Forward Quincy Pondexter, Washington
“When teams are in transition, they’re very vulnerable. When they’re young, they’re vulnerable. They don’t have any idea what it’s like. And they have teams who have been grueling for a chance to be at the top. We were itching for the top. We wanted to be the champions, and it happened.”

Forward Quincy Pondexter, Washington
“We’re not used to UCLA being where they are but they have a lot of talent on that team .You can’t sleep on them. They’re going to have a lot of learning to do this year; they don’t have a Darren Collison, they don’t have a Josh Shipp, they don’t have an Alfred Aboya. But they have a great coaching staff, and they’ll be able to rebound just fine.”

Forward Michael Roll, UCLA
On the team’s expectations
“The only thing to hang in Pauley is national championships. We feel it’s best to win the Pac-10 title, get a good seed, get a closer game for the tournament, have a good fan base. We realize how important the early games are. Every day in practice, coach is working us so that we can get those early games and have a good resume for the tournament.”

On a preseason schedule that sees them leave California just once:
“Travelling can get to be very much a big burden. People get sick when you travel, it makes you tired, a little jet-lagged. Some of the guys don’t know how to travel. When we stay close, it helps. All the unexpected isn’t there.”

Head coach Johnny Dawkins, Stanford
On the parity of the Pac-10
“There’s a lot of parity, but I thought the same thing last year. From top to bottom there’s terrific talent. Every game is very, very competitive. It’s reflected in what you see with the preseason polls. Both (UCLA and Arizona) have lost a lot of players, but there is parity.”

Head coach Johnny Dawkins, Stanford
On why UCLA will stay competitive:
“I’ve watched coach Howland for a number of years, and he’s a great coach. Right away I’ll say that. He hasn’t done what he’s been able to do for these years without being able to coach his butt off.”

Head coach Johnny Dawkins, Stanford
On the youth of the conference:
“The conference is younger; we lost a lot of experienced players. Guys are going to have to fill their shoes and play new roles. There are a lot of unknowns on a lot of teams. But that makes it exciting. Kids always show us that they are remarkable, they will step up and rise to the occasion given the opportunity to do so.”

Forward Quincy Pondexter, Washington
On the topsy-turvy Pac-10
“It’s how college basketball is. Every kid on the West Coast wants to compete at the schools in the Pac-10. The talent on the west coast is so good that it makes the conference like that. That’s why you see the years of Washington, UCLA, USC’s been good – I just think everyone takes turns because the conference is so competitive.”

Talk about a striking contradiction: UCLA has one quarterback who has had plenty of attempts but wants to throw the ball more, and another quarterback who has had scarce opportunities but wants to hand the ball off.

As the Bruins prepared for today’s 1 p.m. showdown at Oregon State’s Reser Stadium this week, redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Prince and true freshman quarterback Richard Brehaut each got their fair share of repetitions with the starting unit.
Despite sharing time, though, they did not share focuses.

Prince is looking to take more chances, to bring some bravado to the position, to risk failure while knowing that an interception does not mean a demotion. He is trying to discover that “gunslinger” mentality only shared by the legends, those who are willing to gamble to be great.

“Growing up, I was kind of more tentative, and my stats would show that,” Prince said. “If you look at my high school stuff, I didn’t really go downfield unless it was there. But my favorite quarterback of all-time has been Brett Favre, and that’s what I love about him. That’s something I’ve tried to slowly get myself into.”
Continue reading “Freshman Football Focus” »

I was able to steal some time with various players and coaches at Pac-10 media day. They were all very forthcoming…

Head coach Ken Bone, Washington State:
On UCLA reloading:
“Ben Howland is a great coach and he also has a lot of good players. Because so many great players have left the UCLA Bruins the last couple years, a lot of people think they’re just not that strong. But when you’ve been this business a few years, you see teams reload. UCLA is good and Ben Howland is good, and they’ll continue to be strong.”

Head coach Ken Bone, Washington State:
On the Howland system:
“It’s a good system, and it’s been successful. People up in the Northwest talked about the Bennett system and how slow it was, but it was what, two years ago when they were ranked fourth in the country? Ben’s system is not extremely fast, it’s defense-oriented, but it’s extremely successful, and it will continue to be that way.”

