Couple of quick pigskin notes to pass on during this Bye Saturday. Brian Dohn noted something we have already referenced here on BN. CRN and Chow will have some options at QB this spring:

There's plenty of options, including Kevin Craft - who's struggled under center for the Bruins this season - backup Chris Forcier, redshirt freshman Kevin Prince and Richard Brehaut, a recruit from Los Osos of Rancho Cucamonga High who has committed and is scheduled to enroll in the spring.

Prince has done well running the scout team during the bye week.

"Absolutely, (Prince) will be in the mix," UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said in previewing the spring competition. "Everybody will have their hat in there. It's who knows the most about our offense and can engineer it and make the throw. It's not a complicated thing how you decide who your quarterback is. It's based on who can know what happens before it happens so you're not always in a reactionary mode.

"I think Prince knows the stuff, but he's in redshirt mode.We're going to get through the rest of this season, hopefully as productively as we can, and see where we go from there."

Neuheisel has repeatedly said this season that Forcier doesn't have a complete grasp of the offense. Forcier said he believes he's getting better each week.

"I'm just trying to stay within (what) the coaches tell me to do, and don't try to do anything outside of what I've been taught," Forcier said. "Stay relaxed and positive and just have fun."

As mentioned before, unless coaches see some kind of dramatic improvement from Forcier during practices, I am not sure how he can break in this spring. He couldn’t beat out Rasshan last season. This year despite having more than a year of head start in the UCLA football environment (in terms of familiarity with team-mates) he couldn’t beat out Craft. Perhaps the proverbial light bulb will go on for Foricer, but I think if I were to bet, it will be Prince who will have the best shot at dislodging Craft as the starter next spring (unless Craft locks into it with tangible improvements during the remaining games this season). As for Brehaut, hopefully he can come in a learning mode and with the mindset of soaking everything in while being patient. Don’t forget about Crissman who could make it interesting, if he fully recovers from his shoulder injury by spring.

Speaking of options, Milton Knox is excited about playing for CRN:

Freshman running back Milton Knox received praise from his coach after a pair of long runs Wednesday, and he was given another chance Thursday to "go live" as Neuheisel allowed the scout team contact in this week before the Nov. 28 game at Arizona State.

"It's the first time I've been hit since camp, and it felt good," Knox said. "I feel I can play. Now, it's just about knowing my playbook. I'd like to start [next year] but even if I'm number two, three or four, I just want to play."

His cause would be helped by a strong recruiting class, something Knox thinks is possible because of Neuheisel.

"He's one of the friendliest people I've ever met, he practices with us, he builds a relationship," Knox said. "It's why I came here: He makes you feel like family, telling us we're all brothers and we'll get this done together. He's charming, and honestly wants to change how we've been doing here, and he has the ability to make those things happen."

Can’t wait to see him, Franklin, Dean, Bell and others going full speed next year with a year under their belt. Don't forget about Christian Ramirez who will be returning from an academic suspension (assuming he is back in good standing after this year). So, that’s another position where Chow and co will have no shortage of options next season.

Again … no games today. We will put up an open game thread later this afternoon for those watching the big game this Saturday.

GO BRUINS.

Bruins now have a bye week to refocus and to continue to work on the issues that have plagued them all season. At this point, it is unclear to me exactly what can the coaches do to fix our two main problems – QB and OL - holding back our offense. Yet, the coaches will keep trying. Dohn has CRN’s analysis of Craft’s weekend performance:

"I think if we go back and we really studied where he throws the ball on a particular throw, it's a high propensity to go to the same person, regardless of what the defense is," Neuheisel said. "And those are the things that we have to keep pounding on him about, because he's very adept in terms of knowing what our offense is calling for, and what we need."

Craft was 13 of 22 for 135 yards, but did not throw a touchdown against what was statistically the worst passing defense in the nation. Opposing quarterbacks against Washington have had a passing efficiency rating of 174.25, last among the 119 Football Bowl Subdivision teams.

Craft, a junior who is in his first season as UCLA's starter, has thrown 16 interceptions compared to seven touchdowns this season. He also has nine interceptions and no touchdowns in UCLA's past three games.

Neuheisel said a first-quarter interception was an inaccurate pass, a second-quarter pick was forced into coverage and a third-quarter interception was a misread in which Craft thought Washington was playing man-to-man defense, but really was in zone.

"The third one was just a radical pre-determination," Neuheisel said. "He threw the ball where only the defense had a chance to catch it."

When asked if such mistakes should still be a factor in the 10 th game of the season, Neuheisel said, "No, it shouldn't be, and we've got to keep working to fix it."

Given what we have seen to date, I think it’s clear these last two (hopefully three) games this year with Craft’s audition for the starting job next year. It’s clear to me that the coaches have reached the same conclusion on Chris Forcier as they had done on Osaar Rasshan. Those are two outstanding athletes playing out of position. This week’s QB competition will be between Craft, Prince and perhaps Brehaut. But if I were to bet, I think Prince has a very good shot at emerging as the starter for 09-10 season. I think due to the fact that Prince has been in the program for more than year under Chow will give him a head start. Sitting out this year probably has given him the opportunity to get stronger as well after he missed most of his high school senior year due to injury. Nick Crissman is out there but he is going to be recovering from a shoulder surgery. As for Brehaut, I think its great that he is coming in early this spring, but it will be tough for him to break in immediately as a starter. Hope he comes in with the mindset of being patient and in a learning mode under Chow and Neuheisel. Spring is going to be very interesting at Spaulding to say the least.

