SB Nation - Trevor Theriot

Spaulding Roundup: Relaxed Barkley Calls Bruin Defense "Beatable," Calls Preparation For UCLA Not "Too Tough Mentally"

Nestor — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:12:48 -0000

He is really relaxed folks.

Yesterday we found out Trojan safety Taylor Mays doesn't think all that much about the UCLA-U$C* football game. It's "not that big a deal" for him apparently as he cares more about the Apple Cup between Washington and Washington State. Well today we are finding out Mays teammate Heisman Barkley is not all that worried about taking on the Bruin defense (emphasis added):

"They play a pretty base defense, which is not going to be hard to see," Barkley said. "They're just going to play hard and get after you.

"So it's not going to be too tough mentally. . . . They're secondary is very impressive but, again, they're beatable at times."

All he left out was mentioning how he envisioned the Trojan offense slicing right through Price, Carter and Ayers. Barkley is feeling confident and good about himself because he will have Damien Williams and Anthony McCoy back in the lineup:

It was difficult to tell who was happier Tuesday -- USC receiver Damian Williams or quarterback Matt Barkley.

Williams went from doubtful to probable for Saturday's game against UCLA at the Coliseum, doctors clearing the junior to play after he tested his injured right ankle in practice.

"I didn't do anything totally crazy, just try to see if I can cut and move and how fast I can run," said Williams, who did not play in the Trojans' 55-21 loss to Stanford. "Straight ahead, I'm fine. There's a little discomfort cutting but not too much."

The return of Williams, coupled with tight end Anthony McCoy's progression toward a return to full strength, would help Barkley and the Trojans offense immensely against a surging Bruins team that ranks first in the Pacific 10 Conference in scoring defense and turnover margin.

Well, no doubt the Trojan offense will have an upper hand IMO if Williams and McCoy are 100 percent. They can give them that balance to complement the threats posed by McKnight and Bradford. Given what we have seen from our defense since the Tennessee game, I am still weary about our front-7 going up against their running attack. Although Barkley's comments about UCLA playing a "pretty base defense" is a little funny given what we saw last weekend at the Rose Bowl. The kid has a point since we have been voicing frustrations about it the whole season, but it's kind of odd to make that statement so publicly as an opponent after UCLA is coming off couple of games in which they mixed it up a little. Whatever, I am sure our guys will take note of Mr. Barkley's relaxed mindset.

Speaking of our guys, CRN and Brian Price are not discounting Trojans despite their recent struggles:

Despite the recent struggles, UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel was quick to assert that the Trojans remain as physically talented as any team in the country.

"They aren't impostors wearing that uniform," he said. "We will have to play our best to stay close and hopefully get the game into the fourth quarter."

That's a big reason why Price, while willing to talk about how much USC annoys him, isn't willing to trash talk the Trojans as a program.

"They're still dangerous," he said. "We can't take them lightly because they lost a couple of games. They're not the same as they were a couple of years ago, but they are still 'SC."

They are still '$C* indeed. More on those clowns and other notes around this game after the jump.

Brian Price also noted what Taylor Mays apparently had to say during their bonfire in South Central:

"They had a bonfire I guess and he was saying that just because they lost a couple of games that they're still 'SC and we're still UCLA so they're going to beat us," Price said. "Something like that. Something disrespectful. I found it funny, but we're going to use it to our advantage."

Price then observed:

"You can't talk trash after getting dominated by Stanford and Oregon like that," he said.

LOL, and he also added:

"As the years go by, you grow to dislike them even more and more," he said. "They're so cocky and arrogant."

Man. I am going to miss the Big Bear. I don't know about but right now I am having a hard time sitting still till Saturday night to see the kind of emotion Price comes out with in (our home uniform) at the Mosoleum. You can sense the emotion that is already roiling up within him for this game.

As for this team-mates on the other side, the OL is looking to build on the performance from last weekend when they wore down the number 15 ranked defense in the country. Although the Bruins didn't rack up the explosive numbers from preview 9 quarters, they were grinding it out throughout the second half. It appeared Palcic's boys were softening up the ASU defensive front by pounding them away, and opening up holes for Chane the Train Moline. More importantly they were caught behind the line just 5 times. Not too shabby for the rebuilt OL that has been developing throughout this 09 season. From Jon Gold in the Daily News:

"Our defense allowed us to play more conservatively, and then our O-line did a great job protecting," Moline said. "At first there weren't too many holes, but the offensive line wore them down a little bit. As (senior fullback) Trevor Theriot said, it was old-style, power football."

