SB Nation - Andrew Abbott

Spaulding Roundup: DC Thoughts, Verner's Views, Finals Week & Other Notes

Nestor — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:42:46 -0000

Can Bruins handle this (if it snows in DC)? Photo Credit: photoal (flickr)

Well yeah. It's not snowing in DC today but it did over the weekend a bit giving us our first snow of the year. The picture above is from another year though, which I think gives a little hint of what folks could expect in late December if we get a legit snow storm in Washington DC. Will the Bruins get to play in their first legit snow bowl (don't really count the one from Washington State during the regular season because it wasn't really snowing during the game) this December? Well as everyone know by now, we are not going to know until the end of Army-Navy game this upcoming weekend.

CRN is excited about rooting for the Midshipmen:

"Although we always support the men and women fighting for our country, on this particular three-hour stint, we're going to be anchor's aweigh ~~away~~," Neuheisel said on Sunday. "We're excited about the opportunity and looking forward to getting into the ball game. We know we need a little bit of help, but we're looking forward to a chance."

Interestingly, from the LAT report today, it sounds like the Bruins did have a chance to accept an invitation to the Humanitarian Bowl. However, the payout for that game ($700,000) wasn't enough for our program:

UCLA officials received interest from other bowls, as Neuheisel said, "I know there were lots of conversations and I was also told that UCLA was a desired team."

Humanitarian Bowl officials showed particular interest, and the Bruins might have gone there if Army lost, but the bowl payoff "wasn't right," said a UCLA official not authorized to speak about the situation.

UCLA officials turned down a Humanitarian Bowl invitation in 2001 after bowl officials asked for a $300,000 sponsorship from the university, a former UCLA administrator said.

Wonder who was that former UCLA administrator talking to the LAT. Anyway, if Navy does come through for the Bruins on Saturday (you never can take an outcome for granted in an intense, emotional rivalry game), Bruins will have interesting decisions to make re. the quaterback situation. CRN seemed to indicate that Prince might be ready for the bowl game:

"He told me it was getting better when I saw him last week," Neuheisel said. Given some rest, I think he would be ready."

Prince of course is still recovering from his mild AC sprain (considered a "slight separation") of his throwing shoulder. I personally think the Bruins should start Craft and prepare Brehaut as the backup option, and let Prince fully heal for spring ball. However, I feel comfortable in having Neuheisel and Chow making the call. More bowl related and end of season notes after the jump.

Players in general sound pretty excited about the bowl game. Taylor Embree "wants it really bad":

"I saw (offensive coordinator Norm Chow) today, too, and he said it looked like we had a really good chance," sophomore wide receiver Taylor Embree said. "We had a meeting with coach Neuheisel last Tuesday, and he just said, 'Focus as if we were going to a bowl.' We're prepared. If we go to one, it won't be a shock. We're ready for a bowl. We want it really bad."

While ATV thinks Bruins could be an "exciting" team to watch during the bowl season:

"We're fortunate to be put in the position to try to get one, though, and that's all we can ask for. I think we did enough to deserve it, showed enough promise through the course of the year with our youth, and we'll be an exciting team to watch come bowl season."

Oh and speaking of ATV, if you haven't done it yet, I think you will want to read the last edition of Verner's views:

[F]our years have gone by way too fast for me as a UCLA Bruin. I remember the times when I used to watch the Bruins play and wearing the #1 UCLA jersey to high school and stuff to now, when I am leaving UCLA with an interception touchdown record and lasting memories to all the Bruin Nation. My experiences here have been top of the line and something I will cherish forever. From academics - competing against the top brains in the world in my math major was always fun - just walking around campus and seeing the variety of people and cultures on campus, it was beautiful to see. Through all this intermingling, you realize that everyone is basically the same and they have the same struggles as you. You can be an athlete, a pre-med student, or grad student - it didn't matter. Everyone is fighting for their education and that is what created so many bonds with people in all areas of UCLA life.

Having the pleasure of being the student representative for the library catalogue a while back to now being spotlighted on UCLA Big Moment spots are two others things that stand out. My time with this sector of UCLA has been difficult, however all the more amazing!

