level of commitment is obviously not there for a lot of guys on the team. If all the UCLA guys were as committed to success in life as RB is to being able to juggle football, baseball and academics, this team would be a great deal more successful,
How much would RB improve if he was 100% focused on football? That’s debatable.
Personally, I look at the offense he was recruited to getting gutted and turned into maybe the worst fit for a pro-style QB outside of the triple-option, the coaching staff around him being mediocre, the changing coordinators, the state of the program, the fact that he by all reports outplayed KP in 2 consecutive training camps and got looked over.
It’s not difficult to see why he would want to play baseball.
"I have one word for you...Be careful."
-Jose Guillen
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