From the press release:

UCLA Head Football Coach Jim Mora has named redshirt freshman Brett Hundley the team’s starting quarterback.

“All four quarterbacks have raised their level of play significantly since my staff and I took over, and we are excited about all of them,” said Mora. “That said, Brett has consistently demonstrated the qualities we value in a starting quarterback and is an outstanding leader who commands the respect of his teammates. He has shown excellent decision-making skills, and his accuracy and timing continue to improve with each practice. In addition, he has shown the mobility and creativity needed when a play breaks down.”

Yes, we know: Brett Hundley is a freaking bad-ass that the UCLA fan-base has wanted to start ever since he stepped foot on campus.

This was always the end-game, it seemed, at least ever since Hundley proved to be starter-worthy during the Spring Game back in May. Hundley was, marginally, outperformed by Richard Brehaut — who I admittedly chose as the favorite to win the job — but this fall, nothing but praise has come out of San Bernardino with regards to Hundley’s play.

The dude is going to be great, we’re sure, and we hope he doesn’t flame out. In fact, we’re 97 percent sure he’s going to be all we expected him to be, since his work ethic has been incredible and his leadership skills have improved pretty significantly.

What’s just as significant, though, and what UCLA fans will forget, is that this is the end of the Kevin Prince era in UCLA football. Prince was often given a crap-load of flack for not being able to throw the football well, being injured all the time and for looking like this every time he lined up behind center:

Ironically, that was probably the face he made when Jim Mora announced Hundley as the starter.

Still, Kevin Prince will sit his senior season and, for UCLA fans, that’s just fine, since preference for seniority was one of the things that plagued the Bruins during the Neuheisel era.

Prince fought like a madman, though, and we thank him.

But this is about Brett Hundley now, and it’s about — hopefully, a new era of UCLA football.

We’ll have more on this as we count down the days til Rice.

GO BRUINS!!!

Of course, the most talked about storyline in camp isn’t Mora’s way of doing things, especially now that Spring Practice is over and we finally got our glimpse of what this era will look like. The biggest question heading into the Bruins’ stay at CSU–San Bernardino is that of the starting quarterback job.

And there’s a bit of a divide among Bruins fans as to who should be the starter at this point. While the majority of UCLA fans are absolutely crazy for redshirt freshman Brett Hundley — who was tabbed as UCLA football’s savior last year when he signed on to play for the Bruins — a good chunk think Richard Brehaut could and should come away with the job. Hundley is favored for his potential and athleticism, and Brehaut is favored because he’s performed a hell of a lot better in practices than Hundley has.

The other candidates are pretty far back. Jerry Neuheisel is hilarious but being funny does not a UCLA quarterback make. That said, he actually looked good this past spring, but it’s clear that he’s not there, at least not yet. (He’s only a freshman, too.) T.J. Millweard probably falls behind Neuheisel and Mark Fafaul, a walk-on, has a total gun, but is still incredibly raw and will likely be sitting behind Millweard on the depth chart. Devin Fuller is also a longshot and may be damn near dead last, if only because he has yet to be seen by the UCLA coaching staff.

I’m forgetting someone, huh? Dammit. What’s his name? Rhymes with Devin Trince. He has that weird look on his fa– OH YEAH, KEVIN PRINCE. Let’s just say that Bruins fans will give up on life altogether if Prince ends up starting in 2012.

So to clear things up and have some fun with this, we’ve decided to create some obscure, Vegas-style odds for our QBs, based on the likelihood that they win the starting job. We won’t be including fan opinion here, because let’s be real, we want the Mora regime to ignore hype surrounding a player and just pick the guy who will perform the best.

Without further ado, here they are.

Richard Brehaut …….. 7/5

Brett Hundley ………… 2/1

Kevin Prince …………… 10/1

Jerry Neuheisel ……… 15/1

Devin Fuller …………… 22/1

T.J. Millweard ………… 22/1

Mark Fafaul …………….. 38/1

So obviously, there’s two tiers: Tier 1 which includes Brehaut and Hundley, and Tier 2 which is everyone the hell else.