Football, man it's been the craziest roller coaster, but one of those that was worth the wait, but so short that you almost missed the thrills of it. Being in the Rose Bowl with our wonderful fans that were there from the beginning, to putting on the Blue and Gold was just simply amazing. I had the honor to be coached by DeWayne Walker for most of my career and finished up this year being coached by the great Carnell Lake! Many guys have helped me in numerous ways of playing the position. I appreciate their expertise on the field. I had a great time playing with my former killa bees and current ones -- Chris Horton, Rodney Van, Trey Brown, Dennis Keyes, and Bret Lockett to Tony Dye, Rahim Moore, Glenn Love, Courtney Viney, Aaron Hester, Sheldon Price, Andrew Abbott and everyone else. Each player is so good and made my job so much easier and helped contribute to my success. I will definitely miss all my teammates, I really love them all. The hard work and the grind I had to do with all of them makes them all special to me. They are all very talented and that's why I believe UCLA will be back at the top very soon and I can't wait to see that unfold.

You need to read rest of ATV's post by going here. ATV and his team-mates will be taking finals this week. Once they are done at the end of the week (per Jon Gold) they will have practices on Friday and Saturday. They are going to practice Saturday morning, have lunch and take in the Army-Navy game. Needless to say we will have an open thread here for that game cheering on Navy.

Lastly, before I end this good luck to all of your students this week. Yeah, I know we are hard on you guys sometimes. However, look at the ideas our discussions generated in last 24 hours. While we get down sometimes during the tough times, it is clear how much passion and dedication we have among a huge core of students and alums here in Bruins Nation. Often times when we call each other out, I personally think it only makes that dedication deeper forcing us to think hard about how we can make our community bigger offline. Hopefully we can keep the discussion that started yesterday going in the coming weeks/months resulting in what I truly believe will be the most rabid fanbase in the Western US. We have had two of the worst weekends in UCLA athletcs in recent history. Yet just look around this community this am. We are still here. Aren't we? Anyway, kick ass in finals and then head down to Anaheim.

GO BRUINS.

UCLA vs. Washington Report Card

Ryan Rosenblatt — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:14:43 -0000

More photos » by Francis Specker - AP

Kevin Craft sure didn't have this much room to throw last season. The offensive line played their best game in the CRN era.

Browse more photos »

Let's be honest now. UCLA was far from flawless. While the effort, courage and heart that the Bruins displayed was admirable, you're not going to win many games with five giveaways. Two weeks ago, Arizona was kind enough to keep UCLA in the game before eventually winning. Today, it was UCLA who was kind enough to keep Washington in the game, but the Bruins did do enough to win and a team coming off of five straight losses isn't going to complain about the manner in which they get a W. Here are the grades for each unit, with A being exceptional, C being average and F last season's offensive line.

Quarterback

The Bruin quarterbacks were fantastic from the first toss of the game to the last. Kevin Prince put together a performance that justified all of the pre-season hype I was giving him as he put the ball in all of the right places, used his hot routes to perfection and even an audible. If he could just learn to slide, he'd be in great shape. With Prince on the bench due to injury, Kevin Craft got a shot and showed why he is a capable backup, making just about every throw. He wasn't perfect, but he was good enough and especially good when you consider the lack of snaps he's gotten of late. In his one series, Richard Brehaut proved that he still does have a ways to go. According to CRN in his post-game interview, Brehaut not only took a sack, but he also forgot to bring a guy in motion and was responsible for the illegal formation penalty when the Bruins were in the Wildcat and he did not get on the line. Overall, great day from the QB's, although the two interceptions were ill advised throws. Grade: A-

Running Back/Fullback

You have to hold onto the ball. Jonathan Franklin still hasn't figured that one out. Franklin has had a great freshman season, but fumbling the ball is the number one sin for a back and today was an example of that. Franklin made three great blitz pickups so he did some things right, but hanging onto the ball is number one. Derrick Coleman had a couple nice runs and while he still doesn't have the speed to break one, he picks up solid chunks of yards on just about every carry. Milton Knox was very good with the ball in his hands again, but that was mostly out of the Wildcat. When asked to work as a back in the base offense, he was hesitant, exhibiting why he's had issues getting on the field. Chane Moline is still an adequate blocker at best from the fullback spot, but he was tough running the ball. It was a sub-par performance overall, especially running the ball, but the blitz pickups were great all the way around. Grade: C-

