It’s a tough life for a freshman football player at any Division I school. It has been even tougher for the incoming freshmen on the UCLA football team.
The team returns 20 starters and 25 seniors, so there was little talk of an impact freshman heading into preseason camp. And coach Karl Dorrell is known for not playing freshmen off the bat.
It doesn’t end there. Two of the Bruins’ top recruits were essentially absent during the month of practice. Running back Raymond Carter tore his ACL during the first week of camp and defensive lineman Brian Price was pulled out of practice due to academic issues.
But somehow cornerback Courtney Viney managed to catch Dorrell’s eye.
“Viney is the one guy that could help us this year,” Dorrell said. “He might be the only one at this point.”
Viney is a small, feisty cornerback from Fresno. At just 153 pounds, the 5-foot-8-inch corner has been picked on by quarterbacks and challenged by taller wide receivers. Yet Viney, a four-star recruit, has held his own, and he could see some playing time as a result.
“Being out on an island covering bigger guys was the biggest challenge for me,” Viney said. “It’s not a problem, but coming from high school it’s an adjustment. The game is a little bit faster now.”
Viney understood that his role would be limited as he entered camp. He was eager to work as a reserve punt returner during drills, and he was more than ready to take advice from the Bruins’ experienced secondary. He said that senior cornerbacks Trey Brown and Rodney Van took him under their wing.
“It takes a lot of patience,” Viney said. “This is a veteran team, and there are a lot of seniors back. I’ll do anything, anywhere I could fit, whether it’s special teams or anything else.”
It’s clear that Viney has some growing to do, and he knows that. He just turned 18 this summer, and he will certainly make his biggest impact in the years to come. But that doesn’t mean he thinks his size will ever be an obstacle.
“At this level, to me, size doesn’t really matter,” Viney said. “On any level it’s about how hard you go out and play and how big your heart is.”
SWITCHEROO: One of the first stories out of the UCLA preseason camp was that of sophomore Osaar Rasshan as he made a transition from quarterback to wide receiver. After the Bruins’ suffered several injuries to their backfield, the UCLA staff decided to switch two more players from defense to offense.
Christian Ramirez moved from safety to running back. The move was needed after running back Derrick Williams left the team in the spring, freshman Carter was injured in practice, and walk-on Ryen Carew was forced to miss time as well.
Senior Fred Holmes switched as well. He had been a linebacker, but he made the move to fullback after Michael Pitre and Chane Moline went down early in preseason camp.
INJURY UPDATE: Senior fullback Michael Pitre will miss the season opener due to a bruised bone in his knee. He sat out the second half of camp and the fall scrimmage to due the injury. Backup quarterback Pat Cowan will miss several weeks because of a torn muscle in his hamstring.