More UCLA Quarterback Chatter: Brett Hundley Open to Redshirt Season
by Achilles on Apr 28, 2011 5:00 AM PDT
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Last week we had a robust discussion over a post about Brett Hundley possibly heading towards a red shirt season. The QB issue is going to be an ever green topic among us until UCLA finally finds the true successor to Cade McNown. The great season Drew Olson pulled off in his senior year was nice but it did not include a victory over USC. Are we finally going to get some answers in Rick Neuheisel's fourth season at UCLA? The answer not too shockingly is still unclear as the quarterback issue remains in limbo heading into summer camp.
ESPNLA wrote about it in their post spring wrap-up with the following scoop from Mr. Hundley himself:
"Redshirting is not a problem to me," Hundley said. "If I have to, I have to."
The other option, if he does not win the starting job, would be to try to gradually get him game experience by giving him a drive here and a drive there throughout the season. Asked if he'd prefer that over redshirting, Hundley said he would have more information.
"We'd have to talk with the coaches and see what the role would be and stuff like that," he said.
The ESPNLA post - presumably written by Peter Yoon - speculates Kevin Prince to be the "front runner" for the starting job:
Brehaut showed this spring that he has better command of the offense, but still lags in his ability to execute. He's still missing throws--overthrowing and underthrowing more often than the Bruins offensive braintrust would like. And the ball comes out of his hand wobbly far more than it should.
Hundley, the highly-touted recruit who is the quarterback of the future, has too many thoughts swimming around in his head at the line of scrimmage and can't quite read a defense well enough to be considered a realistic opening day starter at this point. Crissman is a surprise entry into the competition, but he has missed two full seasons because of shoulder injuries.
That probably leaves Prince as the frontrunner even though he missed most of spring practice, but he'll have to prove he hasn't lost a step after missing more than six months after surgery.
The note about Crissman being a "surprise entry" and working his way "into the mix" in "full health" is interesting too. Crissman emerging as a starter is as likely as Pete Carroll operating under ethical circumstances. But if Nick can provide a legitimate insurance policy as the third string QB instead of the horror show we were subjected to Seattle last year courtesy of Darius Bell, it could indeed open the door for a redshirt season for Mr. Hundley.
There is also a cynical angle to all of this. It has to do with "survival."
Imagine this scenario:
UCLA starts the season on a terrible to mediocre note with record ranging from 1-4 to 2-3 with Kevin Prince/Richard Brehaut as the starters. Brett Hundley comes in, starts the Washington State game and gets a much needed win to inject some life into the team. What do you think will buy Rick at least one more season?
A 7 win season with Brett Hundley leading rest of the way? or
A 7-8 win season still going back and forth with either Prince or Brehaut without a victory over SC?
If I were the AD, neither of those scenarios would buy Rick extra time but we have the elephant in the room ... aka the Dan Guerrero situation festering all over UCLA Athletics.
One would think Rick might consider the factor that getting 7 wins with a true freshman at QB could give him more room to argue for at least one more season. Something to think about ...
For now Brett Hundley is worried about senior prom:
And here was Richard Brehaut following spring ball talking about gaining "confidence" this spring:
Discuss.
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Interesting
But I’m not sure if Rick is so desperate to save his own skin by doing something that may not benefit one of his players long term. I think he is committed to putting the best players on the field, at least I’d like to think that. Hundley should definitely redshirt so that we can get one more year from him. Brehaut and Prince will be seniors next year and one of them might make a solid case for being the clear cut starter. Why waste a year like we did with Brehaut? Hopefully Neuheisel has learned his lesson.
Besides, I have a hard time thinking we’d be able to manage 7 wins with a trush frosh at QB.
not sure who else has read "Scorecasting"
but it emphasizes – as have previous academic articles on which the book is based – that coaches want to keep their jobs, and that coaches will take actions that may not even give them the best chance of winning if they think that the actions give them the best chance of maintaining job security. (Classic example – people should go for it more on 4th down than they currently do, but coaches know that if that backfires on them they are more likely to be fired; the risk/reward for the decision is a positive payoff in terms of winning games, but a potentially negative payoff in terms of being fired).
They also make the point: coaches with airtight job security are able to make more of these ‘unusual’ calls – Belichick being the classic NFL example, a coach who has become much more aggressive after success in New England gave him security, but wasn’t at all as aggressive as a coach with the Browns.
All of this is to say: Neuheisel’s lack of long-term job security means he is less likely to do the right thing. One would hope that the pressure to win would mean he would do everything possible to win; unfortunately, evidence suggests that pressure to win means people go out of their way to convince people that it is not their fault if they don’t win.
On a separate line of logic: given the possibility of Hundley going pro early if he is a success, the idea of redshirting him so he can be a 5th year senior in 4 years time may be too uncertain to seem worthwhile – even before you factor in that Neuheisel may not be here in 4 years time. If they think Hundley can contribute to winning this year – even in a small way as a change-up option or in certain packages, or even in a 2QB set for trick plays, or running a wildcat – then I think the incentives for Neuheisel to playing him will totally outweigh the incentives to redshirt him.
by VeniceBruin on Apr 28, 2011 11:42 AM PDT up reply actions
All very good points. Hard to argue . . .
