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Pac-10 Football Media Day
July 24, 2008
Rick Neuheisel and defensive tackle represented UCLA at the annual Pac-10 Football Media Day, held at the LAX Hilton.
Neuheisel and Harwell did various interviews from 9:30 am to 2:00 pm with both the electronic and print media.
Here are some of the quotes from the podium session:
UCLA Head Coach Rick Neuheisel
Opening Remarks: "Needless to say I am elated to be here. It is a thrill to be back in college football and back at my alma mater. UCLA is a great place, it was great to me and I look forward to helping rekindle a rich football tradition."
On Brigham Harwell: "I don't think there is any question that to play great defense, you have to have the ability to create a pass rush with the front four of your defense. If you look at the national champions from the last four years, they have had a great defensive line. If you don't, you have to risk having a fifth man on the pass rush. If you have the advantage of a guy like Brigham, it's a nice place to start. It gives us hope to be a very strong defense."
On the quarterback situation: "You know it was a strange day that 14th practice. We had no pads on, we were out there just going through some drills. Ben [Olson] took off and went to hand the ball off and I thought he had his foot stepped on, he was hopping around and I was kind of giggling at him. The very next play, Pat [Cowan] went down in a heap. Ben went back and couldn't take two steps away from center, so I had two senior quarterbacks both in heaps on the ground being administered to by our training staff. I moved the drill up and I'm wondering what just happened because neither one were touched? It just goes to show you what can happen in football. Pat is out for the year. He still has not had surgery, but he'll have surgery in August. Ben is just out of a boot. He had surgery to put a pin in his foot. The healing process is going as planned, he is doing everything he can and hopefully will be at full speed early on in camp."
UCLA DT Brigham Harwell
On the defensive front: "We're pretty good working together. There is a huge pressure on us as a defensive front. We are looking forward to the season because the defensive line is the strength of the team right now."
On missing last season due to an injury: "Being out last year was really tough for me. Being at home watching the games on TV, I had some tough Saturdays. I'm looking forward to having a great season. I'm done with school, I can focus on football and just come out strong every Saturday and help the team to win games."
Neuheisel also mentioned that fifth year senior Aaron Meyer is planning to graduate during the summer and transfer, possibly to Nicholls State. Also, fourth year junior Jamil Turner will not play this year but will stay at UCLA to pursue his degree.
In addition, the head coach said that during the first four days of practice, he will split the squad in half to get more practice reps for players. While not finalized, he said he is planning to have the first and third units practice from 3:00 pm to about 4:40 pm and the second and fourth units (and other players) from 4:20 pm to 6:00 pm. The enitre team will participate in special teams as the end of the first session and the beginning of the second session overlap.
In the annual poll of Pac-10 media reps, UCLA was picked to finish fifth in this year's Pac-10 title race. The Bruins picked up 204 votes for fifth behind USC (389), Arizona State (330), Oregon (295) and California (274).
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Below is the complete preseason Pac-10 media poll:
1. USC (389)
2. Arizona State (330)
3. Oregon (295)
4. California (274)
5. UCLA (204)
6. Oregon State (192)
7. Arizona (185)
8. Washington (139)
9. Stanford (76)
10. Washington State (61)
