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.There were stories earlier this year about Dean adjusting to college level in which he wasn't the main show. Per Dohn's report today Dean has "found a way to be happy" and looking forward to the competition:

"It happens. You've just got to be patient," he said. "It's been a humbling experience. I think I needed it. I think I needed to go through it. It'll just make me better and stronger for the future. I'm happy the way it happened."

Kahlil Bell is in his final season at UCLA, but freshman Derrick Coleman will return, along with Dean, Raymond Carter (who had knee surgery last year), Chane Moline and redshirt freshmen Jonathan Franklin and Milton Knox. Franklin and Knox have earned high praise with their work on the scout team.

There's no guarantee for any of the running backs next year. Dean has just five carries for 10 yards this season.

"That's great competition," UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said. "Guys are going to have to understand if they want to play they'll have to do all they need to do to prove they're the guy that belongs with the ball. That's fun for a coach because you know it will make everyone better. As you all know, you need more than two (running backs)."

Dean isn't worried about that and is committed to remaining with the Bruins. For now, he's trying to have a good time and not worry about the future.

"The bye week has been real fun," he said. "I'm just trying to break loose out here and have fun out there. Come out, play good football and have fun."

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. The options will lead to intense competition, which should make the whole team better.

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.

With the training camp scheduled to open tomorrow, I will wind up our analysis of the post spring depth chart by doing a little roundup on our special teams.  I didn’t bother to do this post last couple of years keeping the focus just on offense and defense. But then we got this reminder on the importance of special teams in the very last play of 2007:


Photo Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

CRN gave an indication on how much emphasis he is going to put on special teams by bring in one of the best special teams coaches in the game in Frank Gransz, Jr. Here is a little snippet on Gansz’s extensive professional and college experience:

Gansz, who has an extensive background at the professional and collegiate levels, was the special teams coordinator for the Ravens in 2006 and 2007, coaching with Neuheisel. In 2007, the Ravens placed ninth in the NFL in punt returns (9.7 yards) and 10th in the league in kickoff returns (23.5). In addition, place kicker Matt Stover made 27 of 32 field goals and all 26 PATs. His 27 field goals tied for 10th in the league.

Prior to his stint with the Ravens Gansz also put together some great special teams at Kansas City.

Given the uncertainty with our offense and the lack of experience in defense, special teams is going to be more important than ever as our team will have to scrape for every point and look for every opportunity to grab momentum of games through blocked kicks, punts … whatever it takes to change complexion of the games. 

Luckily for Gansz (and Neuheisel) this is one unit there aren’t as many glaring concerns (notwithstanding the last play the Vegas Bowl) as there are in other areas of the team. From Kevin Pearson at the Press Enterprise:

Specialists - - This is the one area where there shouldn't be any concerns. Kicker Kai Forbath and punter Aaron Perez are among the best in the nation and NFL prospects. Sorting out the return game and making up for the loss of kick returner and special teams stud Matt Slater will be the biggest challenge.

 More from Dohn:

UCLA's best unit could be this one, led by placekicker Kai Forbath. He made 25 of 30 field goal attempts as a freshman and was 5 for 5 from 50 yards or more. And Forbath is expected to add kickoffs to his duties this season.
Punter Aaron Perez had 35 of his 91 punts downed inside the 20-yard line last season, and averaged 42.3 yards as he became a reliable, consistent performer.
What needs to get worked out is the return game, and there figures to be plenty of auditions. Receivers Terrence Austin and Ryan Graves ,and cornerback Courtney Viney are the leading contenders to return punts, but others could materialize.

As Dohn noted in rest of his post suspended RB Christian Ramirez was penciled in as KOR Specialist in the post spring depth chart. It will be interesting who the coaches call on to take over for Christian. Lot of folks think Jonathan – Jet Ski – Franklin would be an ideal candidate to try out for that spot taking advantage of his speed.

Also as the Daily Bruin notes today coaches may call on Kai to take over as the kick-off specialist over senior Jimmy Rotstein and freshman punter Jeff Locke "could also compete for the kick off duties as well. Whatever it takes to get an edge and foster competition.  It will only make the team better. And as mentioned given the questions around both our offense and defense coaches will need explore all options to maximize efficiency of the best unit in this team.

GO BRUINS.

We will start our walk with some bad news from the football front. As uclafan11 already noted Christian Ramirez has been declared ineligible for the entire 2008 season. From Kevin Pearson at PE.com: 

UCLA tailback Christian Ramirez, who was expected to compete for playing time in a deep UCLA backfield, was ruled ineligible because he did not meet NCAA eligibility requirements and will be forced to sit out the 2008 season.

