Talking up walk-on Andrew Abbott
During training camp last August, then-defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker told me to keep an eye on freshman walk-on cornerback Andrew Abbott. At the time, Abbott was turning heads.
Well, here we are getting ready to end spring practice, and Abbott's name keeps popping up when I talk to members of the coaching staff.
The latest was defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough, who said, "Abbott has flashed, made some plays.''
Abbott prepped at Santa Ana Mater Dei and was going to walk-on at Oregon before changing to UCLA.
Walk on at Oregon? That would mean he would have to pay out of state fees, that wouldn't make any sense.
He made a wise decision coming to UCLA. I sure hope he gets rewarded with a scholarship offer, although with our scholarship crunch, I do question if walk-ons will be rewarded with scholarships.
He is deserving. Thus far in spring practice, he has shown why he probably deserves to be UCLA's third corner, ahead of Viney. Just my opinion though.
Call me crazy, but I am scared by the prospect of a 5' 6" 158 lb. corner playing against much bigger, more physical receivers. Am I wrong in my fear of Viney playing?
Ryan,
He (viney) is 5'9" maybe even 5'10", not much shorter than any of the other corners, ATV is 6' and hester is the biggest at about 6'1". And most importantly, he can play. He isn't as physical as hester or abbott because he only weighs about 170, at most. Overall our cornerbacks are much improved from last season with the maturation of hester,abbott, and viney...and the graduation of norris for that matter.
EXbruins,
I have stood next to Viney. There is no way in the world that he is even a smidge over 5'7" if even that.
I do like our secondary quite a bit this year as well though. I am sure we will see some rookie mistakes and our fair share of penalties on Hester but it is a step in teh right direction for sure.
He was measured at 5'9" at one of the scouting combines. He looked taller than milton knox, who is 5'8", that is what I am making my judgement off of. I'm just happy we have more than one corner who can play this year, as well as some potential studs at the safety spots in Moore, Love, Dye, and Woods.
In Hoc
Hey Dohn which of the incoming freshman defensive backs (if any at all) do you see playing this upcoming season? The film I have seen of Pollard and Price is quite impressive.
All Andrew Abbott needs is a chance. I have known this young man since he was 8 years old. He has all the talent in the world and the work ethic to go along with it. Throughout his career he has always come up big in big games. This kid will be BIG TIME before he's done in Westwood. Off the field he is full of character.