If Tuesday's practice was any indication, it will continue to be.

Moline appears to be the Bruins' man of the moment this week as well after his first start following a three-carry, three-touchdown performance against Washington State in Week 10.

"Chane's been the man these past couple weeks," Maiava said. "His ability to read the holes and read the blocks is probably the best on our team.

"He's a senior and this means the most to him. Coach talks about keeping drives alive, and if we can keep just getting first downs all the way to a touchdown I'm OK with that."

While the conservative approached worked against ASU, especially after our defense gave us a cushion with 2 TDs, we can't count on that for Saturday. We will need lot more than Chane (as dependable as he can be) and CRN knows it:

UCLA used a safe-and-sane offensive approach in a 23-13 victory over Arizona State on Saturday. The Bruins had fullback Chane Moline at tailback and ground out yardage.

"That remains to be seen," Coach Rick Neuheisel said when asked if a similar game plan would work against USC. "I don't think we can do it wholesale. I think we have to mix things up. I just think we're going to need more explosive plays. That's going to require more than just having our 'bigs' on the field."

I am going to guess CRN and Chow will mix in substantial doses of JetSki, Franklin, Coleman and perhaps Thigpen from Saturday. I really hope this will be the weekend when the penalties will be minmized and all aspects of offensive execution will come together. If there is a game to make that happen this is it.

We have talked about defense and offense in this roundup. So, I will end with the special team which can potentially play a huge part this Sat. So far (except for kickoff coverage and returns) they have been solid:

An edge that UCLA appears to have over USC is on special teams.

The Bruins have the top field-goal kicker in the nation (Kai Forbath) and the nation's ninth-ranked punter (Jeff Locke).

They also excel in the ability to change momentum with blocked kicks.

The special teams, under coach Frank Gansz Jr., have blocked five kicks this season, three field goals and two punts, with two resulting in points. A blocked field goal by defensive tackle Jerzy Siewierski was returned for a touchdown by Alterraun Verner against San Diego State. Linebacker Sean Westgate blocked a punt for a safety against Washington State.

"I love the man-on-man part of it," Westgate said about his punt blocking success. "You have to find a way to beat that guy any way you can. Then I get up and get to where the guy is kicking."

Well let's hope the Bruins can use the edge offered up Sean Westgate and rest of our special teams. Foster actually has a solid write up today on our kicking game featuring Fortbath, Locke, Reese (holder) and Younter (long snapper). Those guys have been money all season and we are going to need them in a huge way on Saturday, if it shapes up to be a classic nailbiting game.

I think the key will be for our team to keep it close early on. If we can slug it out in the trenches early on and turn this into a street fight at half time, we will have a shot. We need our defense to come out and attack the Trojans just like they went after it against Hardesty and Tennessee. They need to play out of their minds while on offense Prince and co. need to keep building on the confidence they have gained in recent weeks. Again, just gotta keep it close at half time and then look for the opportunity to pounce. We will have the mental edge as the pressure right now despite all the talk from South Central is all on Pom Pom.

GO BRUINS.

OC Register's Adam Maya - A Trojan Alum - Advanced Bogus Attacks On Rick Neuheisel

Nestor — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:03:30 -0000

Well here is another reason never to trust a "UCLA beat reporter" who happens to be a Trojan alum. It looks like the story concocted by Trojan alum of a UCLA football parent - Brian Theriot' - attacking Coach Rick Neuheisel were totally bogus. Mr. Therior just posted the following message on Bruingold.com:

I am Brian Theriot and a loyal Bruin. My Facebook was hacked over 13 times in 72 hours with my password being randomly changed then sent to me via email on a reset code.

My facebook is very fun for me and my family but not given to comments or statements that were posted on it over the weekend. I have, as an NCAA Champion and UCLA Captain, a devoted love to UCLA Football And Track. I am a big fan of Coach Rick and the direction of the program.

In no way, shape, or form do I agree or condone what was put on my facebook.

And, for anyone that would like to speak with me personally: [redacted - BN.]. My last post on my facebook prior to this mess was about my favorite.....Brett Favre.