Brehaut’s favored here because he looked much, much better in spring practice than anyone else did. For most of practice, he was on par with Hundley, and perhaps just a tad better, but he separated himself from the pack during the Spring Game at the Rose Bowl.

Hundley did good, though, and we expect him to do just as well. But consider, too, that Mazzone’s offense may favor Brehaut a tad more since he’s proven to be more accurate than Hundley was, mobility be damned.

As for Kevin Prince, we can hate on the dude and make jokes about him all we want — I most definitely will — but the fact of the matter is that he’s won the starting job over and over again and has shown flashes of brilliance. He has had his stupid moments, but the sample size is much larger for him.

Jerry Neuheisel should be favored among the rest of the crew, though, even if he is a long shot to take over the reigns. Meanwhile, Fuller is ahead of Fafaul based on how coveted he was out of high school. Fuller is, though, tied with Millweard. T.J. Millweard could be favored a tad over Fuller, though, because he’s the prototypical Mazzone QB.

We’ll see how this all works, though, and we’ll find out within the next couple of weeks who’ll be the starting QB. Until then, speculate away. And place a bet or two, but that’s probably illegal.

GO BRUINS!!!

Sept 25, 2010; Austin, TX, USA; A member of the UCLA Bruins holds up his helmet to acknowledge their fans against the Texas Longhorns during the fourth quarter at Texas Memorial Stadium. UCLA beat Texas 34-12. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-US PRESSWIRE

The halfway point to UCLA football’s May 5 Spring Game has come and gone, and our boys at Spaulding are making a last ditch effort to try and solidify themselves for any available roster spots.

Except, the position that everyone can’t shut the hell up about — including yours truly — at quarterback doesn’t seem to have found a suitable starter. Yet.

Of course, there were still some very nice takeaways in this whole “Jim Mora” era thing. But because your lovable narrator couldn’t make it down to Spaulding — again; I’m such a poor blogger — we have provided you with some of the best news out there. Let’s take a look around the UCLA blogosphere to see what’s the haps, dawg.

Bruins Ball. It’s been eight practices since our boys down at BB first started covering UCLA football and, my damn, was this the crew’s best work so far.

Scott Robinson breaks down some things of real importance, such as the QB competition, which has gotten noticeably crappier. Read:

Whatever the problem might be with the football, the QB’s showed they did not have a solid grip on it today. Between QB’s Kevin Prince, Richard Brehaut, Jerry Neuheisel and Brett Hundley, there were at least three INT’s.

Dude, seriously? Interceptions? Stupid. We’re a little upset at our quarterbacking core, and even more upset that Kevin Prince has decided to be really good again (according to Bruins Ball), after previously having some piss-poor practices. The dude’s been inconsistent his entire career at UCLA, and I would’ve been happy if he sucked for two straight practices. (Actually, no, but at least I wouldn’t be so confused.)

Mora also got in some people’s ears, but we’ll let you click on over there.

Inside UCLA. Jon Gold highlights some important things, namely a loss in vigor on the practice field. That said, Mora seems to be pleased with how things are running. I guess, dude. Also: DB Librado Baracio is pretty much done for the season, thanks to a torn ACL. That. Sucks.

UCLABruins.com. Here’s a video of Jim Mora’s usual post-practice presser:

Jon Gold ain’t lying, dude. Mora was super upbeat after practice, and apparently the tempo was a lot slower. That said, Mora also has implemented more 11-on-11 scrimmages and situations. He also raves on about his defensive line and linebackers for being scrappy and aggressive, which is good, because last year was, well, did we have a defensive line?

The last bit of the video is really important: He wants his players to trust his coaches, and to be able to feel welcoming and mentor-like. Being a total hard-ass is fine, but when the players are constantly suspicious of the staff, while knowing they’ll never get praise, it means the coaching staff is doing a terrible job, and one that’ll have a hard time connecting with the guys he goes to battle with. Good to know Mora’s taking that approach.