Point guard Jerome Randle, Cal
On the expectations of being the preseason No. 1:
“I know it’s gonna be tough, man. Teams that start off on top, they have to stay on top. You have to play hard every night. There are people out there out to get you. It’s really up to you and what you do with it. The expectations should raise our play every night.”

On UCLA and Arizona being down in the rankings this year:
“I’m really not throwing any of those teams under bus. The Pac-10 is tough every year. Even if you don’t have those projected top-10 lottery picks, you still have good players in this league. I don’t take anyone for granted.”

1) What would you do with Kevin Prince? It seems his confidence is shot, and he is now a detriment to the team. – Bunche Hall
I would work on him extensively in practice, and let Brehaut or Craft start the next game.

2) With Matt Barkley obviously having a grip on the USC quarterback job for the next three year, will UCLA try and recruit Jesse Scroggins from Lakewood High? – Anonymous
I doubt they’ll push too hard for him with Nottingham coming in and two freshman getting playing time now.

3) Rick Neuheisel’s helicopter flyby at Kaiser High School angered that school’s officials and they questioned letting him near the field. Has Neuheisel burned his bridges at Kaiser and has he received that type of negative reaction elsewhere? – Anonymous
Check it out: Flyby

4) Would it make sense at this point to play some of the frosh on the RS Scout team? Or do you just keep them as redshirts and hold for the future? I am thinking in particular of guys like Marvray and Golper. Marvray supposedly can run crisp routes and Golper in high school was considered a tackling machine who always was on the ball and never missed tackles. Rivals had him rated #5 in the country on pure instincts and having a nose for the ball. – Anonymous
Marvray has a heck of a lot of talent, but has not displayed the consistency needed at the position. Golper is far behind the big three linebackers and even the second team. He’ll be a good player, but not worth it to burn the redshirt.

5) What are your “10 steps to help the current UCLA football team get better today?” – Anonymous
1) Play Randall Carroll more. 2) Get Milton Knox and Damien Thigpen at least six touches each per game. 3) Tell Kevin Prince he can throw eight picks and you won’t bench him because you have that much faith, or put Richard Brehaut in. 4) Blitz more up the middle. 5) Pass more on first down and second down in the red zone. 6) Stop throwing short to Logna Paulsen and Ryan Moya on third down. 7) Make Derrick Coleman a blocking back or put Trevor Theriot in there on short downs. 8) Stretch the field as often as possible, even purposely overthrowing wideouts just to get the defense on their heels. 9) Relax. That should be No. 1, actually. 10) Pull Kevin Prince if he’s struggling and play Richard Brehaut. Too hard to readjust confidence in the middle of a game.

6) During the whole Randall Carroll Twitter blowup, the heart of it was that UCLA practiced the creative, daring plays I expected from Chow, but doesn’t run them in games. Is this a fact? Why is this Chow offense so bland? – Anonymous
This Chow offense is so bland because the offensive line does not get the consistent protection needed to guarantee a creative play doesn’t blow up in their faces.

7) How is it that Utah, Boise State Cinn. and Tcu who to my knowledge have not had higher rated recruiting classes consistently put a better product on the field? Coaching or poor evaluation? – Mbrant
First of all, a much, much easy schedule for many of those teams. Secondly, Boise State recruits against Idaho, Montana and Wyoming for local talent. UCLA recruits against USC. Third of all, those mid-major teams have a hell of a lot of speed, and the Bruins simply don’t. TCU recruits running backs and then converts them to defensive end. It’s a risk, but it pays off.

8) Is there a schism between the offense and defense yet? – Bunche Hall
How could there not be? No one will go on the record with me yet, but there has to be some frustration.

9) Has Rick re-evaluated implementing the Spread at all? – Fan4Life
The team does not have the kind of offensive line needed to protect a quarterback in a spread offense, and Prince/Brehaut/Craft aren’t good enough right now to pull it off.

10) What do I have to do to get an answer to my question about Jackie Robinson and other four-sport athletes? This is the third week I have asked. – Jungleland
Send me an email at jon.gold@dailynews.com and I’ll do my best to find out. I don’t have the opportunity on Fridays, when I typically finish the Q&As, to ask that question. Remind me, and I’ll make sure I find out this week. Thanks for your patience.