I have spanked the Register and asked for a retraction. Frankly, I am just a dad riding out four more games and enjoying a great UCLA experience. Nothing more and nothing less.

That is simply amazing. Thanks so much to Mr. Theriot for posting those comments.

Now this begs the obvious question: why did Adam Maya just cut and paste those comments without bothering to contact Mr. Theriot? Why didn't he perform his journalistic responsibility to actually make sure the information he was posting was well sourced and based on reality.

It looks like Adam Maya owes an apology to Rick Neuheisel, the Theriots and the Bruin family who follows the UCLA football program. I am not going to hold my breath and expect Adam to show the same class as Brian Theriot. Again, people wonder why the newspaper industry is dying. Adam just served up another prime example. Just shameful.

GO BRUINS.

Tobi Umodu, A BNer Blogs About UCLA Football In The New York Times

Nestor — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:28:33 -0000

We have known for a while that there are few guys in our football team like to write. We have been tracking ATV's blogs posts through out this summer. We have been following ATV's weekly posts on the official site which started this past summer. We have also blogged a number of times about a weekly column in a local paper entitled "Keeping it Bruin: A Look Into UCLA Athletics," written by ATV's team-mate - Tobi Umodu. Actually Toby himself has fanshotted his column here on BN.

Well it looks like Tobi has made the big time. He is now going to be blogging periodically in the Quad, the college football blog for the New York Times. In his first post Tobi gives us a little taste about the camaraderie that exists among UCLA football team:

My football team at U.C.L.A. is no exception. Our team consists of more than 100 guys from different walks of life and different racial backgrounds, but we have no problem getting along with each other. One good example would be life in our locker room. Some of my teammates set up speakers so they can play music while we get ready for practice or just hang out. Every day, the music being played is by a rap, hip hop, or R&B artist, and everyone enjoys it, dancing along and singing the lyrics. Now I’m sure some of them would rather listen to country or rock than Gucci Mane and Young Jeezy, but no one would ever know.

Another interesting thing: the nicknames. I have a few personal nicknames for some of my teammates who are good friends. First is Alterraun Verner, who I’m sure many of you have heard of. He is on every watch list you can think of and is an all-American candidate at cornerback. Some people like to call him Al, a few broadcasters call him ATV, but to us in the locker room he is fondly known as the Receptionist because of all the attention he receives. He probably won’t like that I wrote that but since we are a family I’m sure he will forgive me.

Next is running back Jonathan Franklin. He is a bit different from everyone else because he has quite a few nicknames. People on the team call him Flaps, Jet Ski, among other names, but I prefer to call him Hollywood Ski because he used to be on the show "Baldwin Hills" on BET. My fellow fullbacks Chane Moline, Trevor Theriot, and Jason Almond all have their own nicknames as well. I like to call Chane, Sugar Chane Moline; everyone refers to Trevor as Moose (I’m still not quite sure why); and Jason Almond is called Almond Joy for obvious reasons.

You can read rest of his post here. You will want to click on it because it's a fantastic read.

All I can say, congrats Tobi. Now it would be even cooler if you come back here and cross post your stuff in our fanposts. We know you are reading.

GO BRUINS.

2009 UCLA Football Post-Camp Grades: RB/FB's

Ryan Rosenblatt — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:00:11 -0000

With our looks at the quarterbacks and wide receivers/tight ends in the books, it's time to turn our attention to the running backs and fullbacks. Always a heavily leaned upon position in any Norm Chow offense, with UCLA's unaccomplished offensive line, the running backs and fullbacks are forced to add outstanding pass protector to their resume or be left on the bench.

Running Backs

Consider the nature of the running back. It is his job to run straight ahead, while the defense, who outnumbers the offense because the running back and quarterback aren't blocking, are running at you from every direction imaginable, hitting you from every angle imaginable in every place imaginable. Not so much fun is it. Because of the beating running backs take, you better have two, three, four or even six ready to go if it's UCLA circa 2007. If 2009 is a repeat of 2007 when UCLA went six running backs deep then the Bruins are in trouble, but what team wouldn't be at that point. Plus, Craig Sheppard did a good job as the fifth string running back in 2007 and he's back in that role this year so we can go five deep, right?

