SB Nation - Mike Schmitt

2009 UCLA Football Post-Camp Grades: LB's

Ryan Rosenblatt — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 01:12:48 -0000

We've graded the entire offense and with the defensive line grades being handed out earlier today, the defensive marks are officially underway. Now we head to the linebackers where it's fantastic at the top and truly frightening at the bottom.

Linebackers

If starters were just taken into account, this would easily be the best position UCLA has. All three starting linebackers are outstanding and bring different things to the table for the Bruins. In the middle is the heart and soul of the UCLA defense, Reggie Carter. The unquestioned leader, Carter is a redshirt senior who was named Scout Team Player of the Year in his redshirt year, Freshman All-American in his redshirt freshman year, has now started for the last three years and was named second team All-Conference last year. This year, he's on the watch list for just about every award out there and is considered one of the best linebackers in the conference. He does it all and there's little doubt that each time he step on the field, you're going to get his best, which is good news for the Bruins and bad news for the opposition.

Flanking Carter on one side is another redshirt senior who is coming off of injury. Kyle Bosworth injured his knee in just the second game of the 2008 season and missed out on the rest of it, which sounds like a bad break, but when you consider that it was a 4-8 season it may not have been so bad. Now he gets to come back with a stellar group of linebackers and try to move the program forward to a bowl game. Bosworth was strong against the run during camp, disciplined in his fits and quick to the perimeter, but needs to be better in coverage. While he wasn't poor in coverage and put himself in good position often, his ball skills with subpar and the good positioning was wasted.

The final starting linebacker spot belongs to the unit's best athlete with the biggest upside. Redshirt sophomore Akeem Ayers is the heaviest of the UCLA starting linebackers. He's also the fastest of the three and has the best ball skills. Physically, he can be as good a linebacker as there is in the Pac-10. He's going to be used a lot as a blitzer because of his ability to get to the quarterback, but don't sleep on his ability in coverage. He had at least a half dozen interceptions in the ten or so practices I attended and will get his hands on some balls at the Rose Bowl this year. The problem Ayers had last season was in reading the movement of the offensive line on run plays and then getting caught in traffic, unable to make a tackle. He showed great improvement in that area in camp as he was quick to read plays and get into position before an offensive lineman could get to the second level and put a block on him. Ayers could have the best year of any UCLA linebacker, which is quite an accomplishment with the other two starting linebackers the Bruins have. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that he LOVES to hit. Quarterbacks beware.

After the starters, there is a major drop off at the linebacker position. Donovan Carter is a guy who caught my eye during camp. He was quicker than I remembered him and at about 250 lbs. is plenty big enough. If he can keep himself in position, he could provide adequate backup. The two guys who will get the bulk of the backup time though are Sean Westgate and Steve Sloan. Many of us saw Sloan last year when he took a starting spot following the injury to Bosworth. He manned the middle while Reggie Carter moved outside, but it's been said that Carter isn't leaving the middle this year so Sloan may see his snaps decreased. Westgate is the guy who I was really excited about when watching camp. He's an instinctive player and while that gets him out of position from time to time, for the most part it serves him well. He's quick to the ball and a strong tackler. At only 5'11'' 205 lbs. he's a bit smaller, but he's tough and plays bigger than he is. This is one guy who I have my eye on this year because he probably took the biggest step forward from the end of last year to this year.

Patrick Larimore and Mike Schmitt are the last two linebackers are really primed for serious time in the event of an injury. Both showed flashes in camp, but neither would even remotely consistent. They were caught out of position and didn't fit well against the run. Both are also somewhat limited physically so they need to learn to read plays better or risk being a major liability out there.

While many expected him at defensive line, Keenan Graham spent very little time with his hand on the ground in camp and it appears that he will be used as a rushing linebacker in passing situations if he's not redshirted. Isiah Bowens is another guy who could be used in the same capacity, but it appears he'll be redshirted after a decent, but not eye opening camp. Todd Golper was less than impressive during camp, often being caught out of position so anything but a redshirt would be a surprise.

Grade: B The starters get a A, but the depth is a major, major concern. Frankly, the level of play behind the top four of five is horrid and needs to improve because it's unreasonable for expect all three starting linebackers to stay healthy for the whole year. Even more a concern is what will happen next year when Carter and Bosworth graduate. If it weren't for the emergence of Westgate, this could be a scary situation.

Poll

What would you grade the UCLA linebackers?

A

91 votes

B

137 votes

C

22 votes

D

3 votes

F

2 votes

255 votes | Poll has closed

UCLA Linebackers: Explosive Starters But Depth Is A Concern

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

This could be Akeem's year. (Photo Source: Nathan Tyree (flickr))

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We finished up looking through the offense last weekend. So time to shift the focus over to the defensive side, which many are expecting to be the strength of our football team. I will start by looking through the LB corps in this post. It's a position that features one of the key leaders of the football team along with some talented sidekicks, but has questions concerning depths.

