Since 1919
PASADENA “”mdash; Kevin Prince’s injury history is well documented.
He missed seven games a season ago with a knee injury, he broke his jaw during a game in 2009 and he has missed time this season with a sprained shoulder.
That being the case, most would have thought coach Rick Neuheisel’s game plan for UCLA’s 31-14 win over California Saturday at the Rose Bowl was insane.
“I told him I want 100 (rushing) yards,” Neuheisel said of his redshirt junior quarterback.
PASADENA ““ Order me a McTriple, side of Rice. Sound familiar? It shouldn’t.
Ravaged by injuries, suspensions and sprinkles of mediocrity, this UCLA program found new ingredients.
Although the Bruins lead the overall “Battles of the UC” by 18 games since 2007, UCLA has been playing like the little brother as of late. The Bruins (3-4, 2-2 Pac-12) have lost three straight to the Golden Bears (4-3, 1-3), meaning many players on the UCLA team have yet to find success against their big brother from the north.
Two-sport athletes are common in high school. The soccer player with the golden toe gets recruited to kick for the football team, a quarterback with a big arm goes to the baseball team and the wide receiver with freak athleticism gives the hardwood a try.
They usually spend their days practicing as Beavers, Cougars, Wildcats or whoever the UCLA coaching staff is scheming against that week.
On the days they get to be Bruins, wide receivers Jerry Rice Jr. and Devin Lucien put on their blue and gold jerseys but take them off without breaking a sweat.
A few days after writing a column comparing Rick Neuheisel to the McDonald’s McRib, I decided it was time to expand my culinary and journalistic horizons.
So it was that I found myself in an establishment where sport and sandwich truly coalesce.
Student-athletes already receive compensation in the form of an athletic scholarship, but should they receive more?
That debate is as divisive as the hostile rivalries that typify college sports, but this week it took a new turn when it was the student-athletes themselves speaking up.