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

It sure is nice to have a go-to receiver and it looks like the Bruins have one in Nelson Rosario. When a guy is 6'5'' and you know that all you have to do is get it up high, it makes things a heck of a lot easier on the quarterback so it's no surprise that Rosario has become a go-to guy. He's showing the focus and confidence he lacked earlier in the year and his second consecutive 100+ yard game is a product of that. Some excellent route running doesn't hurt either and his second quarter deep in that made the DB fall because he was caught by surprise when Rosario cut in is a perfect example of it. Terrance Austin showed some dependability and he's reading defenses better than any of the receivers, becoming a real weapon against zone defenses. Embree had a solid game, while Ketchum made an appearance. Ryan Moya made a good catch and Logan Paulsen had a big 56 yard catch, but for how much longer is the senior going to lead the team in freshman mistakes? Grade: A-

Offensive Line

The unit of the game, bar none. The growth from last season and even the beginning of this season is startling. Last season against a win-less Washington team, the Bruins gave up three sacks. Today, it was just two sacks despite 50% more pass attempts. Kai Maiava was a stud, getting side to side quickly to give the quarterbacks plenty of room to step up, while both tackles, Xavier Sua-Filo and Mike Harris, showed great feet, especially against the blitz. The guards were solid on passing plays, but the lack of surge on running plays has to be a concern for Jeff Baca and Ryan Taylor. The unit gets an A for pass blocking, but they need to be better on the run. The pass was the key to today's win though. Grade: B+

Defensive Line

A poor performance from the defensive line was the low light of the game for UCLA. It's concerning that the front four can't pressure the quarterback on their own, even occasionally and while they've done well to bottle up dive plays, they're not moving well enough side to side to stuff the runs off tackle. A lack of discipline on misdirection plays is also concerning, although they do a good job maintaining their position on the pass rush so even if they did not hit Jake Locker very often, they did keep him from getting the edge too often. At some point, someone needs to make a big play, especially if teams continually double Brian Prince. Two sacks and over six yards a rush for UW points to the defensive line. Grade: D+

Linebackers

The linebackers are fast, but sometimes too fast for their own good, especially Akeem Ayers. Over-pursuit has been a problem for the UCLA linebackers all year and reared its ugly head again today. Luckily, Reggie Carter looked to be in better health than he was last week and he was able to make up for some of the over-pursuit. Carter did a fantastic job holding the point and keeping big holes from opening up in the second level. The run defense of the UCLA linebackers was adequate at best, but they were fantastic in pass defense. They dropped back quickly to get into their space, were very quick coming up to make tackles and got to Locker when they were actually asked to blitz. Their ability to come up and make tackles after dropping into coverage showed just how much speed they have and their tackling was sure. Grade: B

Defensive Backs

Rahim Moore just manages to be in the right place at the right time. Some may call it lucky, but at some point, with how frequently he does it, Moore needs to get credit for it. Moor has eight interceptions now after picking one off the seal the win for the Bruins and he was very active all game, playing centerfield and making tackles against the run when the front seven didn't get it done. Alterraun Verner is still having issues that nobody was expected, but he's still the surest of corners for the Bruins, even if Sheldon Price made a singular great play on Moore's interception. One player who went largely unnoticed was Andrew Abbott, who did a fantastic job at nickle back. The safety position opposite Moore continues to be a trouble though as neither Tony Dye nor Glenn Love was better than mediocre. Grade: B

Special Teams

Kai Forbath is still automatic and while Jeff Locke has not showed the booming leg he did earlier on in the year, he's still be good. Austin's fumble on the kick is a concern for a guy who had been holding onto the ball, while the other candidates for the job haven't. Austin did have one big return to make up for some of his fumble. Kick coverage is still awful on a good day. Grade: C-

Coaching

Norm Chow called a great game and to the surprise of many, didn't take the foot off the pedal when Prince went down. It proved to be very successful and landed the Bruins a win. CRN's decision to go with Brehaut is questionable at best and his vow to get the freshman some meaningful snaps almost cost the Bruins a win, but the sack that took UCLA out of field goal range did not come back to haunt the team. Chuck Bullough's defense is doing just enough, but not as much as it should. He did show some more creativity and aggressiveness at the end of the game and we can only hope that he's turned a corner. The personal fouls are traced back to discipline and the coaching staff. Grade: B-