While CRN and Chow will be working with Craft, they are also going to be dealing with an OL which will go through more reshuffling due to Savage’s season ending injury:

[U]CLA will likely use its bye week to find a replacement for Savage over the final two games. Glicksberg, Sonny Tevaga and Brandon Bennett are all possibilities.

UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel also said that the coaching staff was considering moving Micah Reed from center back to guard and letting Jake Dean maintain the starting center spot for the remainder of the season.

It is expected that Savage will be in a cast for six weeks and then have nearly two months of rehab. It is not known how it will affect his training for the track and field season.

Savage is an elite-level thrower whose personal best in the discus would have left him a foot shy of being an Olympic finalist this year and he has made it no secret of his desire to compete in the 2012 London Games.

Savage’s absence could open up a door for Tevaga but CRN has laid out a condition for his return to the program:

"He just needs to be committed," Neuheisel said. "The level of commitment in this program has to be such that no one can doubt it."

Makes sense to me.

As for other personnel notes, here is the injury news from the LAT:

In another injury from the Washington game, defensive tackle Brian Price strained a hamstring and could miss some practice. He is expected to play against Arizona State.

Quarterback Ben Olson, who did not travel to Washington, will meet with Neuheisel today after seeing a specialist on Friday to check the lingering soreness in his foot.

Should be interesting to see what transpires during practices till next Friday. I wonder if Olson will be getting lot more reps with the second team and travel as the back up QB to Tempe next week. Guess we will have to stay tuned.

GO BRUINS.

Interesting note on Dohn’s blog re. Richard Brehaut, incoming QB recruit and one of the key corner stones re. next year’s class:

UCLA commit Richard Brehaut, a quarterback from Los Osos of Rancho Cucamonga High, is going to try and graduate early and enroll at UCLA for the spring quarter. That is a huge deal because it will allow Brehaut to compete in spring practice.

There are some negative and positive angles re. this development. I will start with the negative and it’s not too difficult to figure out what it is. The story of J.P. Losman should be familiar to everyone in Westwood.   WWL's Mark Schlaback's story on early enrollments of hot shot college QBs included the obligatory reference to Losman/UCLA:

Enrolling early didn't work out for Buffalo Bills quarterback J.P. Losman, either. He spent less than four months at UCLA after enrolling early in 1999, and finished his college career at Tulane. Blake Barnes, a junior quarterback at Georgia, also enrolled early but has played only sparingly as a backup. Jevon Snead enrolled early at Texas last year, but lost the starting job to Colt McCoy, then transferred to Ole Miss this spring.

Even Tebow, who had as much success as anyone after enrolling early last year, said getting a head start in college football isn't for everyone.

"You don't have to enroll early," Tebow said. "I definitely think it depends on the school you go to and the offense they run. It's not for everybody."

But on the flip side … times are a little different now at UCLA. It is not that unusual any more for hotshot freshmen to enroll in school early. In our current program Kevin Craft himself checked in early (along with Embree IIRC). By all account Brehaut seems to have been more involved with our program than Losman ever was. Also, I am presuming CRN, Chow and rest of the staff will do much better job of phasing this kid in our program.

As for the QB depth chart, it will interesting to see how Brehaut (if he in fact enrolls early) performs in this spring’s QB competition. It figures to be intense and competitive (in a healthy way I think) featuring an experienced Craft, talented Prince, seasoned (at least in terms of years in the program) Forcier, Crissman (if he is recovered from his right shoulder injury which may or may not requre injury surgery), and Brehaut.

No information right now on whether Cowan will try to come back for his sixth year. I don’t see Olson coming back and I also think Osaar Rasshan should think about switching positions, if he wants to think about a career in the pros beyond UCLA.

Anyway, Brehaut’s arrival will certainly heat up the competition even more and make things more fun at Spaulding. It will be fun to see and read about CRN and Chow coaching up these QBs next Spring.

GO BRUINS.

Reading press reports from last two days it sounds like Kevin Craft is ahead of Chris Forcier in the on going QB competition. However, that doesn’t mean we should stop paying attention to Forcier. As Neuheisel told the OC Register:

Coach Rick Neuheisel insists there still is time for redshirt freshman Chris Forcier to catch up.

"You can't trust him yet, but to his credit, when he goes out there he does make good things happen," Neuheisel said of Forcier.

"He's not out of it by any stretch of the imagination."

As we have mentioned before this is a kid who was a pretty decorated recruit out of high school and made a name for himself as one of the better dual threat QBs in the country. While Craft is gaining an edge using his experience from D-1 (San Diego State) and success at JC ranks last year, Craft is learning to be a complete QB under the coaching of Chow and Neuheisel. From Kevin Pearson at PE.com: 

[D]espite still escaping at the first sign of trouble this fall, he [Chris Forcier – Ed.] said he is making a conscious effort to remain where he should and let the play develop and trust that his linemen will block for him.

"His instincts are to go out because that's where he can be a playmaker," UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said. "It's like going on a fast break instead of running the set offense.

"He has to realize that the first sign of color in an A-gap doesn't mean it won't get blocked. His eyes are still looking at the blocking scheme."

As a senior at San Diego St. Augustine High, Forcier ran for 631 yards and 10 touchdowns and was rated the No. 7 dual-threat quarterback nationally by rivals.com following his senior season. He is one of the fastest players on the roster but said he understands his head and his arm must be his first weapons.