Obviously the story at LB corps begins with MLB 6-1 240 pound Reggie Carter. He is the heart and soul of our defense if not the entire team. He is going to anchor our defense from Mike position which is his natural position. He did spend a little time at Sam during his career at UCLA however his physical attributes and overall understanding of the game makes him a natural fit at MLB. In other words he is the perfect heir apparent of Christian Taylor except he happens to be lot more athletic. The key for Reggie (knock on wood here) is going to be staying healthy.

He got banged up a little this past season and still finished with a team leading 83 tackles. Of course Reggie's signature moment at UCLA came during 13-9 game when he owned Booty at the Rose Bowl all afternoon long. I haven't seen the kind of swagger in a Bruin LB as I see in Reggie since the days of Donnie Edwards. We cannot afford to lose him this year if we want to make a charge into the post-season. Reggie could potentially have a memorable season if his team-mates can also step up with him. More on them after the jump.

As excited as I am about what Reggie can do this year, the kid I am excited to see is Akeem Ayers. From the LA Times:

[T]he player who may catch eyes this season is the other guy: Akeem Ayers, who started three games last season.

"Akeem’s problem wasn’t his play, it was that he didn’t always know where he was supposed to be," Carter said. "That’s changed. I don’t have to tell him where to be as much. He knows what he is supposed to do and doesn’t second-guess himself."

Ayers’ raw ability was obvious. Chasing Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli down from behind last season made that clear. He also has the size (6 feet 4, 252 pounds) to battle offensive linemen.

Akeem is a weapon. Pure and simple. He can go after RBs and TEs like a heat seeking missile. And after the weigh he has put during this off-season he is going to be absolutely lethal if he shows the same type of explosive ability in terms of speed, he has shown his last two years at UCLA. He is simply an amazing athlete and if he comes in this year, a little more polished with a better understanding of UCLA's defensive scheme (which is not going to be changed up much), he could be effective. I also think his speed is going to be key when UCLA will be facing Pac-10 teams with explosive athletes such as Best, Massoli or Rogers. He is the kind of LB who can provide the answer for an embattled DC looking to solve probelms posed by spread types of offense seen at the college game.

Rounding up the trip at Will LB is Kyle Bosworth who hopefully will have a great senior season at UCLA. From Sam at All-Pac-10 blog:

Joining Carter as a starter will be fellow senior Kyle Bosworth. Bosworth will occupy the weakside at linebacker once again, after an injury forced him to miss most of the 2008 season. Bosworth sprained his knee against BYU last season after playing in just two games, and was granted a substitute year of eligibility as a result.

At 6-1 234 pounds, Bosworth is an extremely physical presence at weakside linebacker, and like Carter he plays with steadfast aggression. In 2007, Bosworth finished 5th on the team with 74 tackles and four tackles for loss.

He plays much faster than his forty-time suggests (4.70), and is rarely caught out of position. The Plano (TX) native will look to wreak havoc on opposing offenses alongside his brother Korey (defensive end). Bosworth enters fall camp in good health, and has a firm grasp on a starting role in 2009.

Here is to Kyle staying healthy. The problem for UCLA right now is depth. In terms of starters we probably have as good as combination at LB as anyone else in the conference. However, after we go beyond that first unit we have questions. Right now Steve Sloan and Sean Westgate are primed for the reserve spots. From Sam Saig's rundown linked above:

The 6-4 231 pound Sloan was able to take advantage of playing time after Boswroth went down, starting nine of 12 games and finishing with 29 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss. Sloan played inside last season, and will therefore be the main backup for Carter.

The Campbell (CA) native played linebacker at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, making 143 tackles during his senior year. Rivals and Scout.com rated him as a 4-star prospect and he will be the future at middle linebacker for the Bruins once Carter is gone. He enters fall camp as one of the top reserves for UCLA.

The 5-11 205 pound Westgate wasted no time making an impact at UCLA, picking up a blocked punt and returning it for a TD in the season opener against Tennessee. He went on to appear in all 12 games as a true freshman, making 18 tackles on the season. Westgate does not have the size of the other linebackers, but he is a fierce competitor that plays with a high motor. The Oak Park (CA) native enters fall as the main backup to Bosworth on the weakside.

Both of them are capable backsups and were steady last season. However, the dropoff following the first trio is obvious. In addition to those two we Donovan Carter, Patrick Larimore, and junior Mike Schmitt in the depth chart who might be able to contribute this season.

In terms of true freshman we could see Todd Golper, who seems healthy following an injury plagued senior year in high school, getting some action this year. We could also see Isaiah Bowen (6-3, 220) from Bishop Amat getting some action as well. However, we are not going to have Taniela Maka (academics) and Jared Koster (sports hernia) on the team this fall who won't be ready to join till Winter quarter.

So, the key for this unit will be health. We need to hope and pray that our starters stay healthy this year. They certainly have the potential to make this a memorable year for our defense and the team. However, we are going to need them fresh and on the field throuhout the season. That of course again brings us back to our offense. If our offensive line can help the team play lot more ball control this season, it will keep our guys on defense, especually these studs at LBs fresh and ready to terrorize offenses every chance they get.

GO BRUINS.

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.