Waiting on Riley

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Along with fellow locals Malcolm Jones (Oaks Christian) and Anthony Barr (Loyola), strong safety Dietrich Riley of St. Francis was among UCLA’s most-discussed freshmen during fall camp.

And for good reason – the four-time All-Mission League selection had three interceptions and a forced fumble in two fall scrimmages.

But unlike Barr and Jones, Riley did not play for the Bruins on Saturday against Kansas State.

“There were probably two or three times when we said, get Dietrich ready, but the game is so close,” Neuheisel said. “You’ve got Tony Dye and Rahim, who have a number of starts both under their belt. Can you risk a guy going in there and not knowing exactly what to do? The answer is, ultimately, yes, you can.
“We just didn’t pull the trigger the other day. But we will.”

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  • http://http:://www.yahoo.com BruinRob

    ridiculous.

  • Tony G

    It’s ridiculous he didn’t get in the game, especially with the crap tackling

  • Anonymous

    and if riley had gotten into the game and missed some tackles, you would be criticizing that decision.

  • Anonymous

    Get real Realist!

  • INawe

    Realist troll fail.

  • 909Bruin

    Let the Chris Peterson watch begin…….

  • SoCaliStud21

    What’s going on with OWA? Is he going to redshirt?

  • Coach Thom

    Coach Rick and Coach Norm don’t like to play freshmen. That is understandable. But when the older players don’t perform, you must at least try the freshmen. It seems that other programs do.

  • Semi-Pro

    The secondary was fine. The problem was with the front seven.

    So unless Riley suddenly became a monster d-lineman overnight, I wouldn’t expect him to play anytime soon.

  • MichaelRyerson

    Well then, ultimately, Pull The Trigger! Your remarkable recruiting has given you the luxury of having game-changers sprinkled throughout the roster, start giving them the opportunity to…wait for it…change-games.

  • AJTovar

    @TonyG

    Dude, get a clue or at the very least watch the game before you comment. Had Riley gone in, he would have replaced Tony Dye who ended up with 15 tackles and seemed to be the only one who could tackle Thomas. There may have been some packages that Riley should have played but overall it would not have been an upgrade over the phenomenal play of Tony Dye on Saturday.

  • UW Fan

    “Let the Chris Peterson watch begin…….”

    Umm, Chris Peterson will never leave BSU for Westwood. The only place that will be able to wrestle him away from Boise is Eugene. And they’re not exactly looking for a new coach anytime soon, as best as I can tell.

    I’ll be blunt…I’m a Rick-Hater all the way. Despite my dislike for him, I would caution you guys to be patient this year. I think he’ll get you to 5-7, and your program will really take off next year. It’s a little bit of a risk to wait that long, but I think it will pay off for you guys.

    Remember, USC won’t be at their weakest point from sanctions until about 3 years from now. So to expect UCLA to have full control of LA within the next year or two just isn’t that realistic.

  • MichaelRyerson

    you’re right. I’m getting antsy already. gotta chill. no more coffee. well, no more fourth cup anyway.

  • Tony G

    @AJTOVAR, I get your point and was not criticizing Dye. And of course, Rahim is great, we all know that and Riley is stuck behind both of them. My point is that I’ve been reading about how great he’s been in practice. Don’t tell me to “get a clue and watch the game” before I comment. I watched every freaking play of the game and am sick of these guys being hyped up and then not see the field, even if they are freshmen. I’m guessing we may see some Riley this week with Stanford’s passing game and probably for sure against Houston. The brief glimpse of Malcolm Jones looked good though. That downhill running reminded me of Lendale White minus his gut and lack of class. I’m just a frustrated Bruin fan, that’s all.

  • Anonymous

    Gold said that 6 freshman played on saturday. but the only ones i saw were Jones, Barr, and Marsh. Does anyone know who the other 3 were?

  • Anonymous

    There is no Chris Peterson.

    First, he was considered when Dorrell was fired, it made sense, a UC (Davis) grad who mainly recruits in CA might be interested in coaching at a UC right? Wrong, his statement regarding UCLA at the time was he had no interest in “that place.”

    Second, a coach like him would need to be paid $4,000,000+ per year, like how SC pays Kiffin. CRN and his staff is paid less than a 1/3 of what SC pays their coaches. UCLA has never ever paid big money to big name mercenary coaches. Donahue, Toledo, and Dorrell were all assistants. So unless you’re a booster who is willing to pony up the dough, STFU.

    Dietrich Riley could not get playing time because Tony Dye was the only one who ran down all the breakaway running backs, and you could not take Tony Dye out to put in someone who have never played and might have missed their assignments and/or tackles.

  • Link

    Horrible move by Neuheisel. Coach must have seen USC start freshmen WR Robert Woods and CB/KR Nick Robey on Thursday. I’m sure most recruits did since it was the only game on.

  • AJTovar

    Aplogies Tony. I don’t like seeing other people behave the way I did on the board, especially to a fellow Bruin, and I sure didn’t care much for the tone of my post once I went back and read it.

    I know a lot of the criticism aimed at the team (coaches and players) is valid, I just don’t think this one is. I’m not sure that playing Riley in this game would have been very helpful. Dye really did play out of his mind on Saturday, and we needed more like him (starting with Rahim).

  • BRUINBEATCH

    I’ll be damned UWfan knows his/her shit!I actually respect this cat or should I say huskie?Wake up Bruin Fans Rick is the real deal I know it’s hard to have to listen to those fake suc fans all day how do you think they felt in the 90′s things change and our losing streak will too.GO BRUINS fight fight fight!

  • Tony G

    No worries AJTovar and apologies are not needed. I just can’t wait to see what Riley can do, that’s all. I think he will be as good if not better than Moore. Dye getting 15 tackles is not his fault whatsoever and obviously is a sign of bad tackling from the front 7. I’m looking forward to what the secondary can do in these next few games against teams that should/will throw the ball more.