"Once in a while I will get over my head and flush out of the pocket when I really don't need to," Forcier said. "But that's when Coach Chow bites on me. He harps on me about it and I try and focus and not do it.

"The most difficult part about it is learning to trust your line. Most of the time it's better to stay in the pocket and let the play work out for itself."

As I have written before Forcier’s speed is intriguing to me. I haven’t seen him or Craft in action. But I can’t help envision number 18 running a bootleg without any fear of collision with an incoming linebacker or safety, whenever I read about Forcier’s speed. However, Forcier and rest of us need to be patient, as Neuheisel and Chow work on him and other QBs on a day by day basis in their attempt to create total quarterbacks at UCLA. Don’t forget Craft is pretty mobile too (as attested by DeWayne Walker). In Chow’s system he doesn’t need his QB to run like a rocket, he needs his QB to have enough speed so that he will provide some options in moving the chains for a first down and getting a fresh new set of downs to work with.

Forcier (along with Craft and other QBs in our depth chart) need to get in the mindset of not feeling the pressure to come up with big plays in every down, but instead put themselves in position so they can pick 4 to 6 yards on a play by play basis. That means as Neuheisel having enough trust in his OL to let the play develop for few split seconds while decide to look for open receivers or run for yardage depending on the situation.

So that requires Forcier (and his team-mates) to be patient and composed as the QB in Chow’s offense. And that goes for not just being patient on the field, but also for the long terms in terms of waiting for his opportunity in Westwood.

Particularly given the recent history of QBs going down at UCLA, Forcier (along with Rasshan, Prince and Crissman) needs to be mentally ready to step in no matter how the QB competition plays out over next few days:

Learning Under Chow (OR was not in full pad due to injury): Photo Credit: dabruins07's photostream (flickr)

Hopefully Forcier and his team-mates will continue to chip away, listen to their coaches, and work with them to find a way not to use their talents to optimize their game by using their talent to the fullest extent.

GO BRUINS.

So on the second day after Ben Olson went down at Spaulding the Bruins had a sluggish day on offense (or a dominating one on defense from another pov). The sloppy offensive performance (to start the Monday of second week of Fall practice) led to Neuheisel making a comment about being “concerned” about offense, which set off immediate concern trolling by local reporters who seemed to be pouncing for the opportunity to hit the panic button. Chris Foster from the LA Times breathlessly typed up how UCLA quarterbacks are facing “rush to judgment” with “only a few weeks left” before a decision:

Basically, it's never good when the coach says, "I'm concerned" a week into training camp. But after a rough day for the offense, UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel took a breath and said just that, followed by "Our offense has to understand that we have to have tempo on a daily basis. We can't just come out here. We have some real good leaders, we need some more of them. Hopefully, we'll develop them as we get closer to game time."

Leadership would seem to go hand in hand with playing quarterback, but Kevin Craft and Chris Forcier are riding a learning curve on that, Neuheisel indicated. They are trying to fill the void created when starter Ben Olson broke a bone in his right foot and will be sidelined for eight weeks.

Craft and Forcier didn't seem to distinguish themselves with Neuheisel, as the Bruins defense dominated play during 11-on-11 drills Monday.

"Guys have to command a presence to play that position," Neuheisel said. "You can't be effective without it."

Neuheisel singled out tailback Kahlil Bell and tight end Logan Paulsen as offensive leaders, but said, "We need more of them and we're going to be demanding more of others."

Playing quarterback, Neuheisel said, requires "an innate sense of command, a feel and presence, all those things. It's like the Supreme Court said about obscenity, 'I'm not sure how to define it. I just know what it is when I see it.' It's the same with quarterbacks."

No offense to Ben Olson and everyone who reads BN on a regular basis know there aren’t a lot of strong supporters of BO than yours truly. But can some one tell me exactly what “void” has been created due to Olson’s injury? Some stark numbers on BO’s career courtesy of CPBruinFan at Bruin Roar:

If you count up all the games where Ben Olson hasn't played since high school, the number is shocking. Olson graduated from Thousand Oaks high school in 2002. He red shirted his first season at BYU, so that's 12 games there. His two year Mormon mission adds in another 24 games. In his first season at UCLA, he fractured a thumb and was sidelined early. Drew Olson took over and had a fantastic season with Ben only played in garbage time for two games, so he sat out 10. In 2006, he started the first five games but suffered a knee injury against Arizona that cost him the remaining 7 games. Last year, Olson was only available to play in 6 games. That's a total of 59 games since 2002 where Ben hasn't played. That doesn't even count the games he'll miss this year, which will likely be all of them.

So, exactly what the heck Chris Fosters of the world are referring to when they are saying Olson’s injury has created a “void” in UCLA’s offense? Somehow these guys are forgetting it was Forcier and Craft (and Rasshan to a certain extent) who ended up taking all the snaps during that first spring scrimmage under Chow and Neuheisel.

And this whole idea of Neuheisel and Chow having to “rush” to make a decision on their starting quarterback is just laughable. If anything I want these guys to be as patient as they can in gathering as much data points as possible on all of our QBs before reaching a conclusion on who will get the start. And I will go as far as saying that it might not even be a bad idea for the coaches to platoon their QBs during the out of conference games to see who reacts the best and emerge as the best game manager in actual game situations, before settling on a starter for the conference season. I find it comedic that Brian Dohn actually put up a poll on who should be UCLA’s QB on his blog with just 2 days of practices in full pads involving two leading candidates (Craft and Forcier) who haven’t thrown a single pass in a UCLA uniform. Brian must not have a lot of respect for his readers, otherwise he wouldn’t insult their intelligence with that kind of ignorant polling question.

