A slew of UCLA players, headlined by true sophomore Josh Rosen, redshirt junior Eddie Vanderdoes and redshirt senior Conor McDermott, have been named to football preseason watch lists.
Last season, Rosen capped off his freshman campaign with multiple awards including first-team Freshman All-American honors and Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year and Newcomer of the Year. With a season under his belt, the quarterback is expected to turn in even bigger numbers in the fall. A Heisman sleeper, Rosen was named a preseason fourth-team All-American by sportswriter Phil Steele and first-team All-Pac-12 by both Steele and the Athlon magazine.
McDermott, a member of Rosen’s offensive line, also garnered multiple selections after earning second-team All-Pac-12 honors last year. The Tennessee native started 12 games for a UCLA team that gave up just 14 sacks all season, the second-lowest total in school history. Returning for his final season, McDermott will be the leader of a line that lost Caleb Benenoch, Jake Brendel and Alex Redmond to the NFL. Steele and Athlon projected the outside linebacker to have another productive season and finish off his college career as a second-team All-American and first-team All-Pac-12.
Vanderdoes had his 2015 season cut short after he tore his ACL in the Bruins’ season opener against Virginia Tech. He was a freshman All-American in 2013 and could earn similar honors this year. The defensive end is a preseason second-team All-American on Steele’s watch list and third-team for Athlon. Both preseason lists have the former five-star recruit as a first-team All-Pac-12 pick.
Two other Bruins earned All-Pac-12 nods from Steele -– junior defensive back Jaleel Wadood and redshirt junior offensive lineman Scott Quessenberry.
Wadood, who played high school football with Rosen, started 12 games last season en route to second-team All-Pac-12 honors. Athlon predicts for the junior to earn a spot on second-team All-Pac-12 for a second consecutive year, alongside fellow redshirt senior defensive back Randall Goforth.
Overall, UCLA has 15 all-conference selections on Athlon’s watch list, more than any other Pac-12 school.
Soso Jamabo, Darren Andrews, Takkarist McKinley, Jayon Brown and Marcus Rios made it onto Athlon’s preseason All-Pac-12 third team while Quessenberry, Kenny Lacy, Deon Hollins, Fabian Moreau and Ishmael Adams round out the All-Pac-12 conference list as fourth-team selections.
UCLA opens the 2016 football season Sept. 3 against Texas A&M at College Station. The Bruins’ home-opener at the Rose Bowl is scheduled the following week against the UNLV Rebels.