LA Times: Well, Spaulding Field, largely ridiculed for being 80 yards long, is getting somewhat of a makeover due to the myriad of injuries. Check it:

UCLA will put new synthetic turf and natural grass fields on Spaulding Field, the football team’s practice facility.

The project is roughly estimated to cost $1.2 million and could begin as soon as spring practice ends May 5 and be completed before practice resumes in August.

Nice! I can dig it. I didn’t think that the injuries might be a result of the field, but the L.A. Times does bring that point up.

That’s it, you guys. Hopefully next practice is a little cleaner, as we go on scrimmages. Depending on how much reading yours truly is supposed to do, I’ll be at Spaulding this Saturday. (I’ve said that three straight weekends, but whatever.)

GO BRUINS!!!

Sept 25, 2010; Austin, TX, USA; A member of the UCLA Bruins holds up his helmet to acknowledge their fans against the Texas Longhorns during the fourth quarter at Texas Memorial Stadium. UCLA beat Texas 34-12. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-US PRESSWIRE

UCLA football has finished up its seventh day of Spring Practice, which makes Wednesday the kind-of sort-of official halfway mark of Spring Practice, with seven of the 15 practices in the books.

The narrative dominating Spaulding Field these days is that of tempo, physicality, aggressiveness and scrappiness. This is good to hear, considering the way things went south last year with this team — where penalties killed our Bruins, while our defense and overall discipline was as imagined as Tupac’s performance this weekend at Coachella.

(Had to reference it. I’m trying here, guys, I really am.)

The talk surrounding Bruin football has been nothing but positive. Thank goodness. Let’s take you around the UCLA blogosphere to get you caught up with the football team.

Inside UCLA. Apparently, the running backs were solid as hell on Tuesday. Of course, while that’s cool and all, we should be concerned with the amount of injuries piling up for UCLA:

Senior wide receiver Jerry Johnson (quad) and junior Damien Thigpen joined an ever-growing cast of injured players, which numbers over 20. … Junior cornerback Brandon Sermons practiced on Tuesday with his hand wrapped in a cast. … Senior cornerback Aaron Hester practiced in a red jersey after suffering concussion-like symptoms.

The good thing is that nothing seems too serious, and it all seems to be a byproduct of fatigue and not being hit significantly since the debacle that was the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl on New Year’s Eve. The bad thing is that, well, they’re injured.

Bruins Ball. In typical Bruins Ball fashion, which has gained considerable notoriety the past few weeks for their on-point-as-hell, biases-be-damned approach, the guys down there break down what was going on at Spaulding with incredible detail. Some nuggets:

It was another beautiful day in the Westwood neighborhood.

What a shame the fans were not there to share it: The crowd has now thinned out substantially.

That was obviously a shot at Go Joe Bruin. (Not really, but we didn’t attend; we blame our beloved institution for forcing us to read 1000 pages per week.)

And then, of course, the level of realism in practice has kicked up considerably:

Drills appear to mimic, at least with the piped in crowd noise, a continued state of game-play. At one point, as the practice continues to gear towards an actual football game, the coaching staff had cleared the field such that only the referees, the 11 defenders and 11 offensive players were out on the snap.

Defensively, the 1-on-1 match-ups (similar to trench blocking or the Oklahoma Drill) include various types of blitzers; LB’s, DB’s and the DL got into the mix.

This should come to readers as exciting: Mora continues to deliver drills specifically aimed at shoring up any surprises.

This was Mora’s plan to begin Spring Practice; his methodology of conducting practices — “practices are supposed to be harder than the actual games” — is obviously being put into play, and the dude will not stop pushing a team that’s poised to, well, keep pushing.

Additionally, the QB competition has gotten interesting (more so than it already was):

On a positive note: Millweard, especially, showed better control of audibles and blocking check-offs during the 11-on-11’s. His throwing motion also continues to improve with time under Coach Mazzone’s continual tutelage.

Also showing a clear grasp on offense was QB Richard Brehaut. Brehaut delivered a few nice touch passes, hitting receivers with a couple difficult throws.

[...]