Neuheisel Enforces Discipline At UCLA, Suspends 4 Players For KSU Game

Nestor — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:47:41 -0000

Here is another reminder why we can't take any opponent for granted. Per Jon Gold at the Daily News Neuheisel has suspended sophomore cornerback Courtney Viney, freshman running back Milton Knox and freshman wide receivers Morrell Presley and Randall Carroll for the KSU game "due to a violation of team rules". Here was his official statement:

"When you are a member of a team, you have a special commitment to the entities that make up that unit and to those that you represent," said coach Neuheisel. "When someone falls short in that regard, there have to be consequences, and then, we move on."

Until facts come out (with citations to credible sources) please keep the rumor mongering on other boards. Meanwhile, whatever these guys did I hope they are learning a fast lesson. They cannot take anything granted at UCLA. They will always be hold accountable for their actions as they will not be able to get away with running some practice laps.

This is also a clear message on the part of Coach Rick Neuheisel that he is not going to hesitate to come down hard on our players if they deviate from team rules. For these young kids, this might represent a short term set back, however for the long term this will have positive impact for them and for the entire team. Not to mention this will also undercut all the usual BS about how Neuheisel has problem with enforcing discipline in his program. More after the jump.

In terms of roster moves, the key thing to keep an eye on will be who will step in place of Vinney, a position that was already thin due to injury to Hester. My money is on the coaches starting walkon Andrew Abbott from Mater Dei who is often used as a nickle back. He has been solid at practices even though he had a tough moment against SDSU when he got burned on the long bomb. Not sure if the coaches will burn the redshirt seasons of freshmen (Sheldon Price, Marlon Pollard, and Brandon Sermons) who were backing them up. Guess we will find out.

Meanwhile, remember no moping around here. No whining. We just have to cowboy up. Obviously we will have more notes on this as the story develops.

GO BRUINS.

UPDATE (N): Rye has insta analysis in terms of potential roster moves. He thinks at least one freshman will have to burn his redshirt season:

If Abbott does indeed start at one corner, then you need a nickel back, which one of the freshmen will take. The only other option is putting Love in at safety in nickel and letting Dye play nickel back, but I don’t see that happened. Two may lose their redshirts if we go to dime at any point, which is possible because I saw K-State spread the field a little in their opener.

On the offensive end, I wonder if Knox and Carroll's suspension means, we might see more of Thigpen in this week's game plan. Chow and Neuheisel love speed. Thingpend has it.

UPDATE II (N): To no one's surprise The Trojan Times is on breathless rapid posting mode on this story. Like Pavlov's dog. GO BRUINS.

2009 UCLA Football Post-Camp Grades: DB's

Ryan Rosenblatt — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 19:00:17 -0000

Our unit by unit grades are winding down and will come to a finish today. With the offense's grades complete and the defensive line and linebackers done, we finish off the defense with the defensive backs. This is undoubtedly the deepest unit on the defensive side of the football and has some breathtaking talent. The only concern is a single position, strong safety, which hopefully won't be the problem it was in camp.

Defensive Backs

The UCLA defensive backfield is arguably the most talented and deep of any unit on the Bruins' roster. The physical skills of the unit are outstanding, but especially on the second unit, inexperience runs rabid. The cornerstone of the UCLA defensive backfield is at the cornerback position where Alterraun Verner waits. Waits is probably the best word to describe what Verner will be doing this year too because odds are that he won't be tested often. Verner has returned interceptions for touchdowns three times in his career. He led the nation in passes defended last year and has played in all 38 games in his college career. He's on nearly every award watch list and is a good bet to be named to the All-Pac-10 first team. Verner is the definition of a shut down corner and as a result, will be left alone while opposing teams test the other side of the field.

That other side of the field is a tempting one for opposing teams to go at because there lies a redshirt freshman who will be playing in his first collegiate games. Aaron Hester has the prototypical size and speed for a D-1 cornerback. He's 6'1'' and just over 200 lbs. and was one of California's better sprinters throughout his youth. Most impressive though is probably his length. Hester has extremely long arms and it allowed him to get his hands on a lot of balls during camp. He is also a very confident player who enjoys contact and will not shy away from contact on the line, but does have the speed to play catch up. The physical tools are there for Hester to dominate for the Bruins in coming seasons and on Sundays in the future, but the first job for him this year will be learning the intricacies of the college game because he will be tested often with teams shying away from throwing at Verner. If camp was any indication, he's more than ready for the challenge.

