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Bruin Bites: Brett Hundley and Myles Jack on More Watch Lists, UCLA Football Getting Attention, and "The Great One"

With 42 days till kickoff, UCLA Bruins collectively and individually continue to get recognition. Here is a rundown of some of the latest happenings in UCLA football, a look back at Heisman Trophy winner Gary Beban, and another kind of futbol team coming to UCLA.

By uclaluv

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Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

The countdown to training camp (16 days) and kickoff of the 2014 season (42 days) continues.  As reported by VABruin, the tickets have arrived (although I have to get mine from someone else) and the wait is becoming excruciating.  We have had some fun this week as the new alternate unis were rolled out (dark grey, light grey?), SBN wrote an in-depth article about how high the ceiling is for our Bruins (pretty high), and we learned that Pac-12 media day is just around the corner.  For those of you who have not read the SBN article, I highly recommend it.  I think the analytics would make IE Angel proud.

So here are a few bites to wet your football (and futbol) whistles!

  • First, our Bruin players continue to be recognized in pre-season watch lists.  Brett Hundley and Myles Jack were named to the Walter Camp Football Foundation 2014 Player of the Year watch list. The list include 50 players and will be narrowed down to 10 in November.  Brett was also named to the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award watch list.
  • Our program is getting a lot of attention in the press as well as Best College Sports News Network points out.  NFL.com's CFB 24/7 points to Myles Jack being one of the most interesting players to watch this year.  He points to Daniel Jeremiah who compares "stud" Jack to RB Ronnie Brown.  We will eventually see where Myles ends up in the NFL, but for now I think we are hoping to see a great deal of him, for a long time, on D!  ESPN has launched its Ultimate Pac-12 Road Trip, where they pick the not be missed games.  Our Bruins are "not to be missed" in week 3 in that "neutral site" game in Texas, and week 5 vs. ASU (that's as far as they've gotten so far).
  • The L.A. Times has an article about our coaches casting a wider net in recruiting.  The emphasis according to the article is to go hard after L.A. and CA recruit, but when there is a really special player or need, to recruit the special talent in the other states hard.  One of those special commits, RB TJ Simmons out of Florida is interviewed about his choice to come to UCLA by pac12recruiting.com. In it TJ discusses his relationship with Josh Rosen, the L.A. weather, and his desire to get a degree.  He sounds like a great young man.
  • This is supposed to be a football post, but I just can't help myself.  I loved watching the World Cup (as I always do) and just wanted to pass on another note for you other futbol fans. Real Madrid will once again train at UCLA from July 22nd through the 28th.  While practices are closed to the public, there should be autograph/photo ops before and after practice at Wilson Plaza.  Practices will be on the North Field at 10am and/or 5pm (unless they have a game).
  • Historical Bite:  I thought with the #Hundley4Heisman journey about to hit the field, it would be fun to take a little look back in time to UCLA's only Heisman Trophy winner, Gary Beban.  Like Brett, Beban could run and throw, and while most of you will remember his heroics against Tennessee in 1967, I'm afraid the game I remember best was the one I went to when suc's most famous alumnus ran one in at the end.  I found this nice read from Sports Illustrated's Vault about The Great One and his 2nd game against Tennessee.  Reading it, I am reminded how good it feels to have an exciting team again and I am hoping we will be the team that plays "the most exciting football in the West." There is also a fun anecdote or two about Coach Prothro: "I've really only had the jitters once before a game," Gary said. "That was before Michigan State in the Rose Bowl. I was sitting there in the dressing room. I was in sort of a fog, not hearing anything that the guys were talking about, or Coach Prothro, either. Finally Coach came over and said, 'Now, Beban, remember this. There are 300 million Chinese on the other side of the world who don't give a damn about this game.' I was fine after that".  Wow, things have changed (300 million?)!

And just in case you missed it, single game tickets are now on sale here and in many other places.  You can find the schedule here and the training schedule here. Start making your watch party, tailgating, and travel plans, and I hope to meet/see some of you in Virginia in a few weeks.

Go Bruins!

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