And here we go:

UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel announced today that Kevin Craft will be the starting quarterback for the season-opening September 1 game against Tennessee in the Rose Bowl.

"We've decided to name Kevin Craft our starting quarterback," said coach Neuheisel following the second of two practice sessions on Monday. "He's earned it with his consistent play and he has the best mastery of the offense at this point."

With practices closed to the public starting on Wednesday, the only way we will find out what Kraft and the offense can do through their week and a half preparation will be the season-opener. Finally, an interesting tidbit:

Craft would become the first Bruin quarterback to start a season-opening contest in his initial season following a transfer since Troy Aikman, who came to UCLA from Oklahoma, took the first snap in the 1987 opener against San Diego State (Aikman redshirted in 1986). He is also the first junior college transfer to start a season-opening game in his initial season since Mark Harmon in 1972.

So there's a chance he'll be a great collegiate and NFL quarterback, a great actor (Harmon is on the CBS show NCIS), neither, or both...haha.

As NFL teams trudge along the training camp/preseason months, impressions are made and jobs are to be won or lost. For my now second favorite Patriot, it looks like the impressions he's making in Foxborough are along the lines of a "poor man's Troy Brown". I honest like what I've heard and read about what Slater has been doing for the Pats; when he's not returning kickoffs and punts, he's taking passes from Brady or lining up in the secondary against fellow wideouts:

Slater is the definition of a project. He will get every opportunity to return punts and kickoffs while expanding his talents at wide receiver and in the secondary. Some days Slater wears a white jersey and tries to catch Tom Brady [stats]’s passes. During yesterday’s single session at the Patriots’ indoor facility adjacent to Gillette Stadium, Slater wore defensive blue and was shadowing split ends on their prescribed routes.

Slater's versatility, IMO, makes it easier for him to establish a position on the team and, perhaps, a starting nod on ST (maybe third, fourth-string on offense and defense); as a close Patriots fan, he could very well be a difference maker and return a kick or two like he did at the Rose Bowl. The Patriots really haven't had a decent return game the last handful of years, relying on running backs (Lawrence Maroney) and corners (Ellis Hobbs), but not a true return speclaist per se. Anyways, it looks like Slater is indeed establishing himself, drawing some special attention from the ST coach:

Patriots special teams coach Brad Seely has taken an interest in Slater’s development. At the conclusion of every session, Slater performs an unusual drill. He stands on the goal line holding a football while Stephen Gostkowski has another teed up 60 yards away.

As Gostkowski’s kick closes in, Slater throws up the ball he’s holding and catches the return football before retrieving his own pass.

"It’s just a little concentration drill to make sure I’m looking at it all the way in," said Slater. "When you have the other ball in the air, you have to concentrate so much harder to ensure the catch."

Football season, both college and pro, can't come soon enough.

via graphics.boston.com

via d.yimg.com

A final note: Patriots/Ravens preseason game is tonight ; I would presume Mr. Slater would get some decent playing time, perhaps more than decent.

From WWL's site:

An NCAA committee voted this month to add sand volleyball to a list of women's sports being considered for intercollegiate competition. The sport, known on the professional and Olympic levels as beach volleyball, could be under NCAA auspices as soon as 2009-10.

"It's a very exciting development, and it's certainly an acknowledgment that there's substantial growth in popularity in beach volleyball," said Leonard Armato, the commissioner of the domestic pro tour. "I think it's going to be an easy transition for the schools, and there's going to be lots of girls that want to play."

I'd imagine that it would be an easy transition here at a traditional volleyball school, especially in Southern California. We've also produced our fair share of AVP pros and Olympic legends (Mr. Kiraly, anyone?)...if this does go through, I wonder where they'd setup a sandy surface to play on. Perhaps in or around Sunset Rec or the in-progress Speiker Aquatic Center?

Bumped. Cool find. GO BRUINS. -N

Came across this on one of my favorite blogs on the internets:

Two interesting tidbits from Jim Parker, beginning with a UCLA tale: “In the mid- to late 1950s, UCLA’s legendary head football coach Henry ‘Red’ Sanders would purchase the team’s home powder blue jerseys in a lighter shade of blue each successive season, until they were almost as pale as the visiting teams white jerseys (although the jerseys were still blue enough for players and fans to tell the two teams apart). Several years later, UCLA’s longtime equipment manager revealed why: Players and fans could tell the two teams apart, but it was virtually impossible to make the same distinction on the black-and-white game or ’scout’ films. In these films of the UCLA games, the offense and defense immediately blended into one indistinguishable group after every hike of the ball.”

Pretty clever, especially by taking advantage of new technology (well, their apparent setbacks as well). It's obviously tame in an age of recorded coach signals, sign stealing, and videotaped walkthroughs, but I think it's just sheer genius to take advantage of still and motion camera technology at the time due to the lack of color presented by pictures/film. You can't blame Coach Sanders if a camera at the time can't distinguish between our blue and another team's white, can you?

