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July 2008
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Recently in UCLA Football CategoryI spoke with UCLA quarterback Ben Olson this morning and he said he was cleared by doctors to begin running and doing physical activities after being sidelined for two months because of a broken bone in his foot that required surgery. Olson said he ran for six minutes this morning and felt good, but a tad weak. He also did some drop-backs as part of his throwing program but not at full strength. He expects to be 100 percent by the start of camp in early August. "It's a huge relief," Olson said. "Any time you get hurt, you never know how long it will take. You question if you will ever be back. It's nice to feel that it's progressing and we're moving forward." UCLA offensive tackle Sean Sheller had surgery on his left knee on Tuesday to repair his MCL, ACL and some meniscus. He will likely begin rehab next week. Sheller was hurt in an auto accident on June 20 and will miss this season. UCLA junior linebacker Reggie Carter is on the 75-man watch list for the Chuck Bednarik Award, given annually to the nation's top college football player. Carter is also on the watch list for the Bronko Nagurski Award and the Lott Trophy. Carter had 62 tackles and two sacks last season. UCLA projected starting right tackle Sean Sheller will miss this coming football season after sustaining a serious knee injury in an accident last week in Lake Havasu. Sheller, a redshirt sophomore, was riding in an off-road vehicle on a gravel and asphalt road in a park and after taking a right turn too sharply, stuck his left leg out in an attempt to prevent the vehicle from falling over. An MRI this week revealed a tear to the anterior and medial collateral ligaments and surgery will be scheduled in the coming weeks. He also sustained an open wound on his ankle that is being treated to prevent infection. "It really hasn't hit me that I won't be able to play this year," Sheller said. "I am anxious to have the surgery so that I can begin my rehab and get back with my teammates as soon as possible." The loss of Sheller further hurts UCLA's offensive line. Already among the most inexperienced in the conference, the Bruins lost projected starter Aleksey Lanis to a medical retirement in spring practice and Sheller was thrust into the starting lineup. UCLA has just two offensive linemen who have any meaningful game experience and the line was already thin prior to Sheller's injury. "Our hearts go out to Sean and his family," head coach Rick Neuheisel said. "The young man is devastated. I am confident that his surgery will go well and he will come back better than ever." This is the release UCLA sent out.... Here is additional information on the accident suffered by UCLA redshirt sophomore tackle Sean Sheller last Friday evening at Lake Havasu. Sheller was driving a vehicle that is considered an ATV because it can go off road, but it is also a street legal vehicle which the family uses for transportation. It is smaller than a jeep but bigger than a golf cart, according to Steve Sheller, Sean's father. The accident did not occur in an off-road situation, according to Mr. Sheller. Sean Sheller was driving on a combination of asphalt and gravel in a park with his sister and some of her friends in the vehicle when the accident occurred. As he was taking a right curve, the vehicle started to tip to the left. Sean attempted to make sure his sister and her friends were not injured by extending his left leg to try to keep the vehicle from tipping and he was injured in the process. Sheller underwent an MRI on his left knee this afternoon and the results should be known in the next day or two, according to Mr. Sheller. UCLA redshirt soph OT Sean Sheller injured his left knee and ankle while riding off-road on an ATV on Friday. The severities of the injuries have not yet been determined, but the fact the school released a statement regarding this indicates that it could be somewhat significant. Sheller was expected to be a valuable member of the already young and dangerously thin offensive line this season and may have competed for a starting spot in the fall. UCLA just sent this out... Six of UCLA's football games have been selected for television as part of conference TV packages. ABC/ESPN has selected four games, Fox Sports Net has selected one and one has been tabbed by Versus. ESPN will televise UCLA's opener versus Tennessee on September 1 at the Rose Bowl. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:00 pm. ABC will televise UCLA's Sept. 27 home game versus Fresno State, beginning at 12:30 pm. The game at Arizona State on Nov. 28, a Friday night (6:30 pm PT/7:30 pm MT) has been selected by ESPN2. The regular-season finale against USC at the Rose Bowl on Dec. 6 will be televised nationally by ABC and will kick off at 1:30 pm. UCLA's Sept. 20 home game versus Arizona will be televised nationally by Fox Sports Net at Noon. Through its contact with the Mountain West Conference, Versus will televise UCLA's Sept. 13 game at BYU on a national basis, beginning at 12:30 pm PT/1:30 pm MT. In addition, UCLA's Oct. 18 homecoming game versus Stanford will be televised locally by FSN Prime Ticket at a time to be determined. The remaining five games remain eligible for selection by ABC/ESPN or FSN/Versus. Those choices will be made either 12 or six days prior to the date of the games. Here is the release from UCLA. Its an interesting hire, as Neuheisel and Witcher worked together at the high school level when Neuheisel was in between being fired at Washington and working for the Ravens..... UCLA head football coach Rick Neuheisel announced today the hiring of Darren Witcher as Director of Football Operations. Witcher, 47, a longtime high school assistant football coach in the state of Washington, has worked in the Seattle area for over 18 years as a project manager for aerospace giant Boeing. A former student-athlete at the University of Washington, Witcher has kept his love of football alive the last 17 years while serving as an assistant coach at Seattle area high schools (Franklin, Garfield and Rainier Beach). Witcher coached the last nine years at Rainier Beach High School and has also headed up the school's National Football Foundation-sponsored "Play It Smart" program. "Play It Smart" seeks to transform the student-athlete's