Bruin Bites: Jefferson Update, Kai Profile, Recuiting Notes, and Brandon Willis Update

As we wrap up the weekend, it's been a busy half-week since we last checked in with Bruin Bites. We continued our position-by-position football preview, turning to the defensive secondary, the offensive line, special teams, and the wide receivers and tight ends. We took note of football's fall practice schedule, as well as the pick-up of a key OL recruit.  UCLA hired a new assistant baseball coach and Nestor gave us some thoughts on Pac-12 expansion rumors. Finally, I laid out the expectations and predictions for UCLA football going into Rick Neuheisel's fourth year at the helm.

With that, let's turn to your bits and pieces of Bruin news from around the UCLA-iverse:

• Since it's on everyone's mind, let's start with football. The L.A. Times is reporting that Anthony Jefferson will begin rehabilitation in two weeks and could return in time for the October 1 game against Stanford.  Obviously, if this is true, that would be a boost to the secondary to give them some depth, but also because Jefferson projects to be a very solid CB for the Bruins in the years to come.  In terms of depth, the Bruins should be able to cope with Andrew Abbott, Brandon Sermons, and Tevin McDonald (who can come over from safety) behind starters Aaron Hester and Sheldon Price.
• Steve Galluzzo of the Santa Monica Observer has a nice profile of Kai Forbath, with some quotes from everyone's favorite Mr. Automatic on joining the Dallas Cowboys and recovering from his injury.  Let's hope we see Kai regularly kicking field goals on Sundays soon.
• In other football news, current UNC player and former UCLA transfer Brandon Willis has left the UNC program once again, in the wake of Butch Davis' ouster.  If you recall, Willis originally transferred to UCLA to be closer to his father, who took a job in Southern California, but returned to UNC to be closer to his ailing grandmother.  Let's hope this kid lands somewhere, that his family situation works out for the best, and that he can one day showcase his talents on the football field
• On the recruiting front, Neuheisel has made a scholarship offer to cornerback Jericho Richardson of Mission Hills.  Scout has him as a two-star recruit and ranked at #117 among all other cornerbacks in the Class of 2012.  The offer is the first BCS-conference offer for Richardson, who is reportedly attracting interest from the likes of Hawaii, Colorado, and Houston.
• Finally, at the Adidas Nations tournament, UCLA recruiting target Shaq Goodwin opened up his tournament with an eight point, five rebound effort for the "USA Red 2012" squad coached by former Clippers head coach (and used car salesman imposter) Mike Dunleavy.
  
• Turning away from football, UCLA will be getting another talented gymnast amongst their ranks.  Former U.S. national championships silver medalist and 2012 Olympic hopeful Mattie Larson will be competing for the Blue and Gold this upcoming season and NBC Sports has a quick profile of her here.

And those are your Bruin Bites for the weekend.  Enjoy the rest of this sunny California weekend while you can and fire away with your lazy Sunday thoughts in the comment thread.

GO BRUINS