Answers, Part X
Thanks for all the questions. It's always great when there is this much interest, and I enjoy answering them. Now, here is the final set for this week:
Roughly How many football scholarships remaining to offer in 2009?
Scholarships are always a fluid thing, but right now I would say there are roughly 18 available since the NCAA maximum is 25 and UCLA has seven commitments. There could be a lot of turnover after Neuheisel's first season, through transfers and guys deciding they no longer want to play. If UCLA needs it, I think they will find 25 available scholarships.
Do you think RN will continue to recruit 4-star QB recruits in the future? Dorrell stopped going after top QB's after getting Ben Olson...and we are paying for it now.
Let's see. Dorrell got Nick Crissman (a four-star) and Chris Forcier (a four-star), so I don't think it stopped.
New football uniforms for 2008?
Not from what I've been told this point.
What is Pat Cowan going to do the rest of the year?
He is taking some time away from the game in the summer, having surgery in August and has been invited to be a student assistant coach in the fall by coach Rick Neuheisel, but a decision has not been made, I was told. Plus, he will attend classes.
Based on your info today, whom do you think will be the starter against Tenn., Olson or Craft? I understand there are many variables, and it's not even June yet.
As I wrote earlier this week, and posted in the Q&A earlier today, Neuheisel said Olson goes into camp as the starter.
Whom do you consider the "face of [UCLA] college football" which ESPN is seeking? I really don't UCLA has one, which is really part of the problem, but if forced to decide, I would say Terry Donohue. It really should be Cade McNown or Troy Aikman, but since leaving the school they don't have that much involvement...at least publicly.
I agree with not really having one but settling on Donahue, but would also think about Gary Beban, Jerry Robinson, Kenny Easley or Gaston Green.
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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.
Eugene Robinson? Don't you mean Jerry Robinson? Never heard of Eugene...
The face of UCLA FB should be Kenny Easley. As far as the most fan friendly "star player", I would vote for JRob (Jerry Robinson).
I'm sticking to my guns when I say Aikman gave nothing but heartbreak in all his regular season finale performances.
In the internet age, it has to be Maurice Jones-Drew. TV commercials, ESPN guest analyst, success in both college and NFL and really has outdone Reggie Bush everywhere except the pocket book and endorsements. Bush is hype, Maurice is style and substance.
You think Maurice would have tried that stupid lateral against Texas? Please. He would have scored.
Yes, but you should really respect the entire history of the program not just the "latest model." Saying Jones-Drew is the man is like calling Kevin Love the face of the basketball program. Solid players, but relatively speaking they have no lasting legacy.
Beban brought the school it's only NC and Heisman trophies. Green put up the big numbers. If you're looking for a players then they're the ones who separate themselves from the pack.
But still, they were only there for a few years. If you're talking career then Donohue would be the man. The second winningest coach in Pac-10 history, all or part of 5 Pac-10 Championships. Three Rose Bowls, I mean c'mon!
Donohue would be a good one because he is still connected to the school, and he had a good record against SC;
Aikman was a star, both in college (could have won a national title except for SC) and of course in the pros. He also is a very pleasant announcer;
McNown was phenomenal in college, and would have won a national title except for ucla's defense in 1998 vs Miami. But from what I heard from his Chicago Bears' teammates was that he he had a little too much self-pride. Probably has mellowed with age, however;
Maurice Drew was a star, too. Cannot agree that he was bigger in college than Reggie Bush, however, but he seems better built for the pro game than Bush (although I would not say Bush is bush). Drew also seems like a good guy;
Beban was legendary according to the old-timers out there. Three of his games will go down in history: His 1965 SC win, 1966 Rose Bowl victory over No. 1 Michigan State, and his performance in 1967 vs SC (he should have won that game except for the bruins' field goal kicker missing kick after kick). But he is probably too outdated for today's youth;
The best athlete at ucla was probably Kenny Easley-- that guy could cover, and hit.
How about Jackie Robinson? Tremendous athlete and almost as famous as Mohammad Ali. Red Sanders was pretty famous, too. Other thoughts are the Rose Bowl or the Bear statue at the bottom of Bruin Walk. I don't like Drew because he left early or Aikman because he never beat SC. USC fans would probably say Billy Don Jackson or a picture of a handicapped placard.
Charles, Beban is a great choice, but the NC was won in '54 by Red Sanders. I guess we need a composite "face of the program" with Beban, Easley, Aikman and McNown. Jones-Drew and Jackie would be on deck.
Oops,
You're right Bradley, my bad.
Does anyone know if Beban or Robinson kept in touch with the school after they left?
Beban is featured in some ucla promotional ads that aired during the basketball season.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8PN7qIB87s
So I'd assume that he stays in touch with the school and still has a good relation.
Kareem Abdul Jabbar mentioned on his blog that when he was trying to decide what school to attend, that letters from Nobel prize winner Ralph Bunche and Jackie Robinson had a huge effect in swaying him to UCLA. So I think it's safe to assume that Jackie Robinson was still connected and thought fondly of the school.
Gary Beban did NOT bring UCLA a national title as stated by someone above. Although Beban was great and brought home UCLA's only Heisman, our only national title came in 1954 over a decade before Beban.
For the face of the program, I'd pick Red Sanders. He's like John Wooden in that UCLA football was nowhere before Sanders arrived. By the time of his early, untimely death, UCLA had a national title and a national image in football. Red Sanders is also credited with saying, "Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing."
However, I also can't argue with people who say that it's difficult to put one face on the program because several players and coaches have accomplished a lot for UCLA football. But, if it's one person, it has to be Red Sanders.