I feel kind of bad for Richard Brehaut. The poor guy is essentially stuck.
A year ago at this time we were pestering Rick Neuheisel every day about who the starting quarterback would be. It was a three-horse race with no clear favorite.
Now the derby’s over.
Neuheisel made it clear at the beginning of spring practice that Kevin Prince ““ 15 pounds heavier and one year wiser ““ would take the reins of Bruin football in 2010.
For the record, Prince looks the part of a Division I starter. He changed his number from 14 to 4 and looks legitimately imposing back there in the new “pistol” offense. He threw more passes down field Monday than I’ve seen him throw in any game last season. (If only some of his receivers could have caught a few.) And you couldn’t help but see a hint of Brett Favre gun-slinging in his right arm.
The guy has swagger now. He’s going to be good.
But what about Brehaut?
The kid who seemed to always be in the mix for a shot at some playing time now has watched as the door that was cracked open all of last season got slammed shut at the beginning of this spring.
Richard Brehaut is No. 2. I imagine it sucked when he had to let that sink in.
After all, he came to UCLA eager, a quarter early in fact, so he could compete for the starting nod a year ago. He did what he could do, but Prince started a hair ahead, a redshirt freshman when Brehaut was first setting foot on Bruin Walk.
Barring injury ““ which we know happens with regularity to Bruin quarterbacks ““ Brehaut’s UCLA career has already come and gone.
He’s technically the same year as Prince, and even if Brehaut takes a redshirt to give himself an extra year after Prince is gone, the next Bruin quarterback will most likely be preordained to take Prince’s spot.
Brehaut had his window, albeit very small, and he had inexperience working against him. Now Fortune’s wheel has dumped Brehaut to the pits ““ not that timing circumstances ever gave him much of a chance anyway.
Why stay motivated? How? What keeps a kid in Brehaut’s position wanting to go through the grind of daily practice?
When I asked Neuheisel this, he seemed to understand. He once was a backup quarterback himself.
“Yeah “¦” he said drifting off contemplatively.
Then, as if snapping back to the present, “There’s no give up. It’s about competing. And that will serve (Brehaut) well, because as sure as we’re standing here, he will have an opportunity to go in there and be a hero. And he better be ready for it.”
Brehaut said he will be. In fact, he said he’s going to keep competing for the starting job.
“It was my goal from the beginning,” Brehaut said. “It will be my goal until my second to last day here.”
You wouldn’t know Brehaut was in such a pickle talking to him. He’s the same upbeat guy I talked to all of last year. Of course he doesn’t wish bad things on any of his teammates, but with the way UCLA quarterbacks have been bitten by the injury bug in the last four years, he certainly has some small glimmer of hope that he’ll get a few more snaps under center.
Will that be enough to permanently displace Prince as the starter? Doubtful.
But when Fortune dumps you at the bottom, she usually picks you back up later.
Maybe that’s the “hero” moment Neuheisel’s referring to.
Brehaut knows it’s coming, which might help explain his inexplicably good attitude and why he keeps coming to work every day.
“Like I’ve always said, it’s just that one snap away,” he said.
E-mail Stevens at mstevens@media.ucla.edu.