Answers, Part XVII

With Forcier and Prince sharing time with the second team offense, which of the two has looked the best running the offense? Which of the two is the strongest and most accurate passer?
Prince, Prince and Prince. If Forcier was performing better, Prince never would have had the chance to get into the picture.

if avery bradley is transferring to findlay prep in nev. in order to raise his core gpa to be able to play college basketball because bellarmine was too hard, that can't bode well for his qualifying for ucla if he struggles to meet ncaa standards, right?
Well, the core GPA is a very important thing, But I agree, that doesn't look good.

I know this is a longshot. Brian, do you know if Kevin Craft has seen this video? I wonder if you could get his reaction.
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?categoryId=null&brand=null&videoId=3569538&n8pe6c=2
I don't really do things like that. Most times it really doesn't matter to me what other media members say about a player.

Any word on the Pauley Pavilion renovation? Any word on initial architectural renderings?
I am working on a story about it, and should have it done in the next few weeks.

What do you think of pre-season rankings in college football? Do you think there is any value to ranking teams before they play, or should they wait 2 or 3 weeks?
I think they are idiotic. People who have not seen a team play, and have no idea about injuries or incoming freshmen, try to rank teams? It's asinine. I think the first poll should come out in early to mid October.

can you elaborate on why you believe ucla will be better off in the long run without stepheson?
I think Howland will recruit players that are better than Stepheson.

After the TN win, I was really impressed to see Neuheisel's gratitude for those who gave him a second chance. It was very refreshing to see a guy who is humble and thankful for someone to take a chance on him. Do you think he will return the favor and give Olson a second chance or will he just kick him to the curb and move on?
If Craft plays well, Olson will probably return as the backup. If Craft does not play well, I think Olson could get a chance to start if he comes back early enough. At the end of the day, coaches care first and foremost about winning. And if anything else was important, Karl Dorrell would still be UCLA's coach.

I was curious about the recruiting information about high school players - specifically which college programs they are interested in and leaning toward. Where does most of the information come from: the player, high-school/AAU coaches, parents, college coaches, recruiting gurus/insiders?
It comes from a variety of places, most of which you mentioned. But I'm not going to give up how I do my job for others in this business to figure out.

How do you decide what's credible versus just gossip - in terms of what makes the column or your blog?
I don't print gossip. I treat the blog like an extension of the newspaper, and so I deal in fact, unless my opinion is asked, like in these Q&A sessions. If it is a news item on the blog, you can take it to the bank it is accurate. Again, I do not publish rumors and gossip.