Successful UCLA season may prompt early departures to NFL

In lieu of roses, the number 10 has become the next best thing for the UCLA football team.

When the Bruins lost to the Sun Devils of Arizona State on Nov. 23, they lost out on a shot at their third straight Pac-12 Championship game appearance and a possible Rose Bowl berth. What they gained in return was the numerical goal, a consolation prize. With a win this bowl season, UCLA football will complete its first 10-win season since 2005.

This year, untimely losses to ASU, Stanford and Oregon will at best match a hypothetical 10 wins to a mid-tier bowl win. But what a 10-win season and multiple similar seasons down the road would symbolize is consistency, a trait the Bruins have lacked year to year since the Terry Donahue era. It would also add a numerical accomplishment for upperclassmen who once found themselves in a standoff with former coach Rick Neuheisel’s pistol offense.

“I think that’s become important to these guys, especially the seniors,” said coach Jim Mora. “That would, I think, be the cherry on top for their careers and what they’ve been able to accomplish here. The impetus that they added to this program would be very evident and they’re excited about it.”

As with any successful program, however, the thrill of victory is accompanied by the agony of departure. Star players build big-name programs, but their successes signal a swift calling to the NFL.

Following the Bruins’ bowl game, Mora faces the prospect of two players declaring early for the NFL draft. Junior offensive lineman Xavier Su’a-Filo, a two-time All-Pac-12 First Team member, and redshirt sophomore quarterback Brett Hundley, a 2013 All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention, both have strong draft prospects and have filed for evaluation by the NFL College Advisory Committee to determine just how strong.

Last year, then-junior outside linebacker Anthony Barr gave the Bruins a scare when an out-of-nowhere season at linebacker and improved draft stock forced him to consider taking an early exit. But, after thinking it over and receiving a second-round evaluation from the Advisory Committee, he decided to stay put.

This year, the senior’s decision has already been made for him, but by the looks of it, last year’s paid off. Barr ranks No. 2 on ESPN’s 2014 NFL draft big board and said he has newfound perspective and advice on the draft decision process.

“I don’t know, I guess there were just a lot of question marks with my first year (at linebacker) about being a one-hit wonder,” Barr said of his evaluation. “My advice is to do what’s best for you and your family. Don’t let anybody pull you in any direction. Do what you want to do. Be selfish.”

Su’a-Filo, a traditional guard who unselfishly filled a hole at tackle for much of the season due to injuries along the offensive line, said age might factor in slightly to this decision. The junior, who turns 23 in January, delayed his sophomore year of eligibility for two years while on his mission with the Mormon Church.

“I’m not getting any younger,” Su’a-Filo said. “I’m the same age as a fifth-year senior and … so I have to see how much that factors into the opinions of some of those NFL guys.”

He also plays a position that doesn’t garner the same kind of glamour as Hundley’s. And in today’s NFL, apprenticeships allowing quarterbacks time to bloom into a face-of-the-franchise role are rare, as teams draft at the position to fill an immediate need.

Seven different quarterbacks selected in the last two years started the first game of their rookie season, a fact Hundley said doesn’t make him flinch.

“I personally expect greatness from myself,” he said. “I’m confident enough right now that if I do go I could play with the best of them.”

Even though Hundley may have saved perhaps his best game in a UCLA uniform – a 35-14 win over USC at the Coliseum – for last, ESPN projects him as the No. 49 overall prospect in the 2014 draft class, fifth among quarterbacks.

Though the ranking could change if Hundley were to declare before May’s draft, the instant expectations that come with an NFL job will not. Mora said he knows the mentality all too well, having held two different NFL head coaching jobs with the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks that didn’t reach their full contractual length.

“All you have to do is look around the league and you can see some of these guys that come in with great acclaim that maybe they weren’t quite ready. There’s no four-year scholarships in the NFL,” Mora said. “There might be four-year contracts for the coaches, but as I know very, very well, that doesn’t mean you get to coach all four years. It’s the ultimate not ‘what have you done for me lately?’ but ‘what have you done for me right now?’ and ‘what are you going to do for me tomorrow?’ league.”

Hundley has said multiple times he intends to make his decision following UCLA’s bowl game. On Saturday, both he and Su’a-Filo said they plan to sit down with Mora, who has been through 25 drafts as an NFL quality control coach, position coach, defensive coordinator and head coach, before that date.

But Mora’s subconscious feelings are obvious. Seconds after the clock hit zero against USC, Mora threw an arm around Hundley and drew him in close, playfully trying to con his quarterback into a “one more year” speech in front of an ESPN camera.

“He’s a complete stud. I love him. We’re gonna announce – are you gonna announce you’re coming back?” he asked. “No, we didn’t get any news. I’m just teasing him.”

Last week, UCLA announced that Mora signed a six-year contract extension that will make him UCLA’s coach until 2019. Without Hundley, the first year of that new deal would present the Bruins with a major uphill battle, something Mora’s oozing pathos conveyed after the win at the Coliseum.

“The allure of the money and the NFL, that’s great, but there’s nothing like a night like tonight. You don’t get that in the NFL,” said Mora Nov. 30. “That was more exciting than playing in the dang Super Bowl. That was awesome, man, and you don’t get that when you leave this place, so why rush through life, man? Enjoy every moment. Everything’s going to be there for him later.”