The free safety position is one of the two, along with Verner's cornerback spot, where the Bruins have a returning starter. Rahim Moore will man the position once again after a promising freshman campaign that saw him start every single game. Moore's play got markedly better as the season went on and that continued through spring practice and training camp. While he was caught overpersuing early in his freshman year, that is rarely the case now and simple pump fakes or double moves no longer leave him in the dust. One spot he does have trouble with is defending tight ends, but he won't be asked to do so often so it won't be too much of an issue. He showed good ball skills last year in picking up three interceptions and was even better in camp as he was quicker to the ball, giving himself more opportunities. Moore is in line for a big year so long as he doesn't spend an inordinate amount of time covering for the safety next to him.

Who that safety next to him will be is still up in the air. Both Tony Dye and Glenn Love will likely see time this year at the strong safety position and hopefully, they can do so capably. Right now, asking for anything better than passable play would be greedy. Neither Dye nor Love was good in camp and while they did improve as it went on, all that does is show the level they were at to begin. For such a big guy, it's amazing that Love isn't more of a force against the run. He doesn't read plays well and is often pushed around despite his size. Dye is more aggressive and likes to hit, but is small, overpersues and isn't disciplined in coverage. Personally, I think Dye offers more than Love both now and in the future, but I'm not overly comfortable with either in the backfield.

The nickel back spot has been a battle between Courtney Viney and the surprising Andrew Abbott. Viney's biggest problem is one out of his control. He's small and by small, I mean very small. He's only 5'8'' and that's being generous. Even in practice he was being picked upon as the offense routinely threw jump balls in his direction. He is explosive and very fast so he does close well, plus he got time as the nickel back last year so the experience isn't a major concern. Abbott had an outstanding camp to play himself into contention for the nickel back spot, although he still struggles at times because he lacks the physical tools of some of the others. He has trouble getting his hips open and running so he's susceptible to being beat deep, but he does well to cover underneath and read the quarterback's eyes.

Aaron Ware will provide depth at the safety position and while he hasn't quite lived up to the hype surrounding him when he entered UCLA, he is still a solid contributor as a back up. He is experienced enough and won't be out of his element in hostile territory, but doesn't always react quick enough regardless of the stadium so he can be beat deep. He's more more natural providing support in the running game than he is in coverage. Alex Mascarenas is the freshmen who really made an impression in camp as he was quick to the ball in all instances and strong against the run. He may end up redshirting, along with fellow freshmen Marlon Pollard, Brandon Sermons, Sheldon Price and Stan McKay, but he appeared more ready to step in and play should he be called upon.

Grade: B+ The unit has plenty of talent and even some experience, although to consider what the Bruins have at defensive back experience just gives you an idea as to the lack of experience on the rest of the roster. The cornerbacks are solid with Verner and Hester, who was a force in camp, and Moore was good, but the strong safety spot has me very concerned. I'd love to get mediocre play out of the position, but I'm not so sure we will. The depth is good though all the way down and the young players likely to redshirt are awfully talented.

Poll

What would you grade the UCLA defensive backs?

A

206 votes

B

138 votes

C

13 votes

D

3 votes

F

6 votes

366 votes | Poll has closed

UCLA Secondary In 2009: Opportunity To Revive A Bruin Tradition

Nestor — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:31:36 -0000

So I want to use this Humpday morning to finish our roundup through both the offense and defense here on BN. We have already covered the offense by going over our notes on QBs, RBs, WRs/TEs and OL. On the defensive side we have gone over the front-7 by breaking our notes up between LBs and DEs. Let's finish it up by going through our DB position. After I am done, ryebreadaz (who attended about 8-9 practices during the first two weeks of fall camp) will do separate posts on each of the positions and give his grades based on what he has seen last few weeks. So let's get to our defensive backs, who I think will have a shot to reestablish the tradition of "Secondary U" at UCLA in 2009. If they live up to their potential, they will bring back the memories of legends such as Turner, Easley, Darby, Goodwin and of course Carnell Lake who is coaching them up at Spaulding. [Note: Lake was a legendary OLB at UCLA before being converted to SS in the NFL].

