Mora Commit for UCLA: RB Tairen Owens Flips From Huskies to Bruins
by Nestor on Jan 7, 2012 4:30 AM PST
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PrintSee what I did with the headline?! How about that UCLA Marketing?
Anyway, we have some good news to pass on this Sat morning. Coach Jim Mora picked up another commitment last night. Brandon Huffman tweeted last night about Pasadena (Calif.) Muir running back Tairen Owens flipping his commitment from Washington to UCLA. A little more from Huffman:
The three-star Owens was Washington's first commitment in 2012. He was offered by UCLA on Wednesday and committed to the Bruins tonight...
Ouch. The commitment may also hurt the Huskies depth issues given their star RB Chris Polk just declared his intention to jump to the NFL draft. More after the jump.
Jayson Fraychineaud at BruinsBall has more on the commitment:
This commit is interesting for a couple reasons. Owens is the 2nd Washington commit to switch over to UCLA. His main recruiter is new DBs coach Demetrice Martin. Martin (an alum of Muir himself) had a great relationship and extended the offer Wednesday night. Owens decided to stay home and become a Bruin.
Owens at 5'9 165 is absolutely ELECTRIC with the ball in his hands. He ultimately could play a Jamal Miles type role for UCLA with the new spread offense run by OC Noel Mazzone. Owens will definitely bring quickness, speed, and YAC ability to a UCLA team that sorely lacking in every category. More than likely he'll also return punts (and UCLA fans can rejoice at the graduation of Taylor Embree and his 'fair catches'/fumbles).
This commitment represents and illustrates a philosophical change by the staff. As opposed to bringing in kids set at one position, they are effectively bringing in kids that are athletes first and foremost. Bring in a kid with great speed and figure out the position later. Owens has qualities that no other Bruin has (except possibly Jordon James). You can bet he will be utilized on screens, swing passes, reverses, and as a 3rd down change of pace back.
Sounds good to us. To the YouTube we go for some highlights:
More highlights here. You can also check out Owens' scout.com profile here and our full commit list here.
Welcome to Westwood Tairen.
GO BRUINS.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.
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Something that stood out to me from the highlights
aside from the nasty jump cuts and ability to find/exploit holes in the D, watch at :37 and :46 how he almost instinctively (and seemlessly) switches the ball to his other hand to put his body between the ball and the defender.
Great News
I don’t necessarily get excited about particular names. But I do like the trend, where we are being aggressive on the recruiting trail. I am also guessing that the DB coach instrumental in this switch was not forced on Mora by DG.
DG needs to stay out of the way (and preferably out of the building).
Hmm
DG needs to stay out of the way (and preferably out of the building).
DG needs to take a long walk and then keep going and never come back
"Players with fight never lose a game, they just run out of time"
~ John Wooden
Here are his senior highlights
He has great lateral and jump cuts and is incredibly shifty. I like the kid and he seems like a real under the radar guy and a potential steal. He also shows the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and compares favorably with Jamal Miles. His future is definitely on offense but boy he can hit for his size
This is the kind of kid whose name we'd all be familiar with
Once he was done torching us for a couple of years in someone else’s uniform. If we could only get the talent development and utilization thing down so we could do that to other schools.
Awesome
Looks like he can juke and evade defenders
Get rid of Adidas and switch to Nike
Screw Dan Gurrerror
I have seen lots of guys who could do that in high school (probably every D-1 running back), but very few who could do it in college.
That said, I hope he’s one of the few.
I bet Embree still comes back for another year to return punts
In seriousness, these are the kinds of players that will help define Mora’s run at UCLA. Can he get athletes in space to take advantage of their skills in the open field? Dorrell and Neu certainly couldn’t.
Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I tweeted my followers to ask which I should take
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Jan 7, 2012 12:20 PM PST reply actions
With the minor exception of MJD
Who only seemed to be able to do so down in the fourth quarter when we were desperate and just seemed to throw the crappy playbook out the window and just called quick dumpoffs to Drew and told him to go get us a touchdown.
let's not forget Damien Thigpen
From the assesments he seems like the same type of player. Maybe we can make Owens an F-Back!
by Bruins#1 on Jan 7, 2012 12:30 PM PST via mobile reply actions
What does a five star guy look like?
This kid looks very good. Of course, it also looks like he had a great line, but still, if he continues to mature and hone his moves, it’ll be the other team’s fans will be complaining of poor tackling.
Agree
Kid looks like a higher ranked prospect to me, at least on film. His rating could have been downgraded a bit because he is a tad on the slight side.
But hopefully we get a strength coach that knows how to add muscle and not fat to our players. Kid like this could redshirt and come back 20-25 pounds heavier.
No more redshirting
Of skill position players. The only guys we should ever consider redshirting are O and D Linemen. Using redshirts cuts down on the number of Scholarships we can offer. We need to be more fluid with our roster moving forward. Bring in the best guys and play them. When it’s their time to go, let them go and bring in Mora of the best.
Bruins are forever but Trojans are good only once.
I don't mind
QBs being redshirted. Otherwise, agree with you.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Wow, quick feet
The ability to use an opponent’s momentum against him is just as much an asset as the ability to run over him. It’s fun to watch Owens run.
Welcome, Mr. Tairen Owens.
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