I'm hearing nothing out here and was wondering if the local press is covering any details other than the QB battle. Any updates would be greatly appreciated.
I depend on Bruwins and the LA Daily News for all Bruin information. The Daily News has quite a few spring practice articles in their archive. The spring game at the Rose Bowl on the 26th should give us some insight to the new Offense and some of the position battles. There is a large recruiting class coming this fall and there will be a number of positions that won't be decided until the Freshmen step onto the field.
So far we're still having problem with OLines. It's gotten worst as we have only a few starters back and depth chart consisted of inexperience underclassmen. The report today we lost Aleksey Lanis to medical retirement. He's one of the most experienced OL we have. He started many games during his freshman season and some last year.
During the scrimmage last weekend, the OLines didn't help Olson cause to compete for the starting job and one of Cowan's TD was on the scramble. alwaysMr.G hit it on the head that Cowan would be a better choice as our starting QB due to our weak OLines.
On offense, so far the talk of the camp is the Taylor Embree. I saw him play when he was a junior at Hart HS against Birmingham and Mission Viejo before transferring to Kansas City to follow his father. He has great hands and it showed during this Spring practice so far. He's listed as 6'4" on our media guide, but I think he's only 6'2". Regardless his listed heights, so far we have tall receivers on our depth chart that Cowan can depend on. On the opposite side of Embree is Dominique and these two can be our possession receivers. The only downside, we still don't have the speed burner or game breaking receivers as our secondaries are still faster than them. Although Marcus Everett came to the camp a little bigger than last year, he'll need to once again fight for his starting position back. It's a challenge for him as Embree is pushing hard for that spot.
On defense, Courtney Viney is making a statement to win the CB starting job opposite of Verner. He reminds me of Ricky Manning, Jr. They both short but very physical. However, on this spot, we won't know until Rahim Moore, E.J. Woods, Aaron Hester, and Anthony Dye arrive this August.
Hey guys. It is awesome to be able to go from a final four run straight into football talk. I totally agree with the analysis you guys have made, especially a couple of things.
1. I saw on College Football Live a couple of analysts commending the coaching staff for naming Cowan the starter. More important than his scrambling ability (which will be quite important) will be his ability to rally and lead the team. He is one tough mofo.
2. I love to hear that Viney is battling for that spot. Competition in the secondary should be fierce, and it could be that we are better than we were last year, as hard as that is to believe.
3. Is there any hope that Terrance Austin can be our field-stretcher? He seems to be the most likely candidate. Also, BruinReportOnline.com has us in the running for a drool-inducing receiver who is a high school junior this year. His name is James Jackson, he is from Michigan, and he reportedly reportedly runs a sub-4.4 40! So sweet.
4. The College Football Live guys also think the Vegas win total line (I think it is 6.5) is "disrespectful". People tend to forget the extent of our injuries last year.
5. I saw an interview with Coach Neuheisel in which he was commenting about how much he loves seeing Price and Harwell next to each other in the Tackle spots. I agree. That is a pretty good foundation for a defense. I hope we can get some pressure off the edge.
In basketball the "cream of the crops" are those players that got invited to play at McDonald's American Game while in football are those invited to Army All American Bowl. Terrence Austin was one of those player. He was supposed to be the same caliber of player like DeSean Jackson. The same height, the same build and played from the same high school, Long Beach Poly. However, they weren't the same player. Terrence didn't develop into the game breaking player like DeSean. This spring under new coaches, he maybe 5th on the depth chart behind Ryan Graves. This before even the arrival of Nelson Rosario and Jerry Johnson in August. Even at Kick or Punt return there will be Milton Knox and Aundre Dean who may push for that position. I hope Terrence Austin can prove me wrong and be that "field-stretcher" player this fall because we're going to need it.
Talk about Army All American Bowl, 9 players from California were invited for the upcoming game on January 3rd, 2009. 5 of those 9 already committed to USC while we have none. I can understand that those players were not the most needed positions to be recruited. However, for those positions that we badly need such as Offensive and Defensive Lines, we're not on anyone's radar for the top 100 players. After the Spring scrimmage next week, I am keeping my finger cross that Coach Neuheisel will recruit those needed positions soon. Otherwise we'll be having only 1* or 3* athletes the most which is like what we currently have at Offensive Lines. The report on them so far is that the 1st unit is starting to catch up but the 2nd unit are still behind. They have a couple months to work on that. Otherwise it will be another long season for us.
Going into this Saturday's Spring scrimmage at the Rose Bowl, we only have 4 Corner Backs on the depth chart. The first team are Alterraun Verner and Michael Norris while the second team are Courtney Viney and Chris Meadow. With the exception of Courtney Viney who is a redshirt Freshman, the other 3 have game experiences playing their positions (Verner is a returning starter). I am not sold on Michael Norris listed in front of Courtney Viney at this point. But Coach Walker is obviously thought so. I recalled along with Trey Brown, Michael Norris gave up big plays last season when he was on the game. I still think the incoming Freshmen are good enough to challenge for the starting spots.
As far as for Safeties position, Aaron Ware and Brett Lockett are solid players while Glenn Love can make a case for the starting position. Providing Aaron Ware can keep injuries free season, he should have a breakout season. We have depth at the secondary positions once the incoming Freshmen arrived or they may even challenge for the spots.
I feel pretty good about the secondary. I like Viney, Verner, Lockett, Ware, and Love, and I agree with you regarding the freshmen. Hopefully Rahim Moore will quickly find a place to play while Dye, Hester, and Woods (and maybe Franklin) deepen the talent pool.
I want to see the Linebacking corps come together. Does anybody have any word on Steve Sloan? He seems like a pretty good prospect who presumably could contribute right now.
And of course everyone will be watching the O-line. In particular, I hope for good performances from Sheller, Bennett, Tevaga, Savage, Dean, and Keane.
One last thing I have been thinking about is how Walker is going to generate pressure on the quarterback now that Bruce Davis is gone. Do you think we will see some creative blitz packages? Lockett up the middle? Verner off the corner? Ayers from a linebacker spot? There are some exciting options.
Does anybody have any word on Steve Sloan?Steve Sloan is on the 2nd unit MLB backing up potential All American Reggie Carter. He is pretty good prospect and he's very similar to Christian Taylor or Spencer Havner. If he has the same winning attitude like his predecessors, I am sure Coach Walker can't keep him on the side line.
Our OLines are still like last year and very thin at the depth charts. Today, we heard the report that both Cowan and Olson went down with injuries. They won't play this Saturday. So the 1st unit will be under Kevin Craft and the 2nd unit will be under Chris Forcier. Meanwhile, Osaar Rasshan remains as 5th string.
As far as for our defense, Brian Price and Brigham Harwell will anchor the front 4. Bosworth twins showed us last year that they are more than capable to be play makers or defensive stoppers. These 4 guys will the ones that replacing Bruce Davis to harass opposing QBs.
Akeem Ayers is backing up John Hale at WLB. We didn't see that much action of John Hale last year compared to his Freshman's year and he's more than capable as our starter. Then this August, Donovan Carter could be in the mix if he can prove that he can play at this level.
Not sure if you are aware of Brian Dohn (UCLA Beat Writer for LA Daily News). He has a blog that is a great source of up to date information on all things FB and BB at UCLA. It is a great site to check throughout the day for updated info.
oh yeah, Brian is the best. thats where i get all my info. i have his page bookmarked, and i visit it a couple times a day. he even answers your questions weekly. good call Prodigal Bruin, ive been looking at his page for so long and i never even thought to let all you guys know. i guessed i just assumed you already knew.