Unlike the LB an DE positions, depth is not an issue in our secondary. Through his recruiting efforts of his last two years CRN has been able to stock up this specific unit of the defense with some serious talent. Of course the leader of these guys is none other than ATV. I don't think I have to go on about what this kid can do here on BN. His body of work which we have written about for last three years speak for itself. We all know about ATV's ability as a shutdown corner. We have seen his ability to throttle opposing receivers or his ability to win a game through game breaking picks. He also happens to be an incredibly smart kid who happens to use his brain just as much as he uses his athletic ability to terrorize opposing QBs. That is why he rarely gets caught out of position and is always at the right place at the right time to make plays if the opposing QBs are foolish enough to test him.

The cool thing for Carnell Lake and Chuck Bulloug is that ATV is not the only anchor of our secondary this season. He is going to have Rahim Moore back there with him roaming the backfield as our FS. Moore lived up to the hype as a blue chip recruit when he came into the scene last season. Not only he started every game as a true freshmen, he ended up tying for the team lead with 3 picks and finished with 60 tackles (4th on the team). Moore has the lethal combination of size (6-1/197) and speed. He is the perfect centerfielder to anchor this secondary and he is absolutely fearless. I can't wait to see what Moore is going to do as a sophomore to followup his freshman season.

So with ATV and Moore anchoring our secondary, coaches are going to look to fresh talent to fill up our secondary this season (replacing Michael Norris (CB) and Bret Lockett (SS) who developed into dependable players as the season went along last year). To find out who the coaches will be looking to step up jump over the flip.

Let's start with the cornerback position. As discussed above, given ATV's history of terrorizing opposing QBs, they will probably looking to the other end of UCLA secondary. This means there will be a lot of pressure on Aaron Hester to step up and he has the athletic ability to answer the challenge. From the LA Times:

Hester's raw abilities are apparent to the casual observer. At 6 feet 1 and 203 pounds, "he is long and lean and strong," Lake said, making him a physical presence that can bring the noise at the speed of sound.

Hester excelled in track and football at Compton Dominguez High. He anchored the 1,600-meter relay team, which posted the fastest time (3 minutes 9.59 seconds) for a California high school squad since 1997.

Franklin, one of the fastest Bruins in pads, couldn't shake Hester this week. And he heard about it.

"He keeps telling me he's a stallion and no one can keep up with him," Franklin said. Yes, Hester can pester, but, "you've got to have that swag no matter what position you play," Franklin said.

"I'm not a jaw-jacker," Hester said. "I respect other players. I just say some things to let them know I'm here. First play, I want the receiver to know it's going to be a rough day."

Besides, his abilities do speak for themselves. During one game as a senior, he caught two touchdown passes and returned an interception for a touchdown.

Gotta love Hester's aggressive attitude. We have also read this off seaosn how ATV has taken Hester under his wings. So we are hoping ATV's aggressiveness and confident attitude will rub off on his understudy. One thing I am incredibly excited about is Hester's size. In recent years, we got used the images of tall, athletic opposing WRs just giving a total beatdown on our small, undersized DBs. I think Hester if he lives up to his athletic abilities will be able to make a dent in that perception.

Speaking of potential, let's talk about the competition between Dye and Love for the SS spot at UCLA. It looks like Dye right now has a very slight edge in a heated competition per Jon Gold in the Daily News:

"We both have our advantages and our disadvantages," said Love, who at 6-foot-4 has a marked size advantage over the 5-11 Dye. "I think right now it's about even. By us battling this out right now, it's helping the team out. If just one of us goes down, we'll be fine. We're not losing a step. I think we're both going to get an opportunity to play."
Right now, Dye is relishing his opportunity to work with the starting group, particularly because some did not expect it.

Switching from nickel back to safety this season, the true sophomore has had to prove his doubters wrong, those who said that 5-11 doesn't pack enough punch.

"Of course I'm happy about the opportunity; I'm ecstatic about the opportunity," Dye said. "I appreciate that I got the shot, that I actually received this chance. A lot of people didn't think, coming from the cornerback spot, that I could, that I was too small. I'm glad I got the opportunity to show myself; I'm feeling real comfortable right now."
Both are focused on limiting the bad over making the good. At this point, a blown coverage is more damaging than a quick pick-six is helpful.