So the nature of the running back has already bitten the Bruins once as former first choice back Christian Ramirez suffered an ankle sprain that will keep him out an undetermined time, but certainly for a few weeks at a minimum. It's always bad to lose your first string at any position, but I'm not so concerned with Ramirez out because I saw at least three backs better than him all camp long.

Topping the depth chart now is redshirt freshman Jonathan Franklin. Franklin can absolutely fly, as evidenced by his long touchdown run at the scrimmage or the handful of other times he left defenders grasping at air as he ran 50 yard in practice. The question for Franklin and every other back in the UCLA rotation is whether or not he can block. Blocking technique is easy enough and from watching drills, I can tell you that they all do it well in drills. Reading the defense and it's blitzed then getting into proper position is another story though and will be a test for Franklin as he adjusts to the schemes and speed of the college game. With the ball in his hands though he is dynamite, although he does need to make sure he clear the hole before popping up and hitting his stride or risk exposing the ball in traffic and losing it.

With Ramirez out, Derrick Coleman takes the mantle as experienced back who knows what's coming at him. Too bad Coleman is just a sophomore. Coleman showed few ill effects of inexperience in his freshman year though and he miraculously managed about five yards a carry behind an offensive line that was...well my words to describe that line are not suitable for children under the age of 13 so lets move on. Coleman is a big strong back and despite coming in with none of the fanfare that three other freshman backs had, he was the only one to earn meaningful snaps. He read defenses expertly and was a force in the passing game as both a receiver and blocker. He also was able to punish defenders looking to bring him down similar to Manuel White did for the Bruins when the coaches knew he was on the team.

Milton Knox will get his share of carries too and should be show an ability to block, will jump to the top of the depth chart in my opinion. Knox is 5'8'' only in Tom Cruise's shoes, but tops 200 pounds and has a leg drive similar to our last little back. That guy goes by the name of Maurice Jones-Drew and I think he was a decent enough player for us. Like Franklin, Knox's playing time will depend on his ability to pick up the blitz and it will be all mental with him as he reads defenses because I saw time and time again in practice his willingness to block. The guy threw himself at blitzing linebackers without abandon. The challenge for him will be to find those blitzers at full speed.

The question mark is Damien Thigpen, the speedster who thrilled crowds in the open field, but is still learning the playbook and how to harness his speed. He often hits holes so quickly that he doesn't let his hole develop and his blockers don't have time to get to the second level. With his speed and small size that let's him disappear behind blockers, should he learn to be patient he will be truly scary. Regardless of whether or not he contributes in the running game, he will be able to make an impact as a return man. All of this is dependent on the coaches choosing not to redshirt him, which it looks like they will decide against doing.

The fullback position is in a good place with the return of Trevor Theriot, who Norm Chow is a big fan of. Theriot is an excellent blocker, not just in the running game, but also in the passing game. His ability to block in the passing game should free up the running backs to be active coming out of the back field. Theriot can be a threat himself out of the backfield, where he was featured with regularity prior to his injury last year. Jayson Allmond will need to work on his pass blocking, but he showed a good nose for contact as the lead blocker in the running game and soft hands out of the backfield, although he needs to refine his route running. Chane Moline will be used exclusively as a fullback this year, but may get short yardage carries. He showed some promise as the lead blocker in the running game and provides a ball carrying threat, but he needs to improve in the receiving game. With Norm Chow calling the plays, three good fullbacks is a necessity and all will be asked to do a variety of things.

Grade: B+ The position is stacked with explosiveness. Franklin has breakneck speed and Knox can bust a long one too. Coleman doesn't have the same big play ability, but I doubt many DB's will be happy to see him bearing down on them. While the inexperience can be unsettling, Ramirez should be back this year to give the Bruins a redshirt junior with...well little experience yet again. Fear not though, should all else fail, there's still Craig Shappard who my dad still believes can be "dynamite." Chalk it up to another case of the guy who doesn't quite fit the mold, but plays his tail off and endears himself to a fan.

Poll

What would you grade the UCLA running backs and fullbacks?

A

47 votes

B

199 votes

C

73 votes

D

6 votes

F

10 votes

335 votes | Poll has closed

The Wait Is Over For Bruin Football: Practice Starts Today

Nestor — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:00:14 -0000

So it all starts today. As mentioned over the weekend the season gets started today with a "Media Day" in the morning and then first practice (which is open to public) at 3:30 pm PST. I am sure we are going to be reading stories from the Media Day and first practice starting tomorrow starting later this evening and with our usual roundup in the AM. Already there are few notes up on the official site that should get all of us ready for the camp.

