UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel called Monday “a great day for the Bruins” after the team welcomed highly regarded offensive coordinator Norm Chow to its staff.
It may have been an even better day for quarterback Ben Olson.
Chow has a exceptional reputation for developing quarterbacks. He’s tutored three Heisman Trophy-winning signal callers ““ Ty Detmer at Brigham Young University and Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC ““ as well as three other first-round NFL draft picks: Jim McMahon and Steve Young at BYU and Philip Rivers at North Carolina State.
For Olson, that list means a lot.
“I can’t remember when I was this excited about football,” Olson said.
The redshirt junior quarterback spoke with the media Monday after the hiring. He was elated at the news of Chow’s hiring, which he learned of Sunday night. He also made a point to commend Neuheisel for convincing Chow to join the UCLA staff.
Olson first met Chow at a BYU football camp more than a decade ago, when Chow was coaching the Cougars’ offense.
In high school, when Olson was the top-rated quarterback in the country at Thousand Oaks High School, Chow recruited Olson to USC. Even though Olson chose to attend BYU, he always hoped to have the chance to play for Chow.
Now Olson, who turns 25 next month, will finally have that chance.
“I’m just thrilled to death to work with coach Chow,” Olson said. “It’s something that I’ve wanted for a while now and to finally have that chance, to finally have things work out, and to have it all line up, it’s a huge blessing.”
In a Monday teleconference, Chow recalled Olson’s potential as a young quarterback.
“I did get a chance to see (Olson) at a camp, and he looked awfully good,” Chow said. “We’re excited about the opportunity to work with him, and not only him, but the other quarterbacks as well.”
As excited as Olson may be to work with Chow, he’ll only have one year’s worth of the coach’s tutelage.
Olson has just one year of eligibility left in his collegiate career. He is now almost six years removed from his senior year in high school because of a two-year Mormon mission he went on after graduating from Thousand Oaks.
“Ideally it would be great if I were going into my junior year and coach Chow was just coming in,” Olson said. “But that’s not the situation, so I just have to make the most of what it is. I’ve got to be like a sponge, sit there and pick his brain about everything and learn as much as I can this year.
“I’ve got to make up for that time I guess.”
Olson has just two years of college experience at UCLA. He threw his first pass in 2005 but only appeared in one game that season.
He entered both the 2006 and 2007 seasons as the Bruins starter but was hampered by injuries throughout each year. He only played in five games in 2006 and six games last year.
But with the arrival of Chow, Olson seems to have a newfound sense of confidence that he can make the strides analysts around the country thought he would when he starred in high school.
“I consider myself very fortunate to even have one year,” Olson said. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it’s given me an added boost in not only confidence as a player but in the coaching staff and in my desire and drive to play the game.”
DORRELL TO MIAMI: Former UCLA coach Karl Dorrell accepted a job coaching receivers for the Miami Dolphins, the Kansas City Star reported Tuesday night.