And the biggest mistakes, Dye said, are in the eyes.

"Bad eyes is a real thing at the safety position," Dye said. "You're keying the tight end, and if he releases, it's a pass. If he stays in, it's to block. A lot of safeties get away from that. They won't pay attention to the tight end.

"They'll make wrong run reads and get thrown over the top. To minimize all those mistakes, you have to have great eyes."

I think in terms of raw talent whoever takes over at this position will bring more to the table than Brett Lockett. However, I do think early on we are going to have to be patient because of their lack of experience. They are going to make some mistakes and we will have to live through it. Key for them will be to roll with the punches and develop the same way Norris and Lockett did last season.

As for rest of the guys in the depth chart we need to take note of Courtney Vinney and truh freshmen Sheldon Price and Marlon Pollard. From Sam Saig at All Pac-10 Blog:

The most experienced corner besides Verner has only played for one season and it’s sophomore Courtney Viney. Last season, Viney played mostly as a nickel back and finished with 17 tackles while also contributing on special teams. Two years ago, he was the Scout Team Player of the Year.

At 5-8 160 pounds, Viney is small even by cornerback standards, but he plays with aggressive determination and never stops coming. Coaches have praised Viney for his competitiveness and work ethic. He has tremendous leaping ability, and the quickness to cover an opposing team’s speediest receiver. Viney is also a surprisingly good tackler with deceptive strength. The Fresno (CA) native was given four-star recognition from Scout.com while he was at Edison High School. [...]

The 6-2 163 pound Price has a long frame and should put on considerably more weight during his career. He has wasted little time impressing the coaches, and could become a pivotal part of the defensive backfield as the season progresses.

Price provides the Bruins with another corner (along with Hester) that can cover taller receivers. The Chino Hills (CA) product was given 4-star recognition by Rivals.com, and was a PrepStar All-American selection while at Bishop Amat High School.

The 6-0 158 pound Pollard also has a lot of physical developing to do, but he has been very impressive this fall. He is an explosive athlete with great ball skills and also possesses excellent quickness. Rivals and Scout.com rated him as a 4-star prospect, and he was also a PrepStar All-American selection. The San Bernardino (CA) native could factor in for the Bruins as a nickel back and on special teams.

Price and Pollard are building blocks for the future. Both of those guys will most likely be redshirting this Fall.

Also, per Saig other players competing for time this Fall Campu are freshmen Brandon Sermons, Stan McKay, Andrew Abbott, Alex Mascarenas, and senior Aaron Ware. I have heard great feedback on McKay who apparently has been dishing out some serious hits on Bruin receivers at Spaulding. Also, remeber ATV gave Mascarenas a shout out during his summer blogging in last few weeks. Sermons is a talented recruit and Abbott has been persistent with his fiery competitive spirit out at Spaulding. As for ware, no doubt he will be looking to go out on a great note in his last year at UCLA. I think he will be ready to step up if he is called upon this year at the Rose Bowl.

So in conclusion, this is definitely the deepest position in terms of talent in our defense. I am fired up to see what kids like Hester, Dye and (a healthy) Love can do this year to complement ATV and Moore. I think if our defenise fron-7 can stay healthy and they can gel together early on with this unit, we could be looking at a fun year for Bruin defense. I am sure these guys are going to be antsy to come out and make a statement early on against San Diego State. If the youngsters can get off to a good start, it is going to bode really well for us rest if the season.

GO BRUINS.

Spaulding Roundup: Slugging Through Two A Days (With Energy)

Nestor — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:20:35 -0000

Bruins are hitting the time of the preseason camp when bumps and bruises start taking toll over football teams. Not too surprisingly we are starting to see more reports of players getting injured at practices or coming back from injuries. On Wednesday another lineman - Micah Kia - went down with a knee injury. From the OC Register:

Kia hurt his right knee with about 10 minutes remaining in Wednesday's practice at Spaulding Field.

"Right now it's a right knee sprain," UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said.

By today it could be something worse.

Kia was scheduled to undergo an MRI – either Wednesday night or this morning – to determine the severity of the injury.