QB Prince still looks like he has a hard time during the scrimmage portions of practice. On at least three different throws, Prince was affixed on his primary. Any roaming defender just needs to look at his eyes and they’ll know where the ball’s going.

Prince also exhibits “happy feet;” More so than any other QB, he was flushed out of the pocket and a number of times had to eat the throw with the defense clinging to his receivers.

That last bit — Prince’s “happy feet” — ticks me (and I’m sure a ton of other UCLA fans) off; the fact that the dude still has little to no pocket presence, despite this probably being the reason he was such an interception magnet for a good chunk of last season, is really disappointing. His inability to stay in the pocket and propensity to run instead of checking off his options got us into some serious trouble in 2011. It’s also why our offense was so stagnant on the road last season, with Prince’s “happy feet” being indicative of the fact that he’s easy to rattle. This upsets me to no end because we’re sure the dude is working like a horse out there, but cannot seem to keep calm in the pocket.

UCLABruins.com (VIDEO with Jim Mora): 

Jim Mora gives his post-practice presser, and there doesn’t seem to be variation from the Day One presser when compared to Day Seven. As usual, Mora gives praise to all players that are brought to his attention while also reminding the media that the guys are still running under a new system, so mistakes are to be expected.

UCLABruins.com: An oldie, but goodie

UCLA tight-end Joe Fauria conducts some pretty interesting interviews. This was done last Saturday, but it’s worth watching. My favorite exchange? Fauria’s interview of Austin Prince.

That’ll do it for Day Seven, guys. Be sure to keep your eyeballs glued to Go Joe Bruin, just because.

GO BRUINS!!!

Oct 1, 2011; Stanford CA, USA; UCLA Bruins wide receiver Devin Lucien (15) warms up before the game against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium. Stanford defeated UCLA 45-19. Mandatory Credit: Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

Your humble narrator finally went to his second Spring Practice for UCLA football. With UCLA football now in it’s fourth day of Spring Practice, things should be getting clearer in terms of competition for roster positions, all of which are very open.

Still, it’s only the fourth day of 14 total practices (and a Spring Scrimmage at the Rose Bowl), so there’s plenty of time to figure things out. You can check out GJB’s “report” here and see links from Days Two and Three here and here.

The fan experience

Today was particularly star-studded, which led to a ton of distraction on behalf of yours truly. In attendance was loud-mouth, famous wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson (who, by the way, went to Southern Cal, but probably figured the football out in Westwood was better, as was the weather), comedian and uncle of soon-to-be UCLA freshman QB Devin Fuller, Sinbad, and Jim E. Mora, Jim Mora’s dad (of “PLAYOFFS?!?!?” fame). The buzz was definitely there, and it added (or subtracted; we don’t know yet) from the actual football on the field. In terms of crowd attendance in general, the turnout was great, but the retention, not so much, with nearly half of the crowd leaving half an hour to an hour early. It was alright, though, because Jim Mora’s staff simulated crowd noise, anyway.

The football

Of course, the main focus of everyone’s attention continues to be the QB battle, which has not yet been decided, nor has a frontrunner established himself. It was even tougher to assess considering the offense ran on the grass field instead of the turf, meaning the crowd in the bleachers was no longer in prime position to check out the QB battle. However, we can say with absolute certainty that we have no damn idea who pulled ahead in this QB race.

Richard Brehaut continued to look good, but there wasn’t significant improvement on his part. Brett Hundley is no longer over-throwing his passes and is getting more comfortable launching longer balls, with his accuracy coming together in comparison to what I last saw on Tuesday. Kevin Prince had an incredible drive during a 7-on-7 scrimmage, but in Kevin Prince fashion, flamed out when he got reps again. T.J. Millweard is also getting better, but his inaccuracy leaves something to be desired, and that’s not totally discouraging, considering he’s a true freshman. The underdogs, Jerry Neuheisel and Mark Fafaul, continued to show they can keep up with the likely starters, although I would say, safely, that Mark Fafaul has definitely catapulted himself into a “top-tier discussion” when it comes to UCLA QBs, with Neuheisel and Millweard both trailing (but not by a ton).