Ramirez, a converted safety who could have moved back to defense this season if needed, can count this as his redshirt season. He will have two seasons of eligibility remaining. He is allowed to practice with the team.

"This is unfortunate for Christian and for our team" said head coach Rick Neuheisel. "I'm sure Christian will work hard to ensure this situation does not occur again. The rest of our running backs will just have to step up."

Needless to say this is very disappointing. I have always been high on Ramirez. I loved what I saw out of him last year. However, when it comes to academics there is no compromising at UCLA. Let’s hope he has learned a lesson and comes back with purpose and determination next season. As for the depth chart, we have decent depth at TB. What will be interesting is who will replace Ramirez as KR in the depth chart. I would think this will really present an opportunity for Jonathan "Jet Ski" Franklin to step up.

Speaking of depth chart may be there is some more shuffling around on the horizon at the right side of OL. From Dohn:

UCLA offensive lineman Nick Ekbatani, who spent his first two years in the program as a guard, is playing right tackle during summer passing drills as the Bruins look to replace injured starter Sean Sheller.

Haven’t heard anything official from the coaches yet. But this is a sign that Ekbatani is probably in the mix for competing for the starting spot vacated by Sheller’s injury. He will be competing against Harris, Chandler, and probably Edwards for the starting spot. Competition bodes well for the team.

Elsewhere, Pac-10’s official site have released a generic preview of UCLA. There is nothing earth shattering in that link, but throwing it up there for those who’d like to read every piece of Bruin related info out on the internets.

Speaking of Bruin football related football info, if there is anyone on BN who is a NASCAR, UCLA football has a special deal for you. Apparently the AD and the Auto Club has put together a package for both the Pepsi 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the UCLA/Tennessee game. I drink Coke and don’t watch NASCAR. But if it works for you, get on it.

We will end the walk with a note on Ben Ball. Coach Howland recently returned to Pacific Palisades (I feel cooler already in this hot Mid Atlantic summer dawn just typing Palisades) for his annual youth basketball camp. The Palisadian-Post has the details:

A hush fell over the Palisades High gym Monday morning when UCLA men's basketball coach Ben Howland gave his opening speech to the aspiring players who signed up for his third annual summer youth basketball camp.

When Howland talks, you listen... and learn.

"I see a lot of talent out here," Howland said after players were assigned teams in one of three divisions--the SEC (grades 1 and 2); the PAC-10 (grades 3 and 4) and the NBA (grades 5-7). "Possibly some future Bruins."

He should know. Howland led UCLA to its third consecutive NCAA Final Four in March and his defense-first philosophy has caught on up the road in Westwood.

"We want the kids to have fun, but we also want them to learn the fundamentals of basketball," said Howland, who was delighted that 210 kids signed up--70 more than last year. "This is a fun week."

Read rest of the report here. It’s always fun when Coach Howland shows up.

GO BRUINS.

Now that we have discussed the two biggest question marks around the unit, let’s shift our attention towards our running game. To start let’s go back to what Neuheisel and Chow told us back in April:

Neuheisel: "We’re formulating a scheme. I don’t know if it has the moniker that all the trendy offenses have now. I certainly wouldn’t call it Spread or the West Coast. I think where Norm is centered on is just being able to run the ball and protect the ball. It sounds overly simplistic, but if you can do both those things you can force defenses into a position where now big plays are available.

That doesn’t necessarily sound exciting. ‘Run the ball and protect the ball’ sounds very conservative. But I think if you can do both of those things successfully and commit to both of those things, the excitement then comes because the field now opens because you have to stop the run. You will bleed to death if you don’t stop run."

Chow: "We’re going to run the ball. To win in this game, in any league, you have to run the ball. I don’t think we’re going to revolutionize football. We’re going to continue to do things that [Neuheisel] and I know best.

"I think now it is a matter of what skills what kids can do. We’re not going to ask our kids to do something they are not capable of doing. Right now we put in base stuff that will fit just about anything, then we’ll wait and see."

I mentioned in my notes on our QBs about how for Ben Olson (or any other UCLA QB) to become effective they will have to focus on being more of a game manager than a gun slinger. For Ben or any other to become a successful game manager, it will be essential for UCLA to feature a consistent running attack, which hopefully will flourish taking advantage of multiple options (or at least potential of options) available in our depth chart.

