It’s the first week of school at UCLA. Freshmen are stumbling into the wrong classrooms and Powell Library is already packed with bioengineering students cramming for midterms.
The Bruin football team, however, has been in session for nearly two months now. During the team’s current win streak, many of the players have been praised for their on-field talents. Now, some of them will get to show off a different kind of prowess.
At an institution such as UCLA, which is infinitely proud of its academic and athletic reputations, you have to be on your game to compete on both levels. So, if the season came down to a single exam taken by a single player, who would the team choose as the lucky student-athlete?
Redshirt sophomore starting tailback Johnathan Franklin, a political science student, was quick with his answer.
“Jeff Locke,” he said.
Junior linebacker and sociology student Sean Westgate was even quicker.
“Jeff Locke,” he said. “That’s the one guy I would pick over anyone.
“Smartest kid I know on the team.”
Locke’s answer to the same question?
“Can I pick myself?”
The redshirt sophomore punter is one of the nation’s best at his position. Last year, he was the only freshman nominated for the Ray Guy Award, given annually for just that distinction.
Locke, like a lot of Bruins on this campus, is very studious.
“All of the guys love making fun of me, but I have a calendar that I update,” he said. “I have four different colors in my calendar. That’s pretty much how I keep my life organized. It’s the only way you can do it, really.”
With practice, games, road trips and film study, being on the football team is one very big extracurricular activity.
“We barely have time to do anything outside of football, so you’ve got to be good at managing your time,” Locke said.
Luckily for Locke, he chose the right place to pursue this double venture. The UCLA football team has a storied history of attracting standouts on the gridiron who get more than a few gold stars in their professors’ grade book.
Former Bruin cornerback Alterraun Verner was drafted by the Tennessee Titans last spring, right before he was about to graduate as a mathematics/applied science student. Two years ago, center Chris Joseph was granted the Rhodes Scholarship, essentially the student-athlete Heisman Trophy.
Locke is a business-economics student, but he said he’s really a science guy at heart.
“When I came to UCLA, I wanted to be engineer or go into chemistry or biology,” he said.
Most football players try to take an easier class load during the fall quarter so they can focus on the season. Locke failed at that. He’s taking two upper-division economics classes.
“I’m kind of regretting it,” he said.
Prince sits again
Starting quarterback Kevin Prince did not practice for the second straight day, missing both Tuesday and Wednesday’s sessions with a sore knee.
The redshirt sophomore has battled injuries through much of the early season, including a strained oblique muscle that caused him to sit out most of the team’s August training camp.
Coach Rick Neuheisel called Prince’s status a “game-time decision” for UCLA’s contest against Washington State at the Rose Bowl this Saturday.
“We’re resting Kevin, and hopefully, we’ll get him back tomorrow,” Neuheisel said. “We’ll see. We’ve got to be ready to play if he can’t play, but we’re hopeful that he will be able to.”
MRI tests taken on Prince’s knee last weekend did not suggest any significant injury.
“Structurally, it’s fine,” Neuheisel said. “It’s just sore, so we’re resting him.”
Sophomore quarterback Richard Brehaut has played with the first-string offense this week in Prince’s absence.
“He’ll be able to operate as long as he stays calm and thinks,” Prince said. “He knows what he’s doing.”