The UCLA Football team could see the return of former 5-star high school linebacker Mique Juarez who has not practiced with the team for the last six weeks due to an “excused absence”.
Last February, the UCLA Football team hauled in another stellar recruiting class which included a few players that got the attention of college programs across the country.
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One of the bigger catches was a player that came from UCLA’s own backyard, Mique Juarez from North Torrance High School.
Juarez was a very athletic linebacker in high school and caught the attention of many elite college programs. Though he was originally committed to USC, it did not stop top tier programs from recruiting him, especially Jim Mora and his staff at UCLA.
UCLA Bruins
As luck would have it for the Bruins, Juarez decomitted from USC right around the time the USC program was in turmoil after the firing of former head coach Steve Sarkisian.
Juarez liked what he saw at UCLA, committed and signed his National Letter of Intent. But that was just the start of his epic journey.
He enrolled early last spring, looking to get a head start on the forthcoming season. Things did not begin the way he anticipated. He suffered a neck injury in spring camp, holding him out of practice, team meetings and even classes.
To add, he has been going through some personal issues which he has been keeping to himself. Things started to pile up on him and because of it, he needed time to evaluate certain issues in his personal life, including football.
Being at an top program like UCLA, everyone noticed that Juarez stopped attending practices early in fall camp. Mora would only say that he had an “excused absence”.
That was six weeks ago. Until this past week, not much has been heard from Juarez.
Shedding Light
On Monday, an article by Thuc Nhi Nguyen came out in The Daily Breeze shedding some light on his situation. Juarez did not want to get into what exactly he is going though, but said that, “it was just too much pressure”.
He backed up that sentiment when he talked to Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday. Juarez briefly commented on what has been expected of him as a 5-star player. It weighed on him and he turned to Mora for help in trying to navigate through the attention.
Although he has occasionally drawn attention to himself on Twitter and did so again on Monday in a Twitter spat with a veteran UCLA player.
Aside from that, he is still working out his issues. But there could be some positive news in the near future.
Per Bolch, Juarez plans on returning very soon, possibly as soon as next week.
That would be a huge help to the UCLA linebacking crew, but just as well, playing football again could distract Juarez and help ease him into the life of college student-athlete.
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Hopefully this is the start of a better journey for Juarez. In all aspects of his life.
Go Bruins!