UCLA Spring Football: A New Horizon for the Bruins

After all the antics going on around UCLA, Norm Chow, and USC, the season has gotten underway nicely for the Bruins.

First of all, the offense has take major strides in their new system, named “The Revolver.” This new system, formerly known as “The Pistol” which was developed over at Nevada, but brought to BCS attention by Indiana. This offense has brought new dimensions to the quick running game, as well as new Play-Action, made available by the new quarterback spacing. Basically, the Revolver is an Ace (One back set) with a quarterback in the shotgun.

Some of the standouts include “veteran” sophomore QB Kevin Prince, who has improved vastly since last season’s camp. The receiving corps has picked up right where they left off, as Nelson Rosario and Taylor Embree, as well as new additions in the versatile Colorado transfer Josh Smith and tight end Joe Fauria. Sophomore Morrell Presley has continued to impress, playing tight-end, H-Back, and wideout in practice. Damien Thigpen has been amazing this Spring, playing literally every specialist position possible, ranging from returns to F-Back, a hybrid wing back built specifically for the new offense. The O-Line has made major strides this Spring as well. The biggest challenge was replacing Left Tackle Xavier Su a’Filo, who left the team for an LDS mission, but Nik Abele, Sean Sheller, and Brett Downey have made huge strides to replace the potential All-PAC 10 Tackle. Running back Jonathan Franklin has also made major improvement in ball control and being an all purpose back for next year.

On defense, the unit loses one of the most dominant PAC 10 defensive players in recent years in Brian Price, but key defenders such as LB, Akeem Ayers, DB’s Aaron Hester, Rahim Moore (led NCAA in interceptions last year), Glenn Love, and Sheldon Price all return to give hope to the defense for next year. While the unit will be much different, expect a quicker, more aggressive unit this year.

As Spring ball winds down, it should prove to be a very different, more exciting look for the Bruins, in their goal to improve to an 8 win season… a difficult, difficult task if you ask me