The panicking among local reporters/columnists doesn’t end there. Another line of concern trolling is how Chow doesn’t have any Heisman caliber QBs to work with. Steve Dilbeck from the Daily News today dismisses Craft, Forcier, Rasshan and Crissman into walkon caliber QBs:

Chow's remarkable quarterback resume includes Steve Young, Jim McMahon and Ty Detmer at BYU. Philip Rivers at North Carolina State and Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC.

Huge names, great college quarterbacks, NFL first-round picks.

Only this time he is operating with holdover quarterbacks from the Karl Dorrell era. None who have been confused as an NFL prospect. Maybe not even a starting college quarterback.

But somebody is going to have to take the first snap in three weeks when UCLA opens with highly regarded Tennessee.

"It's not a problem," Chow said. "It really isn't. We'll find someone. One of these two guys, three guys will step up. There's no question in my mind."

It's one thing to groom a future Heisman winner, a talented quarterback coveted by every program in the country.

It's something else to be down to the third- and fourth-string guys on a list that was borderline suspect to begin with. There's no obvious "guy" who's been waiting in the wings, no next superstar ready for his close-up.

Oh God! What are we going to do?! We don’t have any Heisman contendahs on our roster! Chow and Neuheisel must need to have 4 5 star/top-5 recruits at QB position to make this a powerhouse.

I mean these guys are a little too much. Where were these guys during last five years? They are pushing the panic button on third day of full pads, while they were mostly missing during all those years of Karl Dorrell.

Uhm, someone should clue these guys into the fact that there are lot of good programs around college football who get their program started (or restarted) with serviceable quarterbacks. If anyone has followed this program closely (and we expect all of our readers to be some of the most informed when it comes to UCLA sports) know that kids like Forcier, Craft, Rasshan and Crissman are not just bunch of walkons. They received scholarships for a reason. They can play.

Also I think its a little presumptuous to think that Brehaut is going to come in here and vault over all the current kids next year and emerge as the starting QB. People should not make any assumptions just by reading some press reports or watching highlights on the youtube. No one is going to present Brehaut the starting job on a silver platter. He well need to come in and compete and earn it. Otherwise it will be the JP Losman fiasco all over again. And I am sure our coaches will make sure that doesn't take place by communicating to all parties involves exactly what is expected from them.

As for the kids we have now, no one here is expecting any of our QBs to win the Heisman trophy. No one here is expecting them to go undefeated this regular season or go to the Rose Bowl. What we are expecting them is to hang in there and take in (as much as they can) everything they are getting from Chow and Neuheisel. They need to keep at it, compete against each other, and support each other as they learn to play college ball from two of the best in this game.

There is no doubt given the depth issues at our OL, it is going to be a rough going and there will be lot of tough moments in what we are expecting to be a rebuilding (and possibly gloomy W-L wise) season. But they just need to bounce back and come right at day after day. Lot of us remember Cade’s first two seasons. There were lot of memorable moments during those two years but in terms of W-L they were forgettable and not pretty. They were dotted with some heartbreaking losses (still remember how we choked on a 5TD lead against Jake the Snake at the Rose Bowl) and some humiliating ones. But Cade never got down on himself. He just kept coming back for some more.

All of our guys (here a little primer from Foster for those who still need to get caught up on our QBs) need to hang in there and not get discouraged from practice “reports” coming from the local scribes who have consistently missed the mark on so many UCLA related issues over the years.

Elsewhere, in terms of injury Mike Harris (the backup RT) is going to be out “few weeks” due to a “high ankle sprain.” This sucks but again what are we going to do? We just have to deal with it and hope for the best. UCLA is not the only school in the country that is dealing with injury issues. It happens at Fall practice camps all over the country. The question is how our coaches and players deal with it. This is where players take their cues from their leader. Luckily for us we have someone in charge, who will remain relentlessly optimistic no matter how adverse situation he finds himself in. So don’t let all the concern trolling by the local media (and some fans) get you down.

We are going to OK.

GO BRUINS.

Before we move on to what looks like a wide open QB competition let’s make a note of Olson’s comments following another disappointing set back:

"It's definitely been tough," Olson said. "You're not able to accomplish the goals you set. It's very frustrating because it seems every year that my progression as a quarterback has been halted by injury. But whining and complaining about things and asking 'why did this happen to me?' does no good. You have to push forward."

You have to admire the kid’s attitude given what he has gone through last few years. It’s going to be difficult uphill climb for Olson from hereon out. He will have to decide whether to have a screw placed in his foot again to help it heal and it will take a while for him to get back in any kind of game shape. He sounds determined as he said that he was "definitely" coming back. For now though he needs to pay total attention in getting healthy and taking care of school work because there will be lot more to his life than college football once he has gotten his UCLA degree. Still we wish him best of luck and given the nature of this game we should never count anyone out.

As for rest of our QBs, it is on. The competition is now wide open:

Junior-college transfer Kevin Craft and redshirt freshman Chris Forcier moved to the forefront of UCLA's suddenly rekindled quarterback derby. Osaar Rasshan became a surprise long-shot option in the contest, and freshmen Kevin Prince and Nick Crissman find themselves on the periphery.