passion for their sport and dedication to their team into a force for greater good in their lives through a combination of academic assistance, mentoring and community service. In 2003 and 2004, one of the other coaches on the Rainier Beach staff was a volunteer coach named Rick Neuheisel. Witcher played defensive back at the University of Washington for coach Don James during the 1979-82 seasons. The Huskies posted an overall record of 39-9 and appeared in four straight bowls in that stretch, including the 1981 and 1982 Rose Bowl games. His career ended during his senior season due to a knee injury. UCLA and the University of Houston have agreed to a three-game football series, beginning in 2010, the UCLA Athletic Department announced today. UCLA will host the Cougars in the Rose Bowl on Sept. 11, 2010 and Sept. 15, 2012. The Bruins will open the 2011 season on Sept. 3 at Houston's Robertson Stadium. "Houston is one of the top programs in Conference USA. In addition, the state of Texas and the Houston area are important recruiting targets for us," said head coach Rick Neuheisel. "This series will enable us maintain a presence in the area and guarantees us at least one game in Texas in each of those years." The two schools have met on four previous occasions with Houston winning the first two (1977 at the Astrodome and 1979 at the Coliseum) and UCLA winning the last two (1997 at the Rose Bowl and 1998 at Robertson Stadium). UCLA's future non-conference schedules include San Diego State (Sept. 5 at home), Tennessee (Sept. 12) and Kansas State (Sept. 19 at home) in 2009; Kansas State (Sept. 4), Houston (Sept. 11 at home) and Texas (Sept. 18) in 2010; Houston (Sept. 3), San Jose State (Sept. 10 at home) and Texas (Sept. 17 at home) in 2011; Rice (Sept. 1), Nebraska (Sept. 8 at home) and Houston (Sept. 15 at home) in 2012; and Nebraska (Sept. 14) in 2013. UCLA FB Dylan Rush will leave school after the spring quarter and transfer to a school where he can pursue wrestling. More of an athlete than anything, Rush never really had a position on the team, bouncing between DE and FB. His departure also clears up a scholarship. This is the tentative UCLA depth chart. It will change before the Sept. 1 opener once the freshmen hit campus and work their way into the mix. Also, some players will move up and down. But, entering fall camp, here it is... OFFENSE
Tailback DEFENSE Defensive Tackle Free Safety SPECIALISTS UCLA DT Kevin Brown has signed a free agent contract with the Seattle Seahawks. He attended their mini-camp after going undrafted. UCLA QB Ben Olson will have surgery on his right foot on Tuesday to have a screw put in to repair the break he sustained on April 24. He is expected to take eight weeks to recover. Admittedly this is a little bit weird and self-serving, but UCLA backup QB Chris Forcier, who is 4th or 5th on the depth chart, apparently has his own Web site. Included on the site are copies of the actually scholarship offer letters that various programs sent him, including the one from former UCLA coach Karl Dorrell. Here is the link. It's worth checking out, if nothing else to see what is actually said in these letters. From UCLA's release.... Five of UCLA's football games have been selected for television thus far. ABC/ESPN has selected four games and one has been tabbed by Versus. ESPN will televise UCLA's opener versus Tennessee on September 1 at the Rose Bowl. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:00 pm. ABC will televise UCLA's Sept. 27 home game versus Fresno State, beginning at 12:30 pm. The game at Arizona State on Nov. 28, a Friday night (6:30 pm PT/7:30 pm MT) has been selected by ESPN2. The regular-season finale against USC at the Rose Bowl on Dec. 6 will be televised nationally by ABC and will kick off at 1:30 pm. Through its contact with the Mountain West Conference, Versus will televise UCLA's Sept. 13 game at BYU on a national basis, beginning at 12:30 pm PT/1:30 pm MT. ABC/ESPN announced 15 of its 20 selections. The other five games will be picked on a 12- or six-day selection basis. Fox Sports Net, which has 18 Pac-10 windows, will announce its early picks on June 1. Most draft boards did not even have Matt Slater listed, but his importance as a special teamer caught the eye of the Patriots. How much did the Pats want Slater? They took him in the fifth round but swapped fifth round picks and gave up a seventh-rounder to Tampa Bay in order to get him. For an organization that already places a high value on draft picks and special teams, it shows how highly thought of Slater is. Here are the updates for UCLA's free agents... WR Brandon Breazell has reached a two-year agreement with Kansas City. UCLA kick off return specialist Matt Slater was taken in the fifth round by the Patriots. A former WR turned DB turned man without a position, Slater became a special teams star at UCLA and will likely do the same at the next level. He is the son of Hall of Fame lineman Jackie Slater and has been clocked in the 4.3's or lower in the 40. He had nearly 1,000 KOR yards and 3 TD's last season. There was a lot of thought around the UCLA camp that Slater will go on to have the best career of any UCLA player from this past season and I would not think of that as a stretch. On a personal note, it's always refreshing to see a guy like Slater succeed. He was a man with no position and had to beg to return kicks and became an All-American and now an NFL player because of it. One of the nicest and most respectful athletes I have ever been around and I certainly hope he makes the most of his chances Also, here is the story I did on Slater last season A day after seven USC players were selected in the first two rounds of the NFL draft, UCLA had its first player taken when defensive end Bruce Davis was picked by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round with the No. 88 overall selection. Davis, who ranks second in school history with 29 career sacks, measures 6-3, 252 and will more likely standup on the outside in the Steelers' 3-4 defense. Here are a couple defensive stats from the spring game... Mike Schmitt had a team-high 7 tackles. Alterraun Verner had 6 tackles. Reggie Carter, Glenn Love, David Carter and Akeem Ayers had 5 stops apiece. The defense had 7 sacks, all by different players. It also had 10 tackles for loss, including 2 by Brian Price.
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