Let's start with the news of Raymond Carter and Dominique Johnson possibly transferring out of UCLA. From Tracy Pierson at Bruin Report Online (HT insomniaclounge):
Sophomore running back Raymond Carter and junior wide receiver Dominigue Johnson will transfer out of the UCLA football program, according to sources...
Instead of getting a little dramatic about it, if you follow the program closely on a day to day basis think about in terms from the perspective of managing it. Coming into this spring UCLA was about 6 or 7 scholarships over the NCAA allotted 85 per program. So Neuheisel and his coaches needed more open scholarships to make room for their new recruits.
Dominique Johnson might have had "immense" "untapped talent," but unfortunately he was never able to flash it on a consistent basis. Moreover, per the practice reports and the observers who were there on a regular basis other receivers were ahead of him. We now have more talents like Randall Carroll coming in. So it's not a surprise that DJ is exploring other options. Same goes for Raymond Carter who while had a lot of potential was slowed down by injuries and never recovered. Hopefully it works out for both of those guys where they land.
Speaking of players who have moved on, interesting quotes from Drafexpress.com in reaction to Holiday's comments of having "fun" in the NBA:
The first quote about Holiday—regarding how much more fun the NBA appears to be compared to his time in college—has to be a bit worrisome for UCLA fans and their head coach Ben Howland. It really seems like Holiday was disappointed by his college experience in the Bruins’ rigid system, which might make it very difficult for him to decide to return to school.
Let’s be honest, though, this probably isn’t the way Holiday wants to be portrayed. “Fun” wouldn’t be the way most NBA head coaches would describe their preparation and execution in the NBA playoffs, and that all begins and ends with defense, which just happens to be Holiday’s biggest asset at the moment. Holiday probably doesn’t want to give teams the impression that he’s just looking to find a place where he can have fun and not worry about defense, especially after his forgettable quotes a few weeks back about being jealous of Darren Collison.
I guess his comments were "worrisome" to those Bruin fans who are holding on to hope that somehow he returns for his sophomore season. As far as the references to forgettable quotes saying it was frustrating to him that he didn't get as many "touches" as he thought he would this past season, it's interesting to see draftexpress.com read the tealeaves. The notion that Holiday has been jealous of DC is consistent with the chatter we have seen in some message boards this past season, when posters closed to Holiday were relentlessly scapegoating (and attacking) DC and JS - two seniors who gave everything they had to Ben Howland's program - for this past season.
As I have said at this point the best case scenario for UCLA is for this guy to get drafted in first round and just move on because not sure if his return will be good for the chemistry in this program and people around it. We would be better off with a fresh start without Holiday next season.
GO BRUINS.