Football News & Notes

by Nestor on Apr 28, 2008 4:05 AM PDT in Football

We have a lot of football related notes to wrap up from this weekend's scrimmage and the NFL draft. Let's start with the scrimmage. We heard all about BO and PC last few days. Let's hear from the QBs who took most of the snaps at the Rose Bowl on Sat night. According Kevin Pearson from the Press Enterrpise, Craft was indifferent wrt his performance:

"I don't think I helped or hurt myself at all," Craft said. "I just had to come out today with what I had and I feel like I have a lot of room for improvement. There is a lot of work that I have to do in the off-season.

"It takes time to adjust to an offense. We have a lot of time from now to our first game. I'm more excited that I have all that time to work."

Craft is also adjusting to playing under center. He worked mainly out of the shotgun at San Diego State and Mount San Antonio College and said its an adjustment that takes some time getting used to.

"I haven't done any drop back stuff since high school," Craft said. "It is an adjustment, but I have from now until our first game. It is an adjustment and I am getting used to it. Seeing the field is different."

Meanwhile, Forcier according to Pearson "looked sharp":

UCLA's Chris Forcier finished 4-for-6 for 52 yards in the spring game and looked more like a passer. He has shown a tendency to tuck the ball and run too quickly but looked more like he wanted to be in the pocket instead of being a run-first quarterback.

Forcier led a stretch where the UCLA offense gained three first-downs in a four-play stretch and had completions of 18 and 19 yards on the drive.

"I had a couple of good series in there and the one series we drove down the field I had a couple good passes and it boosted my confidence," Forcier said. "That's the biggest thing for me is staying confident."

Hmm. I am interested in hearing from you guys re. Forcier because we now have conflicting reports from CPBruinfan at Bruin Roar and Pearson above. Not really a big deal though. But I would love to hear takes from those of you who were at the Rose Bowl re. how we can reconcile the inconsistent repots on Forcier "looking sharp" v. coming up w a "mixed bag."

As for CRN he is feeling good about the spring camp as he thinks it will get his players in the right mindset this off season, getting them ready for this fall:

"I think guys understand that we're at a different tempo, and that you have to bring it,'' he said. "Hopefully, that will mean we'll have a great offseason in the weight room, and in our speed development, and that we'll come back a stronger, more physical team on Sept. 1. We'll need to be if we're going to compete with the Tennessee Volunteers."

Meanwhile, the weekend also wrapped up with some good news in the recruiting department as UCLA picked up two commitments over the weekend: La Puente Bishop Amat cornerback Sheldon Price and Narbonne High receiver/defensive back Byron Moore Jr.

As UCLA was getting commitment from future Bruins, few current ones were getting their tickets punched for the NFL. Davis is going to be a Steeler, Slater a Patriot, and Horton a Redskin. As usual the most interesting comment came from Bruce Davis, who had some choice words re. his former coaches at UCLA:

"I'm done with school so I can this: I hope I never see Larry Kerr again,'' Davis said. "People say, 'Hey, he can end up being your coach.' No, he can't. He will not be."
As for former Bruins coach Karl Dorrell, Davis also had an opinion.
"Karl Dorrell one day will be a great NFL offensive coordinator. The way he sees the game and the way he understands things on the field ..."

Hmm ... I guess Davis doesn't think much of Dorrell's ability as a head football coach, which is interesting because he had choice words for folks who were criticizing him while he was here.

Anyway, I wish Davis luck. But in some ways I will always think of Davis as the Earl Watson of Bruin football. Earl in his days was the biggest defender of Steve Lavin. Both great athlete who had some great moments during their careers as UCLA players, but never reached the status of Bruin legends. In my book to achieve the status of Bruin legend for a football player, it involves beating Southern Cal and at least getting to the Rose Bowl, and for a hoops player it involves at least winning the Pac-10 conference and getting to the Final-4. Unfortunately for Davis just like Watson he was shortchanged because of an incompetent coaching staff (by his own admission). Let's hope he (and other Bruins such as Slater and Horton) taste that ultimate team success at the next level.

GO BRUINS.

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FB Recruits

I am not familiar with the recruits, but I did notice a couple of items about each which are encouraging.

First, it is nice to have kids of former Bruins coming back to campus (Sheldon Price is son of Dennis). It was a dark day for UCLA athletics when Bill Walton agreed that Luke would be better off playing for Lute Olson than for the Bruins.

