Happy Halloween to all!!!
Folks, it may be an off week and UCLA is coming off a disappointing loss, but it hasn’t stemmed the interest of the Q&A session. I will have at least 15 sets of answers today, and here is the first set:
Da Pipeline open
Chow got three from Hawaii
Te’o come next?
One syllable short
On the last line of question
But bet BYU
With the by week , are the coaches out recruiting this weekend? If so, can you give us a list of games that the staff will be attending?
Yes, they are out and about, checking in at a bunch of schools all over the state today, and at a bunch of junior colleges Saturday. I listed in an earlier post a lot of places I heard the staff was going to. Also, my bet is coach Rich Neuheisel shows up at the Loyola game Saturday and sees running back Anthony Barr because Neuheisel’s son plays fro Loyola.
Is TE Zach Ertz (Stanford Commit) still a possibility? I had heard a bit about him possibly swithching to UCLA a while back but hadn’t heard anything in a few weeks. Is UCLA still going after him?
UCLA is still going after him and I still think it has a chance of happening. From what I hear, it could be either Stanford, Cal or UCLA.
Do the commitments of Marvray and Roma extinguish any chance of other receivers such as Caroll, Evans, or Flournoy from flipping over to UCLA?
I think so. If UCLA felt better about the three guys you mention, then perhaps Marvray and Toma are not both offered.
how fustrating is it for howland to fly up to washington to try and recruit addy and for addy to commit to washington couple hours after howland visited him?
I don’t know because Howland cannot talk about recruiting, but he had to know Gaddy was close to committing to Washington before he left because Gaddy’s dad insinuated that to me before Howland went up, so if I knew, UCLA better know. Also, it is all part of recruiting. Howland once told me if you can’t handle rejection 95 percent of the time, you won’t cut it as a recruiter.
Am I crazy to think that we could be 7-1 with even a slightly below average O-line and an average P-10 QB?
Crazy? I don’t know. A bit of a relentlessly positive individual? That’s more like it. If the offensive line and the quarterback play was of a mid-level Pac-10 caliber, I could see UCLA being 6-2.
Of the years you’ve covered UCLA, in which year did we have the best O-line?
When UCLA went 10-2 in 2005. The line gave Drew Olson time to throw and opened enough holes for the running game.
What grade would you give the coaching for the season thus far? Does any area of coaching stand out in terms of quality?
I would give them a B. They have this team playing hard every week, which is the most important thing. It is not these coaches fault the talent level is down and players are incapable of executing simple offensive game plans.
In your opinion, what percentage of a program’s success is due to recruiting vs. player development vs. schematic coaching?
The biggest thing is recruiting, and I think this season shows that. It is a proven staff that is doing a great job, but the product is not good because the talent needs to be better. But breaking it down to percentages is difficult because everything is important. A wonderfully talented team isn’t worth much if the schemes aren’t good, and what good is recruiting top-notch talent if that talent is not developed?