Of course, some might say that this type of parity isn’t very good, but I spoke with a guy named “Jeff” who was also in attendance, and was in attendance last year, and he had said none of the QBs looked bad, compared to last year. This parity, he says, is a good thing, because they’re all performing better than last year. I’d agree, although I’ll leave that up to interpretation for those who did go.

Another thing to note is Jim Mora’s hands-on approach with the DBs, which has been a theme for all three practices prior to Tuesday’s practice. Mora worked with his defensive backs right in front of the crowd at Spaulding, as we heard him yelling, “ROTATE AND DIG THE PELVIS!” Don’t envision what his demonstration looked like in your head.

This was also the first time your humble narrator got to see the squad in pads, and good grief, did these guys put a smashing on each other. This, particularly, applies to the defensive backs, with a pair going at one another as fast as they could in five yards (each) while making sure to hit helmet to helmet. And though no one got hurt, it sure sounded like something had to hurt. Nothing wrong with this approach, though: If our players are afraid to get hit, what the hell are they doing on a football team?

As for the wide-outs, although Jerry Johnson could literally stumble into a starting position in his senior year in 2012, it’s worth noting that this dude friggin’ stands out, because his hands are solid and he knows how to go up and get catches, using his height — at 6’4” — to his advantage. Also impressive: Devin Lucien, the redshirt freshman. I’ll be damned if this kid doesn’t get some serious playing time. As for the most famous wide-out on the team, Jerry Rice, Jr.? Well, he definitely isn’t in those guys’ class, as he had a few dropped passes to hinder his chances of looking good to WR coach Eric Yarber.

Of course, one other surprise of the day was running back Steve Manfro, who decided he’d just be the shiftiest motherf*cker on the field and make some of the sweetest cuts and stops we’ve seen from anyone not named Johnathan Franklin. It’d be nice if the dude could keep it up for the entire quarter.

Joe Fauria continued to not be in practice, nor was Dalton Hilliard. Anthony Barr also seemed banged up at one point. Additionally, there were no known skirmishes this time around, which is pretty legitimate, I guess.

That’s it. We’ll have some Spring Practice Day Four links out tomorrow, since you guys seemed to dig that so much. Be sure to follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook if you just want to bullshit.

Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

UCLA football’s 2012 Spring Practice has begun!

The first day of Spring Practice on April 3 was pretty event-filled, and there’s a lot to talk about. Because I’m like a giddy schoolgirl when it comes to UCLA football — I’ve only been here for nearly one academic year; give me a break, jerks — I may be just super stoked that I went, and that there are quite a few more of these.

Because I’ve only been here one year, it’s harder for me to evaluate how spring practice has gone in comparison to past years. So I’ll refer back to friends’ comments a lot, because social support leads to a healthy lifestyle. (Trust me on this — I’m a psychology major.)

From a fan perspective

No one cares about the experience, but I’m going to give it to you anyway. There was definitely a crowd, and as a pal of GJB @RampartBruin, it was quite larger than last year’s. Seeing all the coaches and players live and up close is always fun, especially for a wide-eyed kid like me. Murmurs and giggles and ooh’s and ahh’s were in abundance in the crowd, too, so they weren’t a passive bunch.

The Football

The position seemingly everyone was curious as hell about was the QB position. Kevin Prince, Jerry Neuheisel, Brett Hundley, T.J. Millweard, Richard Brehaut and walk-on Mark Fafaul all got reps, and a pretty equal amount, too.

How did Brett Hundley, apparently everyone’s favorite to win the starting job, look? He over-shot a lot of passes, and as a friend mentioned, it might’ve been rust. This is a solid claim, since over-throwing seems to be the common denominator of overly-rested QBs. He showed how strong of an arm he has, but it isn’t as if he was dead accurate. He showed solid pocket presence, but that over-throwing was pretty bad. Of course, this was just Day One, so whatever, dude.

How about Richard Brehaut, the QB I’d put money on to win the starting job, do? He looked alright, too, although what we saw from him was mostly checkdowns (as was the case for nearly every QB that got reps). I would also say he was the most accurate of the QBs getting reps, and even then he was a little off, though he did have a nice, long completion during a short scrimmage.