WWL has Blue Ribbon's analysis of pretty much every D-I team up on their site, and they've finally posted Pac-10 teams. It provides analysis for positions on offense, defense, special teams, and the coaching staff, so it's pretty in-depth for a free and full Insider article. Here's what they say in general about the state of the program headed into the fall, and they are ecohing the sentiments of not getting hopes up (I am excited, though, to start taking those pics up from the press box for you BNers and start photo blogging and analyzing formations/plays run using those pics...only a month and a half to go):

The Bruins went 6-7 last season with 20 returning starters. They return half that many in 2008 and have major questions at quarterback, on the offensive line and in the secondary. With no proven game-breakers at running back or wide receiver, UCLA could take a step backward before it moves forward under Neuheisel and Co. in 2009.

Seven opponents on the schedule won at least nine games last season, including perennial SEC heavyweight Tennessee, reigning Mountain West champion BYU (which defeated the Bruins in the Las Vegas Bowl) and Fresno State. There are five home games in conference play, but the road trips are all tough (Oregon, Cal, Arizona State and Washington.)

Anything greater than a .500 regular season and a fifth-place finish in the Pac-10 this fall would have to be considered a success.

And here's our report card:

From the official site:

Steve Pearse, a veteran of 20 years of coaching experience, has been named assistant baseball coach at UCLA, according to an announcement made by head coach John Savage. Pearse will serve as the infield and base running coach, assist recruiting efforts and work with the hitters with assistant coach Rick Vanderhook.

In 20 seasons as an assistant coach, including 17 at the Division I level, Pearse's teams have advanced to nine NCAA Regionals and one College World Series (California, 1992). As a student-athlete at Fresno State (1987-88), Pearse helped lead the Bulldogs to the 1988 College World Series and a program-best 56-12 record.

"Steve is one of the best infield coaches in the West," Savage said. "He has tremendous knowledge of the game, and he will bring a lot to our program both on and off the field. Steve has coached at the Division I level the past 17 seasons, and we are very excited for him to join us at UCLA."

Looks like Savage is retooling his coaching staff, especially on the heels of hiring Vanderhook...nice to know that Savage has been active during the offseason; that postseason/Fullerton hump the past two seasons needs to be taken care of, but we'll see how it works out come next February.

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

The NCAA just released this statement:

Dan Guerrero, athletics director at the University of California, Los Angeles, has been appointed chair of the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee for the 2009-10 academic year."

“It is truly an honor to follow in the footsteps of my colleagues who have previously served the NCAA membership as chair of this prestigious committee,” said Guerrero. “Their extraordinary leadership has helped to ensure that this great sporting event remains at the pinnacle for generations of college basketball fans everywhere. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time on the committee and, as chair, will endeavor to listen, lead and embrace this wonderful opportunity.”

Hopefully this doesn't take away from any of his time at the helm of the best intercollegiate athletic program. Still, a great pick to lead the national committee...apparently, the same sentiments are shared by the EVP of the NCAA (ah, too many acronyms!)

“Dan is an excellent choice to chair the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee in 2009-10,” said Tom Jernstedt, executive vice president of the NCAA. “The NCAA has been fortunate to have had chairs of this committee who have had tremendous integrity and vision, and Dan certainly keeps that tradition alive. His leadership skills, energy level and passion for college basketball will serve the membership and the Division I men’s basketball championship well."

I came across this some time ago but I just keep on forgetting to post it...

So for those who enjoy playing some college football on a video game console, or who are looking for a point of debate on the seemingly arbitrary ratings that EA Sports and 2K Sports come up with for team ratings in their sport games (really...$C has a rating of 99 out of 100?), here are the team ratings for the Pac-10 teams:

	Overall	Offense	Defense
Arizona	84	86	82
Arizona State	86	88	87
Cal	81	79	85
Oregon	81	81	82
Oregon State	77	75	80
Stanford	74	79	76
UCLA	81	83	82
USC	94	90	99
Washington	79	81	80
Washington State	77	77	78

The offense and defense ratings, I believe, take into partial account the every single offensive and defensive player's individual ratings, while overall also accounts for special teams. I'm pretty sure there's something else factored in there, but I think it's just something arbitrary. Anyways, the full ratings were released on the web back in May and the game isn't released until next Tuesday, so there was some time to give/take from the ratings.

I just wanted to bring up an interesting point of discussion and debate with the ratings since it's always been something debatable on the gaming discussion boards that I frequent. A final note: I do think that they hit the nail right on the head by placing our overall rating in the middle of the Pac-10, albeit the offense and defense ratings are just...wrong.