More on Lanis
I spoke with UCLA right tackle Aleksey Lanis a little while ago and he said several factors played into his decision to retire from football.
First, he had three significant injuries in his two years as a starter, including two knee surgeries. Also, he was married and had a son in the offseason, and wants to do this for his family. His plan is to finish his degree in the fall and then go to graduate school while pursuing a career in business.
Lanis said he recently had his application to UCLA's graduate school turned down, so he will look elsewhere. I'll have some comments from Lanis in Tuesday's paper.
I asked UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel if he tried to talk Lanis out of retiring.
"It was clear in his face that he wasn’t ready to go on,'' Neuheisel said. "If I thought there was hope, I probably would have pushed harder and harder, but he was pretty set in his decision, and you have to respect that.’’
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About Inside UCLA
This is Brian Dohn's sixth season covering UCLA after spending 4 1/2 years covering the Dodgers for the Daily News and other Los Angeles Newspaper Group papers. He graduated from Rutgers, where the first college football game was played in 1869. Sure, the Scarlet Knights suffered for a long time, but now RU is doing what Jerseyans always thought was possible. Winning at Rutgers also proves winning is possible everywhere else in the nation, so underachieving coaches better be careful. Now, if only men's hoops can turn it around.
Sounds like it wasnt all injuries. Which is sad because Aleksey had a lot of potential. You can goto Grad school anytime after. With more experience and work he could make the NFL. He has that thick, but strong type of body NFL teams like.
Now we're screwed on the Oline.