And Kevin Prince? Well … he was Kevin Prince. Spotty, inconsistent but promising. Two of his throws during what looked like an 11-on-11 scrimmage (I wouldn’t know, since I’m an idiot and didn’t count) looked erratic and misguided as hell. I’ve never been a huge KP fan, but I’m sure we all can agree that him getting the starting spot was a longshot coming into the damn thing.

Jerry Neuheisel was surprisingly good, although he never threw a deep ball. He had his erratic throws, to be sure, but for the most part, he was quietly impressive. Nothing to blow your mind out of the water, but definitely something to get you saying, “Hey look, it’s Rick Neuheisel’s kid.”

T.J. Millweard is definitely a raw talent, and he’ll continue to develop as Spring Practice continues on. His throws were erratic checkdowns — so it seemed; I’m open to being contested since, for some reason, I cannot remember too much from Millweard — but I’m assuming that it might’ve been jitters since he did just come to UCLA, like, this week.

And Mark Fafaul? I don’t know where the hell this kid came from, or anything about him, really, but he held his own, and if you didn’t have numbers on any of these guys, you couldn’t tell them apart, which is good for Mark Fafaul, the walk-on. (H/T to @BruinsBall at BruinsBall.com for letting me know this kid was a walk-on in the first place.)

Everyone else…

The most salient part of today’s practice was Jonathan Motha’ F***in’ Franklin, because the dude was killing it. He’s got legitimate vision and is quick and shifty as hell. He had quite a few little highlights, and he was, by far, the most fun person to watch. Why has this guy not gotten as much buzz as he should be?

Our DBs are going to need these extra reps, because they had a hard time covering the wide-outs, even though, on quite a few occasions, the WRs failed to haul in easy passes.

Wide-outs were interesting to watch, and Devin Lucien and Jerry Johnson were probably the most fun to watch. (There was even a moment where Johnson got into a scuffle with a DB, looked to the crowd and yelled, “LET’S GO!” to which everyone gave a little holler and a nice golf clap.)

Speaking of kerfuffles, there were a good number of them, namely in the trenches, and there was even a punch thrown between linemen, it looked like. (Seriously.) The level of physicality on the field was, as @BruinsBall and @RampartBruin had told me, much more physical and fast than last year’s Spring Practice. Of course, Jim Mora said that he “doesn’t like scuffles” and would “discourage them” during practice. His reasoning? “It’s part of being a disciplined football team.”

Good answer, although we cannot argue with the level of intensity in practice. This is just Day One, folks. See you Thursday.

UCLA football’s 2012 Spring Practice Guide has been released! As you know, Spring Practice for UCLA has been around the corner forever now (pretty much since Jim Mora signed his first — and very successfully, mind you — recruiting class back in February). We’ve been hyping it up a hell of a lot, here at GJB. Why? Two reasons: One, we’re total football freaks, much like everyone else in this country. (So unique, I know); and two, because your humble narrator has never been to Spring Practice in his whole life (because he has never lived in L.A. before, because he is a first-year transfer) and is totally excited to see football for the first time since our Bruins had their asses handed to them against Illinois in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.

Either way, there’s a ton of good stuff for UCLA fans who are headed to Spring Practice. If you can bring along your laptop or tablet, assuming you have one, it’d be nice to have, since having 80 players on one team is a lot to keep up with.

(If you are not filthy rich, or are a college student — like me, even though “not filthy rich” and “college student” are synonymous unless you’re a U$C kid — don’t print it out, because I don’t want to see another tree die.)

What’s in it that’s so useful, you ask? Nothing new, but still.

First, there’s a ton of good stuff on position battles throughout. Each set of positions mentions all relevant players in detail, giving us an extensive look at each players’ career so far at UCLA (or their journey to UCLA, if they’ve yet to play). Obviously, we here at GJB are very interested in the quarterback position battle, with incumbent starters Kevin Prince and Richard Brehaut set to do battle with one another as well as with redshirt freshman Brett Hundley and new-guy-on-the-block T.J. Millweard.

