Bits and pieces of news from the football front this hump day. They have been few position switches in last couple of days. Skaggs is moving from OL to DL this spring:
Senior Nate Skaggs, who spent the last two seasons on the offensive line, is moving back to the defensive line during spring practice. He will be at defensive tackle.
Skaggs began his career as a defensive tackle, but was moved to center for the 2005 Sun Bowl because of injuries and started the game. He was a reserve in 2006 and 2007, but is being shifted back to defense in an effort to bolster UCLA's defensive tackle depth.
In 2005, Skaggs made two starts at defensive tackle, including the season opener at San Diego State. He appeared in seven games.
While Savage per LAT is cementing his move from DL to OL:
Skaggs began his career as a defensive tackle, but was moved to center for the 2005 Sun Bowl because of injuries and started the game. He was a reserve in 2006 and 2007, but is being shifted back to defense in an effort to bolster UCLA's defensive tackle depth.
In 2005, Skaggs made two starts at defensive tackle, including the season opener at San Diego State. He appeared in seven games.
The Times’ UCLA beat writer Chris Foster reports that sophomore Darius Savage has committed to participating in spring practice, cementing his move from the defensive line to offensive guard.
The Bruin coaching staff thinks Savage can be a good player at guard thanks to his quick feet, a by-product of his work in the discus ring, where he was national junior champion in 2007. He’ll continue his efforts with the track & field team before and after the dates of spring ball (April 3-26), which means he will miss the Oregon dual meet April 12. But to make any impact on the football team and new offensive line coach Bob Palcic, he has to be available for spring practice.
Getting Savage to totally commit himself to spring practice during track season is a good move on the part of Coach Palcic. Savage is a solid talent whose presence will be crucial in an offensive line that may not have a lot of depth (and game experience) this coming season. Also Tobi Umodu is switching over from LB to FB this spring. Tobu is going to be a red-shirt soph this fall.The Bruin coaching staff thinks Savage can be a good player at guard thanks to his quick feet, a by-product of his work in the discus ring, where he was national junior champion in 2007. He’ll continue his efforts with the track & field team before and after the dates of spring ball (April 3-26), which means he will miss the Oregon dual meet April 12. But to make any impact on the football team and new offensive line coach Bob Palcic, he has to be available for spring practice.
Also CRN decided to open up a little bit wrt to the series of articles the Seattle Times ran few weeks ago about the legal problems concerning the 2000 Rose Bowl team. From Brian Dohn:
"Knowing what I know today and what I knew then, I should have punished Jerramy more stringently than I did on his wreckless driving charge,'' Neuheisel said. "There were two things issues that happened when I was in control of the players that were talked about in the thing.
"No. 1 was Jerramy and the sexual assault, which he wasn't charged with. Now, that one, I was basically with the university, and when I say university, it was somebody from the president's office and (former athletic director) Barbara Hedges.
"We called the police department and asked if they wanted us to assist in the investigation, and, I believe, we were told to stay completely away from it. So the decision was made to wait and see what they did, charged or not charged, before we would suspend or not suspend.
"The second piece was he was arrested for wreckless driving and I suspended him for a game, the Michigan game, and I gave him an opportunity to earn half of it back by getting his community service done. I should have been tougher on him. That's what I regret.
"As a matter of fact, I brought that up with UCLA during the interview process. They asked, 'What have you learned from it?' That case, prior to this story coming out, I brought up as a regret of mine. Jerramy needed someone to be hard on him, and I had that opportunity and I wasn't hard enough."
CRN expressed the same sentiments about needing to be "tougher on his players" (if god forbid same situation arises in our football program) to Kurt Streeter in the LA Times. I think we have said enough on this issue here and here."No. 1 was Jerramy and the sexual assault, which he wasn't charged with. Now, that one, I was basically with the university, and when I say university, it was somebody from the president's office and (former athletic director) Barbara Hedges.
"We called the police department and asked if they wanted us to assist in the investigation, and, I believe, we were told to stay completely away from it. So the decision was made to wait and see what they did, charged or not charged, before we would suspend or not suspend.
"The second piece was he was arrested for wreckless driving and I suspended him for a game, the Michigan game, and I gave him an opportunity to earn half of it back by getting his community service done. I should have been tougher on him. That's what I regret.
"As a matter of fact, I brought that up with UCLA during the interview process. They asked, 'What have you learned from it?' That case, prior to this story coming out, I brought up as a regret of mine. Jerramy needed someone to be hard on him, and I had that opportunity and I wasn't hard enough."
We believe CRN is going to bring our program back the right way (implementing the lessons he learned from his previous experiences) and make us proud of his efforts during the ongoing rebuilding process.
GO BRUINS.