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"What’s really kind of interesting is one of UCLA big recruits (Brett Hundley) came in early for 2011 and he is on same floor as I am. It is almost like we’re complete opposites. He is about to start college and I am almost done with mine.’’

This just in from ATV (via Twitter):

RT @MrAyers_2u: So today I decided that i am going to forgo my senior year at UCLA and enter the 2011 NFL draft...../ happy for ya... Nothing but the best. Ball it up. Hope we take you with 8 overall.

Jones-Drew also took the opportunity to rip USC. He said that UCLA should have gone to a BCS bowl, but didn't because the Trojans were so good. "They should have just forfeited everything," Jones-Drew said.

My last comment on this game. We been told since my junior year at ucla that we are young, how many years in a row can you say that. Someone got to start being accountable instead of blaming the youth. This program deserves to be winning! Sorry about that, I dislike that excuse.

Aikman, the 43-year-old former quarterback who starred at UCLA and led the Dallas Cowboys to three NFL titles, dove right into the controversy surrounding new USC head coach Lane Kiffin, whose hiring of former Tennessee Titans assistant Kennedy Pola is the subject of a lawsuit.

In his two years at UCLA, Aikman recalled, one of his big frustrations was UCLA's inability to beat USC, which defeated the Bruins in 1987 and 1988, when Aikman was UCLA's starter. "I realize why we could never beat SC," Aikman said. "We didn't steal any coaches from the NFL."

"He's definitely bringing in a lot of good athletes from all over the country. They're not just focusing on the West coast. They're really going everywhere to grab kids and bring them over. They understand what it is to be a Bruin. He's breeding that winning way. He wants hard workers, not just guys who can play. He doesn't mind telling the guys if they're not doing it right."

It was kind of ironic because Jeff Fisher is a Trojan. He got rid of a Trojan to get a Bruin.

[W]hen it comes to pro-day workouts, L.A. is again a two-school town. UCLA is no longer entirely in the shadow of USC, which has staged some of the country's most popular pro days, attracting droves of NFL scouts, coaches, general managers and even team owners.

The Bruins' pro day is Tuesday and USC's is Wednesday. Players will be measured, timed and put through various drills in front of dozens of evaluators from probably every team in the league.

"They're still a work in progress," an NFL personnel executive said of UCLA. "If you look at their tape, they do have some guys with talent. When you compare them to USC, the gap is starting to close."

"For me, it was the location and the school! UCLA is in LA, great weather and close to the beach," said Jones-Drew. "It’s just a beautiful campus! I think it’s important that kids pick the school. Look what happens with these coaches, like (Lane) Kiffin. They come and go. I knew I was getting a good education at Ucla too

Maurice Jones-Drew, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ cannonball-shaped running back, is a player unlike any other in the NFL. He is a 5-foot-7-inch, 208-pound dervish. He sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber. He owns himself in the fantasy football league in which he plays with the team’s equipment managers.

The novelty of Jones-Drew distracts from the larger point: He has become one of the league’s elite running backs. This season, Jones-Drew is cementing that status while carrying the largest load of his career, playing for the first time in a backfield by himself after the Jaguars cut Fred Taylor, once his mentor and now a Patriot.

Jones-Drew will provide a unique challenge for his former teammate’s new team, and how well the Patriots tackle him will help decide Sunday’s game. His low center of gravity makes him difficult to knock off his feet, his quickness helps him squirm out of a tackler’s grasp, and his power pushes piles forward at the end of runs. Tackling a bull might be easier.

"There’s no doubt, he’s definitely one of the top backs we’ve seen,’’ Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. "And we’ve seen a lot of good ones. He can do it all. He’s returned kicks. He’s good in pass protection. He catches the ball very well. He has a good feel in the passing game. He can run inside, he can run outside, he can run with power, he can run with speed.’’