"There was competition before, but I think it just might have been kind of laid back because Ben was the older guy," Foricer said.

"Right now, I feel like it's open, and I'm going to go and try and get it. That's what I'm here for. I want to get on the field. I don't want to be sitting on the sideline, so I'm going to go after it."

A much more docile Craft said he wasn't getting overhyped about the competition.

"If you think that way, then you're not going to play to your potential," Craft said. "You have to go out and let it fly and play the way you know you can play, and not worry about anything, and not worry about the other guys. That's when you go downhill."

Bruins coach Rick Neuheisel and offensive coordinator Norm Chow agreed the competition was open, but time is not on UCLA's side.

Neuheisel and Chow will probably have about two weeks to assess the performances of their QBs before making their decision. I am assuming they will want to make a decision on their starting QB at least a week before the Tennessee game. Neuheisel could take the easy way out but as the OC Register reports he is going to make his QBs prove themselves at Spaulding before naming his starter:

Neuheisel said the easiest option is to slide Craft into the starting role because of his experience, but he said "He's got to prove it."

Craft was asked if he thought he could play well enough to keep the offense from bogging down in Olson's absence.

"We've got a ways until that day," Craft said. "We've got a lot of practices and time to put a lot of stuff in before then. We’re just trying to put ourselves in the best position to win. From now until then, it's just going to take a lot of hard work."

More from Craft in the LA Times:

"Right now the focus is on getting better every day and getting familiar with the offense," Craft said. "I need to show Coach Chow that I know where he wants me to put the ball."

As for Forcier, the kid out St. Augustine High (San Diego) who was running the scout team last season, he is all fired up about his opportunity to "prove" himself:

"This could be my only shot to prove myself," said Forcier, who played at St. Augustine High in San Diego. "It might not come back again. I've got to make the most of it."

Here are Foster’s (LAT) report (linked above) from yesterday’s practice:

Forcier and Craft shared time with the first team in Sunday's two practices. Neither was overwhelming, but Forcier's speed and agility was an added element, one that could be an asset playing behind an inexperienced offensive line.

"He's got some magic to him," Neuheisel said. "He has to become an expert on this offense. Last year he was playing off some cards [as the scout team quarterback]. Now he has to be thorough in his preparation and we need to see if he's ready to make it."

Craft, too, has his downsides.

"I think his mind knows what to do, but his body has to respond to the mind and not be jerky about it," Neuheisel said.

While Craft and Forcier are battling it out for the starting spot, coaches are working to shore up the right side of the OL. Dohn reports that Palcic is digging what he is seeing in Chandler (at RT):

"I think Nate Chandler has a real future as an offensive tackle," Palcic said. "He's athletic, but we just have to get him a little bit bigger and stronger. I think he'll be a real good Pac-10 tackle."

Chandler, a redshirt freshman who was moved from tight end less than a month ago, is listed at 6-foot-4, 275 pounds. He fared well playing against the first-team defense the past few days, but consistency and improvement is what Palcic wants.

"I'll know a little bit more in this next week, once we get in a couple scrimmage situations and stuff like that," Palcic said. "We've been going against a pretty good defensive front, and he's been holding his own."

That’s good news. And it’s timely development given Mike Harris, the backup RT had to leave practice with a right ankle injury yesterday. We will get more information today on his status. Neuheisel sounded "a little nervous" about it and is hoping for "some good news" today.

Here is one silver lining from yesterday’s sad news. With either Forcier or Craft at QB, the left side of the OL takes more importance as we will have an uber talented combination of Micah Kia and Darius Savage protecting these right hander’s blind side. Now if they can only settle down a bit, and step up to become an efficient game manager within Chow’s system taking advantage of some of the talent at skill positions, we could be all right.

One thing we know Neuheisel is the kind of coach who will not let his team get down. He is going to keep their spirits up while working with Chow and rest of his staff to draw up a plan that will make the best out of their current situation. I am sure given our current situation it is still going to be an immense challenge, but these coaches and players are not going to feel sorry for themselves, and do what they have to do to push forward and get on with the business of establishing a foundation of a winning program. I am looking forward to the wide open competition that will take place in next two weeks and the anointing of a new starting QB out of it. It is on.

GO BRUINS.

Looks like Neuheisel and Chow have some new (and dramatic) information to work with.

Hot off Dohn's blog:

Allow me to start this Sunday with a story I heard from a good buddy of mine during last football season. Apparently last year after Utah humiliated UCLA in a game in which Olson was bruised and battered (a game in which he was kept in even though as it was later revealed that he had suffered concussion from the repeated battering behind Dorrell's maginot offensive line), two UCLA football fans were busy chatting among themselves on a plane back to LA. They were coming back from attending that nightmarish game and were busy chatting up Ben Olson, discussing how he was a total bust and a huge disappointment at UCLA. They kept at it the whole time until they were finally interrupted by one of two ladies directly sitting infront of them. According to my friends’ account tears were streaming down the eyes of that one lady who reminded those two jerks that the kid who they were so busy tearing down happened to be their son (and brother).  Those two UCLA "fans" kept quiet rest of the trip.