Second, there’s some more extensive stuff on UCLA’s coaching staff. If you’ve been living under a rock your entire life, then you’ll learn that new UCLA head coach Jim Mora has brought in some serious coaching talent in offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone, scouts and position coaches Adrian Klemm, Demetrice Martin and Angus McClure, and defensive coordinator Lou Spanos.

Finally, the Guide is mostly comprised of profiles of returning Bruins, along with their jersey numbers, so you know who’s who when you’re watching Spring Practice.

Anyway, that’s the gist of it. We highly recommend that you check it out before heading on your way to Spring Practices, which will be held every Tuesday and Thursday at 3:45 p.m. and Saturdays, either in the morning or the afternoon; this will all culminate into the Spring Game which will be held on Saturday, May 5, at the Rose Bowl.

As we’ve said before, some of us here at GJB will be up at Spring Practices, though not all of them, we are sure. Hit us up and say hello by hollering at us on Twitter: @GoJoeBruinUCLA. Don’t forget to like our Facebook page, and hey, show some love to our beloved network on Twitter: @Fansided.

Well, Jim Mora already has an idea of what the tone might be for Spring Practice, and hopefully the rest of the year. From ESPN LA:

“I would expect that this will be a very physical spring,” Mora said. “A very physical spring.”

“I think it’s important that we come in and establish a level of physical toughness that you only get by going through some tough times by banging on each other a little bit,” Mora said. “I need to find out, our coaches need to find out, the players need to find out who’s in and who’s not in. Who’s willing to make the commitment physically, emotionally and all of those things to be great and who’s kind of wavering.”

So it sounds like Mora wants his team to go full on for Spring Practice, which is crucial considering every position will be open for competition. (Rightfully so, since the 2011 season was disappointing enough so that no starters made any sort of strong case to come back and start this season.)

What it mostly means, though, is that, going into the season, the squad will be pretty battle-tested and ready for the season instead of being blindsided while giving us that “WTF” look that Kevin Prince always gives us during games:

Dec 31, 2011; San Francisco CA, USA; UCLA Bruins quarterback Kevin Prince (4) warms up before the game against the Illinois Fighting Illini at AT

Seriously, KP, you know what’s going on. Stop actin’ the fool.

The past four years under Rick Neuheisel’s lead was ridiculous in that seniors got priority over underclassmen, meaning that they felt their job was more secure it should have been. Competition, as we all know, breeds success. Mora has the right idea.

GO BRUINS!!!

So to get us a little excited for the 2012 college football season, we thought we’d discuss the competition at the most exciting and arguably one of the most important positions in the sport of football: the quarterback.

You know, the position that’s plagued us for years, while guys like Kevin Prince and Richard Brehaut have massively underperformed in their tenures as Bruins. Yeah, that position.

Well, things look slightly — only slightly, since it’s so premature — better these days. In addition to Richard Brehaut and Kevin Prince being a little more motivated this season due to the fact that they’re seniors, Brett Hundley will finally get a shot to compete for the starting spot while incoming freshmen Devin Fuller and T.J. Millweard will have a chance to prove they deserve a shot at starting, forgoing a redshirt season.

So first, let’s look back at how our QBs did last season:

Kevin Prince. 2011 stats: 56% completion percentage, 1828 yards, 12 passing touchdowns, eight interceptions, 424 rushing yards

Prince’s season was much like our Bruins’ entire season — inconsistent as hell, with some really, really bright spots to combat his incredible incompetence. The key for Prince — and, again, for the rest of the team, it seems — was playing at home. Although the game against Texas saw Prince stink the Rose Bowl up — I was in the student section, and I smelled that crap from up there — he had a strong outing in Pasadena ever since, especially after Rick Neuheisel stopped limiting Prince and let him run. Prince’s inability to throw made it difficult and frustrating for receivers like Nelson Rosario and Joseph Fauria, who had beaten defenders but never got the ball in their hands because Prince was, even during his awesome games, horrifyingly inaccurate.