"I think Kia will be back," Neuheisel said. "He's that kind of guy. He's worked hard for this."

Kia is the second senior OL to go down with a knee injury during this camp:

"It's sad to see two seniors, Ekbatani and Kia, fall to injury but this game does that," Neuheisel said. "It gives an opportunity to somebody else and whoever it is has to pick up the flag and carry on."

Ekbatani is going to be out 4-6 weeks. Kia's injury means Hasiak will probably get an opportunity to step up right away. Honestly, I don't see any reason to freak out over these injuries. I don't have specific data available to me in terms of ratio of players who go down with these injuries to the entire team every practice. However, the amount of bumps and bruises we are seeing at Spaulding, seems to me fairly normal occurrence at least for this time of the year.

We have to keep in mind what a violent sport this really is. You have 280-310 lb athletes exploding out of their three point stances and gong right at each other in warp speed in down after downs, often leaving them vulnerable. When you put it in perspective, these kinds of injuries shouldn't be all that surprising. That is why it is so incredibly important to have depth in the team and that plays a direct role in whether a team can contend for championships. We don't have that depth yet and it will take another year or two build it up. But then again we knew that as we were going through various positions (well we still have the DB position to go through). If you had that perspective, then you wouldn't freak out over these injuries. Anyway, let's hope CRN is right and Kia gets to come back soon. More after the jump.

In addition to Kia, Maiava was also banged up. Per the LA Times he "sat out the end of practice with a sore left shoulder." It was a preautionary step:

Neuheisel was less concerned about Maiava, who watched from the sideline the last part of practice. Ryan Taylor took over center on the first team and Jake Dean was center on the second team.

"It was precautionary," Neuheisel said. "He just has a sore shoulder, which is the nature of the beast when you're in the trenches."

Now the good news is accorting to practice observers the offense continues to look decent. According to Jeff_is_smiling who has been posting detailed practice reports on BruinGold and other UCLA boards for years, there was a lot of "positive energy" by the offense throughout the practice:

On the good side, and it was VERY good (at least to me) was the swagger the offense seems to have at this point. There was a very good, positive energy by the offense throughout the practice. The defense played well, so they didn't make every play, but the offense definitely made plays. between this morning and this afternoons practices, I saw more athletic plays out of the offense than I saw all last year in all the practices I saw. Throws made to the only spot where the defender cannot get to. Routes run well and excellent grabs made to snag the rock. More time given to the QB to get the throw off.

In past years, I always felt that ANY success by the offense against the defense was noteworthy. Now, even successful plays are not good enough for the offensive coaches. We have come a LONG way in a short period of time.

You can read more specifics from Jeff over here. No doubt the energy level is up due the infusion of new talent. And we can see that in the WR spot. Jill Painter reports how Ketchum, Rosario, Carroll and Marvray are in the thick of competing for three of top five recivers post (Austin and Embree has the other two locked up):

Gavin Ketchum and Rosario Nelson have the inside track on two of the others, although Ketchum is out with a tight hamstring.

Freshmen Randall Carroll and Ricky Marvray have been impressive and taken a lot of reps in practice.

"I don't want to say we were lacking last year, but we're more complete now, if that makes sense," Austin said.

"I think both Ricky and Carroll complete us. Carroll adds a deep aspect, and we can stretch the field on one side.

Ricky runs pretty good routes for him to be a freshman. He can help out with the stuff underneath and the intermediate routes."

These guys are getting everything they can handle from their defensive team-mates. To get a sense of how charged up our DBs are read the following comment from walkon CB Andrew Abbott in the LAT (emphasis added):

Andrew Abbott, a walk-on cornerback, reestablished himself quickly in full-contact drills after returning from a concussion Wednesday.

He spent most of both practices on the first team as the nickel back.

"Working with the first team as the nickel is a good way for me to get on the field right now," Abbott said. "I'll do special teams, I'll do anything. I just want to play."

No wonder there is a sense of energy in practices we haven't felt in years. The fun gets started again today at 3:00 pm PST. There is only an afternoon practice today. Coaches will have two practices tomorrow before putting together the scrimmage at Drake (5:00 pm) on Saturday. I know I would get out there to check out these guys if I lived near LA. Hope many of you can do the same and can share the stories with rest of us.

GO BRUINS.