Let me add the caveat that I can’t confirm this story myself because I wasn’t there.  For what it’s worth I have heard the same story from couple of other folks.  But if there is anything inaccurate in this account please let me know in the comment threads I will make sure to point it out in this post with an update or in my next. However, the point we can take from this story is the point 66 made so eloquently (as he always does) re Olson’s latest setback:

He is a Bruin Warrior and, perhaps, the biggest victim of the CTS era. Suffering behind an offensive line that could not protect him and a total lack of any indication that the coaches knew how to use his talents, he’s stayed positive and has given us his best.

So for anyone who wants to come on here after yesterday’s news and post some kind of "I told you so" post with any hints of a celebratory tone, should think twice.  We don’t have any room for that kind of behavior towards a kid, who has given up his body for this program (despite being subjected to horrible coaching during majority of his career at UCLA).

Now that we have out of the way let’s get to news of latest setback for Ben Olson from yesterday:

UCLA quarterback Ben Olson was carted off the field during Saturday's practice with a right foot injury suffered in a non-contact drill, a foreboding sign the Bruins' quarterback situation could be in flux.

Bruins coach Rick Neuheisel said Olson felt pain in the same place he suffered a broken bone in his foot during spring practice, an injury that kept him from doing football- related activity for nearly three months.

Olson broke the fifth metatarsal in his right foot during a non-contract drill in the spring, and had a screw surgically inserted to assist the healing.

"He said he felt discomfort in the foot, so we told him to go in (to the locker room) and they're taking an X-ray," Neuheisel said.

"It's too bad. He was getting better and all that type of stuff. But, hopefully, it will be one of those things where we just have to rest him again."

A fluoroscope on Olson's foot was inconclusive. Olson is scheduled to have X-rays today at UCLA Medical Center. It is possible he will undergo an MRI as well, Neuheisel said.

According to Chris Foster from the LA Times Olson was hurt in a similar "fake" play last Spring. This is not the first time Olson has gotten hurt during Fall practice. He got hurt in his first fall practice at UCLA when he banged his fingers against a team-mate’s helmet, losing out the starting job to Drew Olson. Foster has a brief recount of other Olson nightmares in Westwood:

Olson has played with pain in the foot through the first five days of camp and sat out Friday's practice to rest. The injured foot was the latest setback in his career, despite the fact he has won the UCLA starting job the past two seasons.

As a sophomore in 2006, he tore a knee ligament in the fifth game against Arizona and was lost for the season. Last season, he missed one game with concussion-like symptoms and five others because of an injured right knee.

So what happens now? Instead of panicking, Neuheisel will sit down with Chow and rest of his staff to develop a plan when they receive more information re. the extent of Olson’s injury.  From the OC Register:

"We've just got to keep chugging along, but as the sand drifts through the hourglass, we've got to make some decisions," Neuheisel said. "We'll just have to wait and see what the decisions are when we have some information."

The data points that will factor into those decisions will be the performances of Kevin Craft, Chris Forcier, Kevin Prince and even Osaar Rasshan. Foster has the details on how Chow distributed the repos following Olson’s injury:

Quarterback Kevin Craft was moved in with the first team. Craft has struggled during training camp and was inconsistent again Saturday. Olson's injury resulted in increased time for redshirt freshman Chris Forcier, who received the bulk of the time with the second team.

Forcier, who attended San Diego St. Augustine High, ran the scout team last season. He can bring speed to the position.

"Norm has a method to his madness," Neuheisel said. "I usually don't get too involved. He must have thought Chris was doing well and let him stay in there and gain some confidence."

This is a situation in which we all need to relax and "chill" (as 66 said last night) and let the coaches make their decisions as they gather information from the practice field and injury reports. This is where the experiences of Chow and Neuheisel in working with quarterbacks come in handy and they deserve the benefit of the doubt in terms of getting all the space and time necessary in making decisions that is best for the team.

For now let’s hope Olson will be all right and that this is nothing short of a temporary setback. Meanwhile, let’s hope kids like Craft, Forcier and Prince will take advantage of the opportunities of extra rep to get them to the point where they can help the team.

I will end this Sunday with a note from Coach:

"Things turn out best for people who make the best out of the way things turn out."

Someone should clip that and send it to the entire team.

GO BRUINS.

Let’s shift our attention from the least glamorous position in the offense to the most glamorous one – the quarterback.

And you know where the story begins in this position. Anyone who considers himself or herself a UCLA football fan should know the story of Ben Olson. If you need to refresh your memory on the story of Ben Olson, the center piece in previous regime’s efforts to reestablish the UCLA football program, then simply read up the posts in this section. It hasn’t been a fun story for neither Olson nor UCLA football program to date. However, there still might be a glimmer of hope for Olson to leave Westwood with a positive and satisfying note. That hope depends on not only how Olson recovers from his unfortunate physical injuries, but how he prepares himself mentally heading into his last season in Westwood.

Going back to the post on our offensive line, I mentioned Palcic’s last season at UCLA during which he helped mold an offensive line anchored by Ogden and Parker that carried us to the Rose Bowl. I think it is also worth recalling that OL helped protect Wayne Cook, who was another quarterback who was coming off a devastating injury from the previous season. Now Cook wasn’t as heralded as Olson or other QBs I will note down below. Yet he was able to emerge as a signal caller who was able to take advantage of the protection afforded to him by that OL as an efficient game manager. Right now it’s a huge question mark in terms of the kind of protection Olson will get from the patchwork OL. But if the OL does come around and is enable to provide protection, it would be imperative for Olson to emerge as an efficient game manager taking advantage of the coaching and tutelage of Norm Chow (and Rick Neuheisel). As referenced before, Chow already went on the record following spring ball that he expected all of his QBs (including Olson) to spend lot of time in the film room. Our hope is that Olson has done exactly that this off season in addition to working hard to rehab from his injuries.

