The team gets back to practice today out at Spaulding. Although there wasn't a lot of news out of Westwood yesterday found some interesting notes here and there on the internets on Bruin football. Let's start with a note on our ongoing QB competition for the starting position. Adam Maya from the OC Register thinks "its obvious to anyone attending Spaulding Field on a daily basis" who is the no. 1 QB at UCLA. From his notes in the OC Register's UCLA blog:
“We still don’t have a quarterback yet,” were the first words Coach Rick Neuheisel offered following Monday’s practice.
Neuheisel was unprompted, mind you, perhaps looking to avoid that question. The answer which he knows, and he knows we know: Kevin Prince will be UCLA’s starting quarterback going into fall.
Prince still gets the majority of repetitions, but that is irrelevant at this point. His pocket presence, command of the offense, arm strength, accuracy, efficiency … in just about every significant way, Prince has been better. Often by a lot. Richard Brehaut came in with a thrower’s chance at the starting gig. The freshman, still just two weeks old in college, has performed admirably given the circumstances. More and more it seems like he will not redshirt next season but serve as the No. 2 quarterback.
Kevin Craft is still too turnover-prone. Brehaut, despite all the calls he’s been missing, is already more reliable. To win the job, however, he would have needed to be outstanding and for Prince to be mediocre, which might have pushed the competition into fall.
There’s no need for that. Prince is legit.
Well that is good to hear. However, I am going to wait till we officially hear something from either Neuehisel or Chow.
I have to say I am encouraged with the reports I have heard on Brehaut hanging in there. There is not much more you can ask for a kid who still isn't a freshman yet. I guess more and more elite high school athletes are getting accustomed to adjusting to college enviroment because of the recruiting timelines getting drastically moved up (as lot of players are now being tracked as juniors or even sophomores). Similar to Brehaut, Presley is going through his adjustments but he is hanging in there as well. From Dohn's blog:
I talked to UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel recently about the potential of freshman tight end Morrell Presley. Neuheisel was highly complimentary, but added Presley needs to improve in many areas.
"He's got a long ways to go before he's a reliable pass catcher," Neuheisel said. "He's got a long ways to go before he knows what he's doing, but he likes playing football. He's not shy of contact, he's not shy of anything.''
It's been a while since we have had a physical offensive threat at UCLA. It will take a while for Presley to completely adjust to Chow's scheme but once he gets the hang of it, look out ... it should be fun to watch.
Speaking of fun to watch had to post the following comments from Jaguars general manager on locking up MJD - one of their key cornerstones of the franchise - to a long term deal:
"It's an opportunity with Maurice to kind of reward one of our own, someone who's performed on and off the field," general manager Gene Smith said. "I don't have a son, but if I did, Maurice would be someone I would love to have as a son. "He's done the right things in the community, has passion for his profession and presents himself as one of the faces of our franchise." Well he is making the Bruin Nation proud representing himself as one of the most visible booster of UCLA. Of course he not only talks the talk but walks the walk as he is doing whatever he can to motivate the kids in our program. Lastly, we will end the roundup with these interesting notes on scheduling:
ESPN/ABC was trying to put together a 2010 season- opening headline tilt between UCLA and Auburn at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, but Auburn backed out as negotiations intensified. ESPN/ABC then tried to get the Bruins to play Georgia Tech in the Georgia Dome, but UCLA balked at playing what would amount to a home game for the Atlanta-based Yellowjackets. Part of setting any high-profile matchup included the network buying out UCLA's game at Kansas State, which is slated for Sept. 4, 2010. Discussions for another game are dormant, but other possibilities could materialize. Hmm. Let's not get into the boring SEC-Pac-10 smack fest. Hey I used to take part in it myself back in the day (wrote some posts on it when BN first launched four years ago). But the topic has gotten a little stale. I wonder though why wouldn't Auburn want to play against UCLA in Georgia Dome which is a venue where there would probably would have been swamped by Auburn fans anyway had the game taken place. I totally understand UCLA's reluctance to play against Georgia Tech in Atlanta. That's a no brainer but I am not getting why Auburn wouldn't want to play UCLA. As for Kansas State, I was never excited when that matchup news came out. I hope the AD continues to explore other options to replace that game in 2010. GO BRUINS.