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
Crissman
He has been injured pretty much his entire time in Westwood. He was a great qb in high school. If he is finally healthy, then give him a chance before you shoot him down. We don’t don’t know how he can perform when healthy yet.
yeah, IIRC Crissman was a top QB prospect coming out of HS and a 4 star prospect…he definitely has talent, but for some reason, we like to recruit injury-prone QBs.
by jtthirtyfour on Apr 28, 2011 9:21 AM PDT up reply actions
I believe he was the #7 quarterback in the country
and won the Elite-11 accuracy competition.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
Crissman was a well regarded QB
I think Dorrell picked him over Aaron Corps – who went to USC before transferring to Richmond. I think if he is healthy he could become a decent option as backup. Darius Bell … well we saw what happened in Seattle. The IF is a big one because he has gotten hurt a lot.
Good point about Guerrero
Many on BN have maintained that anything less than a serious late-season bid for the Pac-10 title and 9 wins (including a win over $UC) should be the requirements for Coach Neuheisel to maintain his role as head coach.
But should is often not the same as will, and I agree that we could very well have a 7 win season, with a loss against the trogans and Guerrero might justify to his twisted mind that he should keep Coach Neuheisel for one more season.
Two problems with the W/L record as a sole criterion:
It doesn’t tell the whole story and it depends on things beyond Bruins’ control (ie. the other teams).
I am disappointed in CRN not because of the 4-8 season last year, but how we got there. I’m angry/disgusted at the many of the examples of poor coaching: first, switching to an offense which none of the coaches knew, forgetting about players during games, having a playbook which could be written on a cocktail napkin (as everyone knows, only physics should be written on cocktail napkins!), non-aggressive defense (actually ‘submissive’ is more apt). I could go on (as could all of us) but it’s far too early to start drinking.
If I were AD, CRN’s job as coach would depend on his performance as a coach (call me crazy). Even having no say about it, I will be looking critically at how he coaches his team this year – scrutinizing much more than W’s and L’s. It is conceivable for CRN to coach his ass off and still not go to a bowl game (In 09 we needed a bit of luck to make it to that bowl game with a 6-6 season) – but very unlikely. So, in my NSHO, – and if I were AD – to keep his job, CRN would need a combination of:
A) Never looking unprepared for a game
B) Surprise every opponent at least once
C) Keep our team focused for 48 quarters (well, I’m a softy: make it 44 quarters)
D) When a player struggles in a game – either coach him up or send someone else in (and be aware of other players on your roster who could step in – don’t friggin’ “forget” about a player)
E) A couple of ‘Flagship Wins’ (e.g. beating USC, a *huge * upset)
F) No losses when we’re favorites
That is not asking too much for a coach at the school with the most national titles, is it?
by KnudsenRockne on Apr 28, 2011 12:02 PM PDT up reply actions
Agreed
I’d add:
-No blowout losses. We should be competitive with every team we play, even if we’re not favored.
-Accept mitigating circumstances when a players “seems” to be playing well. To wit: the “Westgate Paradox”. How can a player with the most tackles on our team last year be playing poorly? Teams ran away from Akeem Ayers, right toward Westgate. He was manhandled on nearly half of the plays in which he was involved. The fact that he’s still starting has me flabbergasted.
-No more silly pop-warner crap. See: no “trying to catch the other team offsides”. Egregious.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
by OswegoBruin on Apr 28, 2011 12:13 PM PDT up reply actions
Good points!
Maybe this should be it’s own thread?
by KnudsenRockne on Apr 28, 2011 12:16 PM PDT up reply actions
Yea, you guys are totally right
I take back my simplistic assessment of CRN’s job performance this upcoming season. I’m just as frustrated as the next fan.
It's not simplistic.
It would take a room full of servers to catalogue all of Rick’s missteps so far. I’m optimistic for this season, but only as far as the O-line can get healthy. Barring that, we’re screwed.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
W/L maybe 'simplistic' or maybe just 'inexact'
W/L records are a good proxy measurement for coaching – consistently good coaching eventually shows up in team records. But it can take a lot of games for it to be really clear. There are problems which are beyond the coach’s control which can hamstring a program. e.g. injuries and academic ineligibility. As O-Bruin says about our O-line’s health – without it we’re screwed. If we had the world’s best coach and an injury-riddled O-line the W/L’s would still suffer … OTOH: the better the coach the better they handle problems.
That is why I am looking at how we play to make up my mind about CRN. This season he has his staff and his recruits. Even if our team’s snake-bit once again – so we cannot go to a bowl game – we will be able to evaluate CRN’s coaching abilities. (BTW: Even if we’d had a couple more wins last season – and a bowl victory – I’d still have doubts about his coaching abilities. As 3rdn9 pointed out that with a few lucky breaks we could have had 2 or 3 more wins)
I think that it is important to blame CRN only for his own mistakes and not for circumstances beyond his control (e.g. coach staff foisted upon him, injuries, stupid newspaper ads) – but he needs to own his mistakes, he gets paid far too much money to be merely an average coach.
by KnudsenRockne on Apr 28, 2011 3:47 PM PDT up reply actions
Crissman
Crissman is from Edison High in OC. He was an awesome QB there and I hope he finally is over all the injuries. I think he could help us a lot. He is a very tough young man.
by Forever a Bruin on Apr 28, 2011 9:48 AM PDT reply actions
Crissman Sighting
Like everyone else at UCLA, the spring game was the first time we’d ever seen Crissman actually throw the ball…..Noticed that as he was warming up, kind of flipped the ball rather than driving it; and in the game itself was very erratic. Hopefully he’ll continue to strengthen the shoulder and get some reps this year; with the usual revolving doors in the OL, we’ll probably need 3-4 QBs gain this year.
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