As noted multiple times before it took Carson Palmer almost a season and half to finally grasp Chow’s system (as simple as it may be). So it is probably unrealistic to expect Olson to develop into an All Pac-10 QB in just one season. However, I think coaches should expect from Olson that he will emerge as a veteran QB with experience who will make a concerted effort to minimize his mistakes, take advantage of some of the talent at our skill positions (as we will go over in upcoming posts), and take in Chow’s teachings to emerge as an efficient QB.

As far as returning QBs with experience Chow/Neuheisel do not have a lot to work with. Here a look at the numbers from 2007:



Stats via ESPN.com

We all feel awful for Patrick Cowan. He has been nothing short of a warrior during his time at UCLA and the Bruin Nation will be eternally grateful in his role for preserving our record 8 win streak. There is a chance he will get a medical redshirt and come back for his sixth season. However, there is chance that option not worked out (for i.e. what happened with Pitre). Also there is the question whether Cowan will want to come back for his sixth season given the options who might emerge for UCLA in the forms of QBs discussed below and the arrival of blue chip QB Richard Brehaut. In any event, I imagine coaches will encourage him to stay close to the program as he could play a nice role in mentoring the young QBs in the coming years.

MBT is gone. As for OR at this point he is still insisting that he wants to stick with his current position. I imagine he has gotten tired of the switching back and forth between WR and QB during the previous regime. He did get his chances due to the injuries to BO and PC last year. But as the stats bear out he wasn’t all that effective. To his credit he tried to make the best out of a horrific situation in which he showed flashes of his athletic talent, but it was no where close to being enough to show his potential effectiveness as potential game manager in Chow’s scheme. OR is being persistent though. He did  what he could to make a case for him. However, he didn’t crack the top of the depth chart as he was listed number 4 in the depth chart behind Olson, Craft and Forcier. He took some snaps during the recent spring scrimmage during which he completed 4 of his 7 passes for 60 yards and 1 TD. However, to date neither Chow nor Neuheisel have mentioned him as the future at our QB, even though they have not shown any indication that they would force him to play at WR.

So let’s move to the guy listed number 2: Kevin Craft. Neuheisel and Chow didn’t waste any time to bring him into the program following their arrival at UCLA. He does have a solid resume to back him up:

He completed 313 of 511 passes (61.3%) for 4,231 yards, 44 touchdowns and 10 interceptions as a redshirt sophomore at Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) in Walnut, CA ... Led team to a record of 10-3 and Southern California Junior College championship ... Named first-team All-American by J.C. GridWire

Those are pretty impressive numbers. However, as expected Craft was getting used to playing directly under the center after primarily playing in shot gun formation in his previous years. Here is a shot from the spring scrimmage ....

Photo Credit: Jack Rosenfeld

... during which Craft completed 11 of 24 passes for 95 yards, throwing 1 TD and 1 pick. He had a slow start during the scrimmage but as Chow had mentioned "he came around at the end," and that he needs to spend more time getting "used to the rhythm" of Chow’s offense and get a better understanding by … again spending time in the film room. Craft also recently indicated that he is getting more comfortable with his surroundings at UCLA:

Craft, a 6-foot-5, 205-pound transfer from Mt. San Antonio College, chose UCLA over Hawaii and SMU, and with two years of eligibility remaining and two experienced seniors ahead of him, most figured he'd redshirt.

That impression didn't change much when he was mostly inconsistent and overwhelmed during spring practices.

The overwhelmed part may change when preseason practices begin. Craft said he's found a comfort level with both Norm Chow's offense and his teammates.

"The first day I got to school here was one of our first spring practices -- I didn't know anyone on the team and I had no idea what was going on with the offense," he said. "So I'm just a little bit more comfortable with the offense and terminology, but more importantly I'm a lot more comfortable with all the guys on the team."

Craft should pick things up quicker than most. For one, he's seen action at the Division I-A level, having started his career at San Diego State, where he was forced onto the field because of injuries as a redshirt freshman in 2006.

So right now there are some reasons to be hopeful about Craft (BTW he is listed as a solid 6’5/210 in the official site) but it remains to be seen how he looks in the Fall camp after his off season homework assigned by Chow.

Behind Craft right now we have Chris Forcier. Forcier is intriguing because he is probably the best "dual threat QB" among the current options available to Chow and Neuheisel. Per his official bio Chris threw for over 5,000 yards and 60 touchdowns, while rushing for over 1,000 yards and 18 touchdowns in his high school career. He showed off his mobility during the spring scrimmage:

Photo Credit: Jack Rosenfeld

He completed 4 of 6 passes and at least according to one observer had "looked sharp" during the scrimmage.

Forcier’s task this off season in addition to spending time in the game room is working to gain more strength filling out his 6-3/185 frame and also improve his arm strength. It will be interesting to see the reports coming out from this Fall camp. Because for Forcier to emerge as a viable option this year he needs to show the coaches he is physically ready to handle D-1 defenses going up against Walker’s unit on a day to day basis.

