Check out the first batch of weekly answers…

1) Why do the Bruins need both a “running game coordinator” and a running backs coach? Similarly, I have heard of “passing game coordinators” Do these coordinators add something not expected of position coaches? – Anonymous
I think college football is changing in a way that it benefits a team to have more specialists in the coaching staff, and that has bred positions like “running game coordinator.” Mastro is able to kind of take a birds-eye view of the running game. He told me in an interesting interview over the summer that he needs to focus as much where the wide receivers are in the scheme as the running backs. Wayne Moses, meanwhile, needs to teach the backs how to play the actual position, and there’s a difference there. I think Mastro could make a world of difference to the offense.

2) any reason why Hawaii didn’t offer our 2 commits?? – 909Bruin
All I know is that different teams work on different schedules. Maybe they don’t need depth at those positions. I don’t know that you can necessarily make that comparison.

3) Aside from offensive line shuffling do you think there will be any post spring pre- fall positiion changes?
No, not really. Maybe some minimal shifts like a guy from inside to outside linebacker or something like that. I’m sure there will be one or two.

4) It seems that UCLA placed emphasis on filling the roster with Fullbacks. They have two verbals and waiting on another. Rarely, is a true freshman ready to contribute at fullback. Do you think the coaching staff plan to play any freshmen fullbacks? If not who will move to FB from the current roster? – Anonymous
Do you mean F-back? UCLA doesn’t utilize a fullback. I think these are tough, hard-nosed kids who bring something to the table besides immediate starting ability. Not every kid you get needs, or should be, a superstar. At least not when you’re 4-8. I’ve said these are the kinds of kids Neuheisel should be going after for a long time.

5)
David Carter mentioned that he received superior but simple technique instruction and adjustment prior to the draft that improved his performance. He even suggested that had he been taught these techniques at UCLA he would have had had a more prominent career. That said, Who was this coach who helped hiim? Was Todd Howard deficient or was the new coach just a superstar coach/consultant – Anonymous
First of all, I thought Howard received way, way, way too much heat after that interview. Howard was and is a good coach. Players mature differently, and they play differently, and in major college football, a few guys “slip through the cracks.” What I mean by that is, you don’t always know what you have in a player, and sometimes it takes time, or another coach, or that player’s own maturation, to come of age. Now, in Carter’s case, he’s a 6-5 defensive tackle, but he’s a relatively thin 6-5. He plays the position differently than a Brian Price, than a Marcell Dareus, so he needs to be coached accordingly. I can tell you that players have these kinds of “epiphanies” all the time, and they’re not so isolated.