So let’s review with what the coaches had to work with at the end of spring football:

** denotes red-shirt
^ denotes walk-on
() indicates number of games started in 06

And here is a look at their stats from last season:

In addition to looking at running stats we also need to look at the receiving stats of our backs. We can probably expect Chow to ask his QBs to throw a lot of quick, short passes to our RBs (based on our experience in watching Chow offenses at Southern Cal, NC State and BYU):

Let’s start with Bell who didn’t waste any time sending a signal last season that he was a Pac-10 level running back:

Before his season ended at Washington State, Bell was on track to have a great season. As the highlights show above, he has all the tools of emerging as a dependable running back. The question he will have to answer is whether he will return to the same form he was showing before he went down. Let’s hope that he is completely healed up and ready to go. Coming into last season there were lot of stories about how he had rededicated himself to football after some hiccups during his initial years at UCLA. It was great to see him emerge as a dependable option out of the backfield. It would be great if he can return to form, and provide Chow with a valuable weapon in the backfield.

That brings us to Raymond Carter, who was a pretty highly recruited 4 star running back out of Crenshaw High School in the small 2007 recruiting class.  Just like Kahlil, Raymond is also looking to come back from an injury, which quashed his hopes for making an impact in his freshman year before it even got started. Raymond (like Kahlil) was held out of practice this past Spring, however from what we hear, he will probably be ready to go this Fall Camp. As noted earlier on BN, Sporting News singled out Carter as a possible "comeback player" because of his "breakaway speed." This is a guy I am looking forward to see getting some action because he was billed as RB who had the ability to be a "playmaker," something we haven’t had in our RB rotation since the departure of MJD.

Speaking of playmaker and freshmen, let’s talk about two of our freshmen tailbacks. There is Aundre Dean. Instead of describing his playmaking abilities, I will just go ahead and post these highlights that we put up in March (during the heat of Ben Ball season):

Aundre Dean ... Running Back ... Katy Texas from Bobby Gerry on Vimeo

I mean there is not much I need to add to that. Some folks are wondering whether AD will emerge as a starting RB this year. I don’t think he will. However, I do believe that he has the potential to make the same kind of impact as Foster did his freshman season. We will see how that works out.

Along with Dean, Bruins will also welcome Milton Knox into the fold this Fall. As we have written before Milton is the other part of "Thunder & Lightning" combination of this recruiting class. Now Milton is listed at 5-7.5, 196 in his current scout.com bio. He might get redshirted this coming season. However, he can be so explosive out of the backfield that he might just break into the rotation if is able to impress the coaches in Fall Camp. So if you live around Southern California, I would highly recommend heading down to Westwood for practices this August to see just how our running backs are looking.

But we are not done yet. Let’s get back to some of the returning backs who are currently listed on the depth chart. Christian Ramirez had a great spring camp and he finished off on a nice note during the scrimmage. He started the season at the safety spot last year. He was moved to TB after the injury to Carter and immediately made an impression during the Stanford game. However, he didn’t get another shot following a key fumble against Cal. So it will be interesting to see where he emerges in the depth chart following this Fall Camp. He certainly has shown the ability on the field. If he can keep at it, he can also emerge as another option for the coaches in this crowded backfield.

Speaking of "speed" don't forget about Jonathan "Jet Ski" Franklin, the incoming freshman RB-DB who happens to be a reality TV star. There is a chance Jet Ski could get redshirted because of the options we have at RB and infusion of talents such as Hester and Woods at DB. However, don't be too surprised if Jet Ski finds himself a spot in the special team because of his speed.

At FB Theriot did a serviceable job last season after the injury to Michael Pitre. Right now the position is thin. Tobi Umodu is a converted LB who has never played the position. So, I think it will be interesting to see whether Chane Moline remains at TB, if Dean (and Knox) emerge as viable options right away this Fall. It might not be a bad idea to shift Moline to FB. He has the size to play the position. And with his TB skills with him at FB, Chow might be able to put together the classic dual threat combo ala Roger Craig and Tom Rathman many of us Niners fans enjoyed back in the Day. Don’t forget we have Derrick Coleman coming in as a freshman in this year class. At 6-0, 220 Coleman might get redshirted this year as the future at FB, but you never know given the lack of depth at FB position.

Speaking of doing an admirable job, Craig Sheppard did just that last season when he had to step up as our running backs were going down towards the end of the season. I imagine he is going to make the youngsters compete hard to take over this position during the Fall Camp. At the very least his game experience from last year will be helpful to the entire unit.

So in conclusion, this is one position our coaches will have options. They will have a lot of young talent at their disposal. If they can put together a diversified running attack featuring fully recovered and healthy crew from last year and blend them in with the talent of the young crew this year, it will a great development for our entire offensive unit. A dependable running attack will allow our QBs to manage the game more efficiently, and more importantly allow Chow to put together his patented schemes keeping the opposing DCs on their heels.

GO BRUINS.