Besides Craft and Forcier the Bruin coaches will have two true freshmen in this year’s fall camp: Nick Crissman and Kevin Prince. Kevin Prince as has been already discussed on BN is an interesting story and could perhaps make a play to break into the depth chart (recall how he was a "huge hit" at Steve Clarkson’s camp this summer). Chow and Neuehisel didn’t waste any time to jump on this kid and make a scholarship available for him in 2009 season. So they must have seen something in the film that’s intriguing to him. However, this kid is also coming off an injury so he remains a question mark/curiosity heading into this Fall camp. As far Crissman is concerned, I think we can probably expect him to redshirt this coming season and get ready to make his bid for a spot in the rotation starting next spring.

Before we finish here, I think it is worth it to go back to OR. Again it is more than understandable how frustrated this kid must be given how his playing career has worked out in Westwood and how he was yanked around in different positions in the previous years. However, as we have mentioned before, I think it would be very interesting if the coaches consider use him as a "slash" WR/QB option out of the backfield. We brought it up last year and the year before. After all the guy who epitomizes that position – Kordell Stewart – burst into the national scene under the tutelage of a certain QB coach we all know too well. Just something to think about. 

So those are my notes on our signal callers. As you can see right now we have lot of questions, which we don’t have any answers. The situation might get cleared up a little during Fall camp, but IMHO we are really not going to know until we have a few games under the new coaching staff. As we get ready for a year during which we are going to got through a lot of growing pains, I hope the coaching staff is not afraid to take chances and perhaps go with new options at this position, looking ahead to our future. Either way it will be very interesting how it all plays out. I am rooting for a happy ending for Ben Olson, while at the same time excited about what the future holds with other options available at Chow/Neuheisel’s disposal.

GO BRUINS.

I wanted to follow up on Nestor’s posts re Dose of Reality.

Let me start with the obvious point. We have a huge ? at quarterback.

Now, I know that a great o-line could compensate for a ? at qb and aid a young or average qb by opening holes and providing time. But we don't have a great o-line.

The last quarter century of PAC 10 play has demonstrated that experienced, talented quarterbacks are the key to success. Whether it is Jason Gesser or Carson Palmer or Cade McNown or Ryan Leaf or whoever, it really helps to have that qb.

We just don't.

Cowan is injured.
Olson is injured, has been inconsistent when healthy and is now working with the fourth OC of his career.
Forcier is inexperienced.
Craft is inexperienced and a JC transfer who was a San Diego State level recruit.
Rashaan has a tiny bit of experience, but lacks something or he wouldn't have been fifth string before the injuries.
Crissman is a true freshman.

That's my theme for the off-season. No qb. That's not a knock on the guys we have, btw. All but Olson are just young -- any of those guys could become our qb of the future -- but probably won't just yet.

The intriguing player to me is Craft. Craft went to SDSU because his dad coached there. Maybe he is better than a WAC qb. Also, the son of a coach often has an advanced mentality.

And he has another year.

Our line isn't great enough to power a great running game that would make the qb less necessary. And we won't control the ball most likely, so our defense will be on the field a lot.

A long time ago, a [message board poster] wrote that the hiring of Dorrell would cost UCLA ten years of its football program I think he was figuring seven years of Dorrell and three years for the new coach to get his own guys in.

Guerrero shortened that span by only keeping Dorrell five years. Then the post-Dorrell recovery is likely shortened because (1) Neu kept Walker and Walker was a better coach than Dorrell so the defense doesn't need a total overhaul (2) Chow and (3) Neu is a recruiting mofo who will accelerate the talent rebuild. But this year is still part of the Dorrell hangover -- meaning that Dorrell cost us at least six years.

Unlike Howland, who suffered through one year then used freshman to bounce back in year two (along with some good Lavin leftovers like Dijon and Ryan Hollins and Bozeman), Neu can't rebound on the back of freshman because in football freshman won't contribute as easily.

Think about this:

Dorrell's last class had talent, but there were only 10 players in that class. Some of those guys will contribute this year as true sophs/redshirt freshman. The next most talented group are Neu's first recruiting class -- all true freshman, so who knows? Our senior/junior classes are very average, with some gems shining through. In football, where physicality is so important, this makes it very tough for us.

And our oline is very uncertain.

Did I mention we have no qb?

A point we also have to keep in mind is what Nestor wrote in his second post today.

Is the upcoming season really the first year of the Neuheisel regime or the last year of the Dorrell regime. I mean. Howland's losing record his first year is entirely on Lavin, right? They were all Lavin's players, weren't they?

I think the answer to that is that it is going to be a little of both. On one hand, we all expect to see progress, particularly on offense. On defense, we hope to see more of what we had under Walker the past two seasons, with hopefully even more great things as he enters his third season coaching the defense.

But no amount of improved coaching is going to be able to compensate for some legitimate holes on the roster. This is always touchy, because commenting on the roster and being open and honest sometimes means criticizing players and no one, I mean, no one, likes to do that.

I mean, I didn't really mean that we had no quarterback. I mean, we're inexperienced and beat up and we lack the obvious, stud junior or senior who represents the entire package. And history has shown us that quality junior and senior quarterbacks win in the Pac 10.

Yeah, I'm sure someone can come up with the name of a freshman or sophomore who has done well, but I'm trying to comment on the overwhelming trend, not the statistical outlier.

I think what I'm trying to say, is that there might only be so much Neuheisel and his coaching staff can do with the roster they have and the schedule they face. There are some very good players on the roster, but many of them are still young, freshman even. There are some holes, on the line, at linebacker and at quarterback, where we really have no idea who is going to play or how he is going to play.