After an eight-loss season a year ago, there’s no doubt that the 2011 UCLA football season will be looked at as a chance for redemption.
For the players, it’s a chance to show that they’re a force to be reckoned with rather than a team that’s pegged as an easy “W” in the new Pac-12.
For the fans, it’s a chance to be taken seriously in the battle for Los Angeles football supremacy, as yet another season in the shadow of the school across town would surely be too much to take.
For the coaches, it may be their last chance for romance with the fan base or athletic director Dan Guerrero. Now entering his fourth season with almost an entirely new staff, coach Rick Neuheisel knows it’s time to put up or shut up. The time to blame youth and inexperience has passed and another losing season would make the hot seat sizzle.
That chance, the chance to prove it on the field, won’t come until Sept. 3 when the Bruins take on Houston, but the preparation starts today with the beginning of spring practice.
To help its chances, UCLA will have 18 returning starters. Names like rising senior safety Tony Dye and rising redshirt junior running back Johnathan Franklin will be scattered all over the field.
Most of the returning players have more experience at Spaulding Field than do Neuheisel’s two new coordinators, Mike Johnson on offense and Joe Tresey on defense.
Neuheisel said he and his staff, which includes five new coaches, have been hard at work preparing to implement new systems. Johnson has only been here since the end of January, while Tresey was hired Feb. 15.
“It’s an important time for us given all of the staff changes we’ve made,” Neuheisel said. “It’s important for the coaching staff to learn how to play off of each other and to get the new schemes involved on both sides of the ball.”
When Johnson was hired, Neuheisel stressed the importance of developing the passing game as a complement to the Bruins’ successful running attack out of the pistol formation.
He may have a point. The Bruins ranked 32nd in the nation in rushing yards per game, while they ranked 116th in passing yards per game.
“We can’t just be one-dimensional,” Neuheisel said. “We’re working to make sure that the run game and the throw game complement each other.”
Rising junior quarterback Richard Brehaut, who started the final six games of last season, will be leading the charge at quarterback as rising redshirt junior Kevin Prince and rising junior Darius Bell will both be limited by injuries. Brehaut has been playing for the UCLA baseball team but will be “full football” during the entire four weeks of spring practice, according to Neuheisel.
Joining Brehaut in the black quarterback jerseys will be rising freshman Brett Hundley. Hundley is a five-star recruit from Chandler, Ariz., and has been enrolled at UCLA since winter quarter, forgoing the remainder of his senior year.
As spring practice is open to the public, Hundley’s UCLA debut will undoubtedly draw loads of fans to Spaulding.
“He’s going to get lots of chances,” Neuheisel said. “How fast he grows and matures in the offense and shows that he understands and can handle all that he needs to handle to be effective, that will enhance his ability to play and play at an early time in his career.”
The offensive line will benefit from the return of two starters in rising redshirt seniors Mike Harris and Sean Sheller as well as two starters from the 2009 season in rising redshirt senior Kai Maiava and rising redshirt junior Jeff Baca. Maiava missed all of last season with an ankle injury, while Baca was academically ineligible.
Tresey’s defense will also get a returning starter from 2009 in rising redshirt junior defensive end Datone Jones. Jones missed all of last season with a broken foot.
Neuheisel said all positions are open heading into spring practice.
One such position is the cornerback spot. Rising redshirt junior Aaron Hester has been inconsistent in his first two years in the program, while rising junior Sheldon Price played in nine games a season ago.
“If everybody competes and works, you’d expect the experienced guys will have an edge in that regard, but I want to make sure all the jobs are open,” Neuheisel said. “I’m excited about watching that competition.”
The competition begins today and runs for four weeks, culminating in the annual spring scrimmage on April 23. The scrimmage will be held at Drake Stadium this year as opposed to the Rose Bowl, which is currently undergoing renovations.