Richard Brehaut. 2011 stats: 55% completion percentage, 948 yards, six touchdowns, one interception

Richard Brehaut, despite his lower completion rate, looked a lot more accurate than Kevin Prince, whom he had replaced after Prince’s terrible start against Texas (the dude threw three interceptions before I could even get settled into my damn seat). The games Brehaut played in post-Prince’s benching seemed as if Brehaut had a legitimate shot at becoming the starter for the rest of the season. No, he wasn’t on track to have an incredible season or anything, but he was playing, for the most part, mistake-free football (where as Kevin Prince apparently ate Butterfingers before every game). Brehaut didn’t run as much as Prince did — and that running ability helped UCLA to a 5-1 home record, for sure — but that’s simply because he couldn’t. Brehaut seemed a hell of a lot more immobile last season than Prince. Brehaut then got screwed from his not-bad season by breaking a leg … literally.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s look into the future:

Brehaut vs. Prince: 

All things considered, Brehaut would get the nod if it came down to these two, not because Prince is terrible — although he kind of is — but because Brehaut is a better fit for UCLA OC Noel Mazzone’s offense, which prefers a conventional, pocket-sitting QB (he coached Philip Rivers and Brock Osweiler, for Pete’s sake!), and Brehaut is definitely the purer passer. Prince, I don’t think, has much of a shot to start his senior year or, hell, even get playing time. Mazzone’s offense rarely sees QB draws or options. In fact, I’d only take Prince if he gives us more of his “where the f*** am I?” faces:

Dec 31, 2011; San Francisco CA, USA; UCLA Bruins quarterback Kevin Prince (4) warms up before the game against the Illinois Fighting Illini at AT

Devin Fuller vs. T.J. Millweard vs. Brett Hundley

It’s super tempting to say T.J. Millweard has a better chance at getting a starting nod than any of the other non-2011-starters. Why? Because this dude is the prototypical Noel Mazzone QB. He’s a big dude at 6’4” and he is definitely a conventional pocket QB who has some serious height. His biggest knock? He doesn’t have a really stupid throwing motion like all other Mazzone QBs.

Devin Fuller was an interesting signing; you never want to turn away the second- or third-best QB in the country, but Fuller isn’t exactly the best fit. We’re glad to have him, but you have to wonder how Mazzone will adjust to having a 5’10” QB whose strong-point is running? The dude’s fast, and he’s got a decent arm, but will his mobility hurt his chances at starting?

And then there’s Brett Hundley, the 2011′er who is coming off his redshirt season, who is more all-around than either Fuller or Millweard. All scouting reports indicate that he’s able to be a pocket-passer just as he’s able to scramble and gain yards with his legs. But with scrambling QBs in an offense that sees stay-at-home QBs succeed the most can often struggle.

If I had to pick the starter between these three? It’s Hundley, although Millweard is definitely tempting.

The projected two finalists: Brett Hundley vs. Richard Brehaut

Brett Hundley’s been itching to get on to the field, and Richard Brehaut’s had his chance; if it weren’t for a leg injury in the middle of last season, he may be the favorite heading into spring practice. Of course, the good thing is, Jim Mora has already gone on record saying every position — including and especially the quarterback position — is up for grabs, meaning we’ll get an objective approach to figuring out who will be under center this September.

As National Signing Day – the first day that high school football players can sign their letters of intent and officially commit to their colleges of choice – commences today, one can say that Jim Mora and his new UCLA Bruin football recruiting staff have done an excellent job so far.

In fact, in my view the best thing that Mora has done in the nearly two months that he’s been the UCLA head coach is to hire assistants Adrian Klemm from Southern Methodist and Demetrice Martin from Washington, two guys with reputations of being strong recruiters.

Several guys have changed their verbal commitment to other schools to commit to the Bruins, and four players have made it official as of this writing:

*  Ellis McCarthy, a five-star defensive tackle from Monrovia (CA) HS,

*  Jeremy Castro, a four-star defensive end/linebacker from Vista Murrieta (CA) HS,

UCLA Bruins safety Dalton Hilliard (19)

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