Following the tweeter feed yesterday it was pretty clear the players were coming back to Westwood yesterday. Everyone of them sound excited and fired up (Case in point here is Taylor Embree). Here are the details from the official site:

On Sunday afternoon, the veteran UCLA football players reported to camp. The first team meeting is scheduled for tonight. On Saturday afternoon, the newcomers reported to camp and went through a series of orientation meetings on Sunday.

Monday's schedule includes position meetings in the morning and a short walkthrough. The players will participate in Media Day at noon and at the same time shoot portrait photos for television broadcasts and other material for the Rose Bowl video board.

The first practice is scheduled for 3:00 pm. For the first few days, head coach Rick Neuheisel and the coaches will split the team into two groups so the players can receive more one-on-one coaching from the staff. The first group will begin practice at 3:00 pm. The entire team will work on special teams for 20 minutes at 4:20 pm and then the second group will practice from 4:40 - 6:00 pm.

I hope some of you get to make it out there either today or sometime in the coming weeks. Just reading through the position overviews it becomes clear how intense the competition is going to be this year. We just need to have the players stay healthy. More details after the jump.

Note "several" of the walkons are not reporting for camp until after the first game or the start of school. Also, it looks like Jayson Allmond is another scholarship freshman who is not going to report because he is waiting for issues related to NCAA Clearinghouse issues to be resolved. Perhaps Brian Price can give him a call and tell the kid to hang in there.

The official site also posted whole bunch of pre-season notes. There were few details I found to be interesting and worth sharing. First here are the players we are going to have this season who missed entire if not most of last season due to injury and other issues:

WHO WAS MISSING -- The following players, who will return to the team for 2009, were listed in the 2008 pre-season two-deep or figured to play a prominent role, if available for action last season: Offense --- TE Logan Paulsen - missed 11 g to injury; OL Jeff Baca - missed 3 g to injury; OL Darius Savage - missed 2 g to injury; OL - Sean Sheller - missed all 12 g to injury; OL - Mike Harris - missed 7 g to injury; RB - Christian Ramirez - missed all 12 g due to academic eligibility issues; FB Trevor Theriot - missed 9 g to injury; Defense --- Kyle Bosworth - missed 10g to injury; DL - Jess Ward - missed 5 g due to injury; DL Reginald Stokes - missed 1 g due to injury.

So here is these guys staying healthy in 2009. All those injuries meant UCLA had a lot of cubbies getting action this past season:

YOUTH AND EXPERIENCE -- UCLA played a total of 22 freshmen (11 redshirt and 11 true freshmen) in the 2008 season. Sixteen of the twenty scholarship players included in that group are scheduled to return in 2009. Of that group of sixteen returning players, 11 have starting experience (Defense --- So. Rahim Moore, S - 12 g; So.R Steve Sloan, LB - 9 g; So. R Akeem Ayers, LB - 3 g; So. Datone Jones, DL - 2 g; So. Tony Dye, S - 1g; Offense --- So. Cory Harkey, TE - 7 g; So. Taylor Embree, WR - 8 g; So. Jeff Baca, OL - 8 g; So.R Nate Chandler, TE - 2 g; So. Derrick Coleman, RB - 1 g; So.R Mike Harris, OL - 5 g).

Needless to say it will be exciting to see how these guys can improve on this year. Also, a total of 29 players saw action for the first time in 2009:

FIRST ACTION -- A total of 29 players (17 offensive and 12 defensive) saw their first action as a Bruin during the 2008 season (11 true freshmen - seven offensive and four defensive players (LB Sean Westgate, S Rahim Moore, TE Cory Harkey, WR Taylor Embree, S Tony Dye, WR Antwan Moutra, WR Nelson Rosario, RB Aundre Dean, RB Derrick Coleman, OL Jeff Baca, DL Datone Jones); 11 redshirt freshmen - five defensive and six offensive players (DB Courtney Viney, LB Steve Sloan, LB Akeem Ayers, DB Glenn Love, OL/TE Nate Chandler, RB Raymond Carter, DL Justin Edison, WR Ryal Jagd, QB Chris Forcier, TE Glenn Rauscher, OT Mike Harris), six redshirt sophomores - three offensive and three defensive players (OL Brandon Bennett, LB Mike Schmitt, DL Reginald Stokes, OL Sonny Tevaga, OL Jake Dean, DB Garrett Rubio), one redshirt junior (QB Kevin Craft).

