UCLA suspends four for Kansas State game

From UCLA media relations:

UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel announded today that four players have been suspended from the team due to a violation of team rules and will miss this Saturday’s game against Kansas State.

Sophomore cornerback Courtney Viney, freshman running back Milton Knox and freshman wide receivers Morrell Presley and Randall Carroll will sit out the Kansas State game. The players will participate in team practices during the suspension.

“When you are a member of a team, you have a special commitment to the entities that make up that unit and to those that you represent,” said coach Neuheisel. “When someone falls short in that regard, there have to be consequences, and then, we move on.”

Report Card – RB

Running Backs

Grade: B-
High Marks: After Christian Ramirez was pulled early to protect his hamstrings, Johnathan Franklin took the reins and ran with them. Franklin had a stunning 60-yard touchdown run en route to a six-carry, 99-yard performance. Milton Knox displayed his bouncability – I’m coining that, by the way – and impressed the coaches.
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Low Marks: Derrick Coleman had a rough day behind the starting offensive line and grew frustrated. It seems that Norm Chow only seems comfortable using Ramirez as a receiving threat, as Prince rarely looked into the flats with his other running backs.

P.O.T.D.

During a particularly uncrisp portion of practice, a bright light shone through the clouds.
Atoning for a fumble earlier in the day in individual drills, tailback Derrick Coleman took a handoff and sprinted past everyone into daylight, leaving five defenders in his wake.
On a day without many highlight-reel plays, this one stood out.
Milton Knox also had a nifty run, as it appeared Christian Ramirez was still given a little time off to rest his hamstring.

Lookalike

Freshman running back Milton Knox, receiving the majority of his carries with the third team, looked impressive, even drawing comparisons to a certain other dimunitive back from Westwood.
“I take all the running backs, all the great ones – Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, even Maurice Jones-Drew – and put in my flavor with it,” Knox said. “(Jones-Drew and I) have similar styles, both short, both run low to the ground. We run hard.”
Knox certainly did on Friday, gaining 48 yards on eight carries to lead the Bruins. On one play, Knox was buried five yards behind the line, but slipped the tackle and turned it into a three-yard gain.
“You don’t get many reps, but you have to fight when you get them,” Knox said. “You have to live up to them. Today was the first day I felt comfortable. I wasn’t thinking that much.”