1) What’s your take on Deonte Burton? How talented do you think he is? Where do you think UCLA is on recruiting him? (how far along in the process are they) – Spencer
With the major talent UCLA is courting, I don’t think they’re pushing for Burton too hard. They haven’t offered him, and I expect them to be in limbo until they find out about Ray McCallum and Trey Zeigler.
2) Will UCLA ever be a consistent top 15 football school or is that asking too much in todays college football environment? – NickIt’s asking too much to be a consistent top school. I hate to harp on the admissions factors, but they are a burden for the team, and particularly because the Pac-10 talent seems to go in waves. USC will remain a force whether Pete Carroll leaves or stays. Oregon will always threaten for talent. Same with Cal and OSU. Stanford will flare up once every decade or so. With all those schools hunting for similar players, and UCLA still unable to put a few top-15 seasons in a row, I guess I just have to see it first.
3) In a chat you mentioned that if fans knew half of what went on in college football they would no longer be fans. What did you mean? Meaning most assume some kind of cheating like paying/gifts. Did you mean that or Cheating as in dropping games/other illegal activity? (Asking since I doubt fans would drop their team if they knew they were giving players benefits; look at all the teams that are busted yet still have huge support). – NEXUS ONE
No, I wasn’t referring to that at all. In fact, as long as players are cheated by the system and woefully undercompensated, I’m not as harsh as other writers in that regard. What I meant was that some of these heroes of yours have incredible personal flaws, and just because they perform well for a 3-hour period on a Saturday afternoon does not give them a free pass.
4) Follow up to previous question. Would you consider writing a book when you are ready to retire about what you see/saw? Just interesting that so many people know what is going on yet say nothing. (Yes I know all teams are guilty, just curious for inside info) – NEXUS ONE
My biggest career ambition is to be an author, and yes, I would love to write about covering college football.
5) Update on Maka please. – UCLAVES
Last I heard, he’s a go and just finishing things up.
6) In your opinion, why doesn’t J’mison Morgan play more? I guess the same could be asked of Brendan Lane. – ???
BoBo has real issues on the defensive end and gets a little trigger-happy on offense. However, he has great post moves and if he could just gain some confidence – and if Howland would let him work through his mistakes – I think he’d be fine. Lane is just young and will be worked into the system more and more.
7) Can we get a list of who red-shirted last year?
This is unofficial, and by memory, but: Abele, Allmond, Capella, Bowens, Fauria, Golper, Graham, Kia, Marvray, Smith.
8) Is it a good idea to bring recruits to the school so close to the NC game? I gotta think it’s still going to say “Texas” and “Alabama” in the Rose Bowl end zones. – Anonymous
Interesting question, but I assume they’ll repaint sooner than that.
9) Chances with Dietrich Riley? – superlaker24None, I think. If PC leaves SC, that changes.
10) I read on another site that Owa is down to Nebraska and Ucla and that he would make his decision on signing day. Seems like he was a heavy Ucla lean, does this hurt our chances now that he has delayed his decision? – Anonymous
At this point, I really have no idea. He was a strong lean, I was told, and I still expect him at UCLA.