Of course some of those guys such as Carter, Dean and Craft are either no longer with us or will probably not get much action this coming year. However, I think those numbers show how Neuheisel will not hesitate to put in his young guys in there if they are competing hard out at Spaulding and doing what the coaches are asking them to do.

Lastly, the pre-season notes also has some interesting numbers on freshman QBs record at UCLA during last 20 years:

*2002 (8-5, T 4th Pac-10) -- Matt Moore (Fr.) game 8 win over Stanford; Drew Olson (Fr.) game 9 win at Washington; game 10 win at Arizona; game 11 loss to USC; game 12 loss to Wash. State; game 13 bowl win over New Mexico.
*1999 (4-7, 9th Pac-10) -- Cory Paus (Fr.R) game 3 win over Fresno St.; game 5 loss at Ariz. State; game 6 win over Oregon; game 7 loss to Cal; game 8 loss at Ore. State; game 9 loss to Arizona; game 10 win over Washington; Ryan McCann (Fr. R) game 11 loss at USC.
*1995 (7-5, T 5th Pac-10) -- Cade McNown (Fr.) game 3 loss to Oregon; game 5 win over Fresno St.; game 6 win over Arizona; game 7 win at Stanford; game 8 win over Cal; game 9 loss at Ariz. State; game 10 loss to Washington; game 11 win at USC; game 12 bowl loss to Kansas.
*1992 (6-5, 8th Pac-10) -- Rob Walker (Fr. R) game 2 win at BYU; game 3 win over San Diego State; game 4 loss at Arizona; game 5 loss to Stanford; game 10 win at Oregon; Ryan Fien (Fr.) game 7 loss to Arizona State.
*1990 (5-6, T 6th Pac-10) -- Tommy Maddox (Fr. R) game 3 loss at Michigan; game 4 win at Wash. State; game 5 loss to Arizona; game 6 win over San Diego State; game 7 loss at Cal; game 8 win over Oregon State; game 9 loss at Oregon; game 10 win at Washington; game 11 loss to USC.
*1989 (3-7-1, 9th Pac-10) -- Bret Johnson (Fr. R) started all 11 games. game 1 loss to Tenn.; game 2 win over San Diego State; game 3 loss to Michigan; game 4 win over Cal; game 5 win over Ariz. State; game 6 loss at Arizona; game 7 loss at Oregon State; game 8 loss to Washington; game 9 loss at Stanford; game 10 loss to Oregon; game 11 tie at USC.

You can sense that Cade McNown was kind of an anomaly and even he had a roller coaster first two years. Bret Johnson, Rob Walker, and Ryan Fien were total disasters (well Johnson was just a disgrace).

Anyway, those numbers above are fairly sobering and should be datapoints we all take into account before deluding ourselves with visions of grandeur that takes over average college football fans around this time of the year. I still think Prince will be an upgrade from what we saw last year. However, given how legends like McNown struggled during their first year in college we should keep our expectations in check.

GO BRUINS.

Spaulding Roundup: Josh Smith Coming To UCLA & Other Football Notes

Nestor — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:12:38 -0000

Of course we are talking about football (not that Josh Smith). And it looks like big news for Coach Neuheisel and UCLA football program as the Bruins per Dohn are about to nab one of the better playmakers in college football. Former Colorado WR is heading to UCLA:

UCLA is getting a deep-threat receiver and a proven kick returner in former Moorpark High star Josh Smith, who will complete a transfer from Colorado to UCLA by the end of the summer, according to sources.

Smith left Colorado in the spring, in part because he wanted to pursue a degree in music, and Colorado does not offer one. Under NCAA transfer rules, Smith will sit out the 2009 season and be eligible for the 2010 season.

According to sources, Smith will enroll at UCLA in September and redshirt. He will have two years of eligibility remaining when he returns to the field. The only hang- up would be an unforeseen issue with his transcripts, sources said.

