Roundup From BN Walk: News & Notes

Let’s start our Humpday walk with news from the football front. UCLA released few more details on Sean Sheller’s accident:

Sheller was driving a vehicle that is considered an ATV because it can go off road, but it is also a street legal vehicle which the family uses for transportation. It is smaller than a jeep but bigger than a golf cart, according to Steve Sheller, Sean’s father.

The accident did not occur in an off-road situation, according to Mr. Sheller. Sean Sheller was driving on a combination of asphalt and gravel in a park with his sister and some of her friends in the vehicle when the accident occurred. As he was taking a right curve, the vehicle started to tip to the left. Sean attempted to make sure his sister and her friends were not injured by extending his left leg to try to keep the vehicle from tipping and he was injured in the process.

Sheller underwent an MRI on his left knee this afternoon and the results should be known in the next day or two, according to Mr. Sheller.

We will keep our fingers crossed for that MRI result. But regardless this is a big set back for our offensive line. Take a look at our depth chart (pdf file) again from this spring. At 6-5, 282, Sheller was penciled in as the starter at RT. I am sure he and his coaches were looking forward to a great off season for him in which he was going to put his time in the weight room, getting ready for August. But now it looks like that time table will most likely get pushed back and a freshman like Mike Harris (6-5, 311) will have to step up. And it also looks like Donovan Edwards (once he finishes his coursework this summer to qualify for UCLA) might be competing for a spot at RT.

There were already lot of question marks around an offensive line that only features two returning starters (Reed and Kia) from last year’s team. Now the picture gets a little more murkier. It’s terribly unfortunate, but luckily for us we have one of the best OL coach in the game in Bob Palcic. I am confident he is going to make the best out of this difficult situation. But as we have been saying last few weeks, we shouldn’t be expecting miracles.

Speaking of football, a familiar name crossed AP wire yesterday:

Montana State's second-year quarterbacks coach, Jim Svoboda, has been promoted to assistant head Football coach and co-offensive coordinator.

Head coach Rob Ash says the promotion reflects Svoboda's experience and duties in the Bobcat program.

Svoboda joined Ash's staff last summer from UCLA, where he coached from 2004-06, including the last season as the Bruins' offensive coordinator.

He was a finalist for the 2005 Frank Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant football coach. 

Good luck to Svoboda. I always thought he kind of got a raw deal in Westwood.

Let’s move on to hoops with a nice article on the latest Ben Ball commit – Brandon Lane – in the Rocklin Placer Herald:

Both Steve Lane and Taylor [Rocklin coach Steve Taylor, BN Ed] said Brendan had narrowed his choices to Stanford, Cal and UCLA as he came closer to making a decision.

"The coaching changes at Stanford and Cal made it hard to predict what those programs would be like," Taylor said. "You don’t really know who they are going to recruit. UCLA is a proven program with a proven coach that has obviously been successful."  […]

 "Brendan has talked to a lot of people and coaches and he was comfortable with coach (Ben) Howland over time and he saw UCLA as a challenge where he is going to have to perform and he will have to earn it out there," Steve Lane said. "It has been such a crazy time, I can’t believe it has only been like three months (since restraints on recruiters were loosened).

"They can call coach Taylor every day and some people did. They can only call the house depending on what time of year it is and Brendan was pretty experienced with the whole process. We let him handle a lot of that himself. If he is uncomfortable talking on the phone with someone then why would he consider their program? As a family, quite frankly, it’s fantastic to get that kind of attention but it’s a lot of pressure. You kind of would like things to go back to normal."

Taylor spent "a number of days" with Howland during the recruitment process.

"(Howland) was hands on and I think a lot of it (Lane choosing the Bruins) had to do with UCLA’s success and Brendan having a chance to be successful," Taylor said. "He is used to winning. He felt very comfortable making the decision."

I’d say three straight Final-4s are making lot of blue chip recruits around the country "comfortable" with UCLA.

Lastly, let's end our walk with this:

via www.whitehouse.gov

Our champions were honored at the White House yesterday. You can get the full details on our official site. Some day soon we will have Howland and/or Neuheisel with their teams in that shot.

GO BRUINS.