Today is the day.
The UCLA football team officially begins its 2009 season today and will hold its first practice at 3 p.m. at Spaulding Field. The Bruins, hoping to improve after an abysmal 2008 season, must acclimate many new players as they prepare for their opening game Sept. 5 against San Diego State.
“The UCLA program is eager,” coach Rick Neuheisel said. “I think we’re more athletic, a little stronger, a little more physical, but we’re still inexperienced.”
Experience may be the most pressing issue for Neuheisel’s team, which was picked to finish seventh in the Pac-10 in a preseason media poll.
The team’s new quarterback, redshirt freshman Kevin Prince, has never started a game. This spring, Prince beat out senior quarterback Kevin Craft and secured the top spot on the Bruins’ depth chart. Prince stands 6 feet, 2 inches and weighs 219 pounds, possesses an especially strong arm, and remains composed in the pocket.
“He’s wise beyond his years, and he has all the physical things you look for,” Neuheisel said.
For now, Neuheisel acknowledged that there will be growing pains for Prince and the rest of the Bruin offense.
The team plans to feature redshirt junior Christian Ramirez at tailback. Ramirez played seldomly in his first three years here. He originally played safety before switching positions in 2007. That year, he ran the ball 19 times and scored one touchdown. Coaches hoped to use him last season, but he did not see action because he was ruled academically ineligible.
“He learned a valuable lesson,” Neuheisel said of Ramirez. “I think he’s a very talented young man. He can run inside and outside. He gives (offensive coordinator Norm Chow) a lot of weaponry.”
But for Prince and Ramirez to succeed, they will need the Bruins’ offensive line to perform much better than it did last year, when the team’s rushing offense ranked 116th in college football.
The line will also turn to several new players. Starting center Kai Maiava sat out last season after transferring from Colorado, and tackle Sean Sheller missed last season because of a knee injury. The Bruins will also integrate two very highly touted freshmen into their offensive line ““ Stanley Hasiak and Xavier Su’a-Filo.
“They are prototype offensive linemen in the game today,” Neuheisel said. “If they’re ready, they will get their chances.”
Along with Hasiak and Su’a-Filo, UCLA hopes to utilize incoming freshmen speedsters Randall Carroll and Dalton Hillard. The freshmen all reported to camp Saturday and attended an orientation Sunday.
The Bruin defense has a much deeper group of veteran players. Fifth-year senior Reggie Carter returns to start at middle linebacker, along with standout cornerback Alterraun Verner and star defensive tackle Brian Price.
Carter said he believes this could be the best defense he has ever played on while at UCLA.
The team will not practice in full pads and Carter and the other defenders won’t be able to hit anybody until Friday. On Saturday, the Bruins will begin more rigorous two-a-day practices, and they will hold their annual fall scrimmage Aug. 22.
VERNER ON THORPE LIST: Senior cornerback Alterraun Verner was one of 31 top defensive backs named to the preseason watch list for the Jim Thorpe award.
A two-year starter, Verner has more than 200 tackles and eight interceptions in his UCLA career. Last season, he led the entire country in pass defenses with 1.67 per game.
The Thorpe award committee will meet in November and will eventually narrow the list down to three finalists. Three other Pac-10 players joined Verner on the initial list: California’s Syd-Quan Thompson, Oregon’s Walter Thurmond and USC’s Taylor Mays.