Spaulding Roundup: 2009 Expectations & Recruiting Notes

Nestor — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:04:25 -0000

We will start our Spaulding roundup with a little trip over to Ted Miller's ESPN Pac-10 Blog. Ted has been publishing a series of posts starting with the title of "Don't be surprised ..." last few weeks in his attempt to offer up "unusual angles" to this upcoming Pac-10 season (gotta give him an "A" for effort given how difficult it is to come up with content during this nuclear winter of college football season). So Ted yesterday focused his efforts on UCLA observing that our offense could be "much better in 2009". Here are his reasons for offensive optimism:

No way a Norm Chow offense lays another egg like this one. In the quarter-century-plus he's been coaching offenses, he's never had one as bad as 2008.

The offense welcomes back nine starters, though redshirt freshman Kevin Prince has unseated Kevin Craft at quarterback.

Five players who would have started last year but were unavailable for various reasons -- injuries, suspension, transfer rules, etc. -- will be good to go in 2009: running back Christian Ramirez, tight end Logan Paulsen, center Kai Maiava, fullback Trevor Theriot and offensive tackle Sean Sheller.

That beleaguered offensive line not only welcomes back Sheller, it also gets six guys back who started at least five games last fall. What's more, incoming freshmen Stan Hasiak and Xavier Su'a-filo, as well as JC transfer Eddie Williams, represent one of the nation's best recruiting hauls of O-linemen.

Ted then went on to project a 6-6 regular season. That is pretty much on par with the discussions we have had on BN since the end of spring camp. I still think though we have to wait to see how the Fall camp shakes out and how kids like Stan Hasiak and Xavier Su'a-filo to the college game. We are not going to have a shot if our OL improves from last year's dire straits to an averaging perfoming unit this season, putting together a foundation for the upcoming ones.

As we have said before we have to treat this year like Howland's second year in Westwood. That year it was all about getting into the NCAA tournament after Howland's (but not so surprising) first season. Of course barely getting into the NCAA tournament will never be up to UCLA standards. However, getting to that point in Howland's second season was a sure sign of tangible improvement that set him for future success. Getting into a bowl game this year for CRN's program will similarly set him for better seasons in the coming years in Westwood.

If Neueheisel and co. are able to pull off a bowl season this year expect that to boost their solid recruiting efforts even more. As the OC Register's Adam Maya notes in his June roundup, Bruins have momentum with 4 commitments and are zeroing on number of prospects from Southern California and across the nation:

In progress…

Three-star receiver Anthony Jefferson of Cathedral High includes UCLA in his top five, along with USC, Cal, Oregon and Oklahoma.

Three-star cornerback Cullen Christian ranks UCLA No. 3 among schools he’s considering.

Servite High DT Kirifi Taula said UCLA is his favorite and he would likely commit once he receives an offer. The Bruins already offered Tesoro High OL Silvarius Ajawara, who has just recently gotten more attention but said he’s always loved UCLA.

And finally…

Several of the top recruits in the nation (Rivals.com’s top 100, Scout.com’s top 100) list UCLA as a possible destination, including: OT Seantrell Henderson (Scout and Rivals’ No. 1 overall player), DE Ronald Powell (No. 12, Rivals), RB Malcolm Jones (No. 15, Scout), WR Robert Woods (No. 17, Rivals), S Sean Parker (No. 19, Scout) and RB Anthony Barr (No. 20, Rivals).

Of course one of the guys who just committed to CRN is Bay Area's Brett Nottingham. He has been impressing scouts all over the Western region this summer. Greg Biggins from ESPN becomes the latest prominent Western recruiting guru to jump on the Nottingham bandwagon:

Brett Nottingham (Danville, Calif./Monte Vista) came in to Vegas with a lot of confidence after strong camp performances at Colorado, Stanford and UCLA. All three colleges offered scholarships and the signal caller fulfilled a lifelong dream committing to the Bruins, where both parents and two of his sisters attended.

Nottingham had a good workout and is one of those quarterbacks that just does everything well although he may not wow you in any one respect. His arm looked a bit tired after attending so many camps the previous weeks but arm strength will not be an issue at the next level.

Nottingham already has a college body at a solid 6-4, 210 pounds, takes great drops, throws well on the run as well as in the pocket and is a great leader with a magnetic personality.

Sounds perfect for UCLA.

GO BRUINS.