Answers, Part VIII

Here is the eighth set of answers:

Do you think the actions of some in the Notre Dame home crowd (throwing snowballs at ND players)has had an negative effect on some of ND’s recruits (ie. pollard, wood)?
I cannot help, but I don’t think either of them will back out of commitments because a few yokels decided to throw a snowball. If a kid is making a commitment based on that to begin with, I would have a huge concern. I would think the bigger issue is whether Charlie Weis is fired.

In your opinion, what does CRN and the staff see as the biggest weakness of “character”/”mentality” of the players on the roster (taken as a whole) and what have they been doing about it?
Working hard and understanding what type of commitment it takes to be a winning program. I think that has been a common theme from week to week.

Interesting that Forcier has had a full year and a spring training to become a D1 qb. Coaching staff says he does not put in the effort to warrant PT. In your opinion was he a recruiting mistake by Dorrell?
Forcer still has three years for something to click, so I think it is a little early to say it was a waste. Bruce Davis didn’t exactly make a big impact in his first two years, and he turned into an All-American. However, there are some eye brow-raising issues with Forcier.

Any opinion on Anthony Stover. I know they need a big body, but 210 pounds sounds pretty light.
Stover is more of a long-term guy than someone who will have an immediate impact. I wouldn’t rule out Stover red-shirting.

In order, what do you think are the main priorities the AD uses when planning the out of conference football schedule from year to year? Any chance that they will look for new and different home and home partners like Kentucky, North Carolina, LSU or Rutgers?
The athletic director doesn’t do the out-of-conference schedule. Marc Dellins, with input from others, does the schedule. And, from my vantage point, the plan is to get one marquee game for national television and two quasi-interesting games for the non-conference season so UCLA can generate as much revenue as possible to balance its athletic budget.

What is Dan Guerrero’s position on easing the academic requirements for the football team? Is he in favor of it? Or does he understand that this is the way it has always been and will continue to be?
He continues to say publicly that UCLA should be able to contend annually for the Pac-10 title. I asked him about academics about a month ago, and he danced around it.

Holiday learning
Collison turns it over
Aboya the star??
Learning process quick
Holiday plays point guard more
As season moves on

Did you see this opinion piece in the NYT about Rutgers football?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/opinion/24mon4.html?scp=1&sq=rutgers&st=cse
They called Rutgers a “mess.”
Will T. Bone Dohn ride to the rescue and finance the new FB stadium singlehandedly?
I did see the op-ed piece, which came a long after the Jersey papers all did the same thing. Hey, it may be a mess, but at least Rutgers is showing they want to be good at football. It will get straightened out, but after I lost $1.2 billion in the stock market recently, I can’t afford to straight it out.