Second, it is nice to see UCLA get a local athlete (Byron Moore) who had been offered by Cal. Tedford has obviously raised Cal's profile over the years. Hopefully we will see more get's like this.

by islandbruin on Apr 28, 2008 6:13 AM PDT 0 recs

Davis

Was a great player, a player with heart and passion. I'm not in the field of predicting success in the NFL, but I certainly wish him the best. He's one of only a couple players I have been sad to see leave the last few years.

by jjreicher on Apr 28, 2008 7:19 AM PDT 0 recs

A reach?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/nfl/specials/draft/2008/04/27/steals.reaches/index.ht ml?eref=T1

Tony Pauline calling Davis and Slater "a reach"

by LYC on Apr 28, 2008 8:02 AM PDT 0 recs

VERY VERY HAPPY

For these guys... I took the opportunity to stop and thank BD for all his blood, sweat and tears a couple weeks ago at Spaulding. He deserved a high paying job and hopefully someday, he'll come back and give more on another level.

Extremely happy for Slater and Horton as well. These guys all developed well under CDW and I'm sure they will flourish.

As a side note, it's easy to discount the life or death issue of moving on to the next level. Few of us will ever know or get the chance to earn millions doing a job we love.

I am so happy these Bruins' dreams come true.

GO BRUIN BLUE.

by theREAL_LOGAN5 on Apr 28, 2008 10:03 AM PDT 0 recs

Earning Millions in a Job We Love

More people will have that lifetime opportunity because they hold UCLA degrees than will have it because they played a UCLA sport.

sjh

by Class of 66 on Apr 28, 2008 11:57 AM PDT up 0 recs

is that an axe

you wanted to grind?

GO BRUIN BLUE.

by theREAL_LOGAN5 on Apr 28, 2008 2:26 PM PDT up 0 recs

Agree

Going back to a comment in another thread about the relationship (if any) between money and happiness, I would also submit that many more people will find happiness in the future as UCLA grads (with or without a lot of cash)

by islandbruin on Apr 28, 2008 3:26 PM PDT up 0 recs

CForce

lets be clear...i don't know where the 4 for 6 stats are coming from, because he had a lot more inadequate plays that adequate ones. he made some nice throws, but for the most part he was running for his life and taking sacks. it seems like he will not be a good fit for norm chow's short passing game which is a staple of the norm chow offense. it may be he only threw the ball 6 times when he got sacked or ran for a minimal gain like 4-6 times as well.

i think we need to ride with craft next year...

matsumoto class of '05

by matsumoto720 on Apr 28, 2008 12:15 PM PDT 0 recs

Felt the same

I dig Forcier. He's a serious student and may even develop enough physically and mentally to progress to the next level... who knows.

But in the end, it's really to early to tell where ANY of these guys are WRT development after 15-practices.

I'm partial to JC transfers anyway (especially an All-State JCXF). I think they come in with a big leg up on true freshman/etc, so I've secretly been in Kraft's corner for months. He also has the benefit of being a blank(er) slate compared to the coaching cluster-f*** that undoutedly still boggles the minds of Olsen and Cowan.

Remember too that we still have Rashaan who may really have it (again who knows) and CRISSMAN coming in with quite a fanfare to keep the level of competition very high. And ultimately, we've got the benefit of one of the finest coaching corps college gridiron may ever have seen.

GO BRUIN BLUE.

by theREAL_LOGAN5 on Apr 28, 2008 2:34 PM PDT up 0 recs

Weak Line=Mobility at QB

I truly think our weakness up front in the Oline will dictate that we adjust by allowing OR and CF play given their scrambling ability. Also, we may need to allow Craft to throw from the shotgun more where he seems to be more comfortable given his work at the JC level.

If we learned one thing over the past 5 years is you have to adjust and play with the hand/personnel you're dealt.

Lets hope CRN and his staff can make the right adjustments to highlight our strengths and mask our weaknesses.

by Bald Eagle on Apr 28, 2008 12:59 PM PDT 0 recs

Forcier

Since it was the first time for me at a football game of sorts where my nose wasn't bleeding, I had a hard time seeing the action.

I did think that Forcier was fast. He could turn on the speed but seemed to hesitate a bit rounding the corners. This could be because the pursuit speed of the defense was terrific.

I didn't see much of his mobility as the plays were called dead when the QB was even in the vicinity of the D.

Honestly, I think Craft is the man right now.

by Bruins100NCAA on Apr 28, 2008 1:45 PM PDT 0 recs

Go with the rookies

Didn't make the drive from San Diego, but glad that the lower end of the depth chart got some PT. Sorry to hear about PC's latest injury - sounds like he may not be back at all w/o a petition for Med redshirt? And screws in BO's feet? Can't think of someone less in need for another reason to be slower. Go with Forcier and Craft.

The Mad Bruin

by lostnacfgop on Apr 28, 2008 1:56 PM PDT 0 recs