While most of you were sleeping like babies because of the Holiday, Rick Neuheisel was delivering the Nation’s #5 High School QB to UCLA as a much-needed painkiller
Bruin fans were blue this week. EXTRA blue. After blowing a chance for a win at Kansas State on Saturday, UCLA had some of its followers making excuses and looking for silver linings, while others were suddenly dreading another long season. Some of those with dread were even calling for rusty Kevin Prince’s head (despite his injury layoff, and despite all his decent passes that were dropped).
Now, ALL these subsets of Bruin fans are happy for a moment, as UCLA has landed highly-touted Quarterback Recruit Brett Hundley. On Labor Day morning, Hundley made the announcement, disappointing any Bruin-haters who have ever seen him play.
The Chandler High, Arizona QB had reportedly narrowed his options down to UCLA and Washington, and then cancelled his visit to Seattle last week, giving birth to rampant “Hundley-to-UCLA” rumors. For once, the rumors turned out to be true.
Rick Neuheisel probably had nothing to do with the timing, but Bruin fans truly required a pick-me-up after UCLA’s mistake-laden performance against the Wildcats. And even the people who think UCLA is going to beat ONLY Washington State this season are pleased with Neuheisel today, for once again proving that he can recruit with anyone.
Hundley is a 6′ 4″, Dual-Threat QB, who can run all over defenses, shedding high school tacklers with ease. And he can throw the ball, too. He is ranked as the #5 QB Nationally by the Recruiting Services because he can run, AND because he can hit any Receiver anywhere on the field.
Here is a link to his highlight reel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebjNDCcAclY
As you can see, he is not one of those QB’s who make it look effortless. Hundley looks like he is putting every ounce of his energy into his throws. He really puts his body into it and rifles it hard. And he hits his targets, even in tight spaces. Granted, this is a HIGHLIGHT reel, so of course it’s the best 8 minutes of his whole Junior year, and I’m sure that there could be an 8-minute reel of miscues too. So take it for what it’s worth, but it is definitely PROMISING.
There is no such thing as a sure thing. Most Bruin fans will never go overboard for a top QB recruit again, after watching injury-prone Ben Olson fail to live up to his hype. I am not calling Hundley the Savior. I am not expecting Hundley to start over Prince on the first day of camp next year. Hundley may or may not be the next Cade McNown — I am not celebrating Hundley per se — But what is pleasing is that Neuheisel — in the face of a bad TV performance by his team — can still land elite talent, even from out-of-state. Sooner or later, all this good recruiting will translate to WINS. And “sooner” has already passed, so “later” must be imminent.
Hundley wants to be a Doctor, and has earned a 3.9 GPA. At least the Bruins won’t lose this kid to Academics. He MUST be smart — He was able to see past the recent ugliness of UCLA Football and realize that much better days are ahead, especially with him there. In fact, maybe Prince’s off-target afternoon sealed the deal for Hundley — After watching that game, he KNEW he could beat out Prince to Start in 2011.
Speaking of ugliness and Quarterbacks leaving Arizona, Matt Leinart finally found a team to take a chance on him, after the Cardinals dumped him: Yesterday, the Houston Texans signed Leinart to a 1-year contract. Why am I mentioning something that appears to be GOOD news for Leinart? Because every silver lining has a dark cloud, and for Leinart, his dark cloud is Matt Schaub. Leinart could have gone to a team where he could have competed for the starting job. He could have battled Jason Campbell in Oakland, Trent Edwards in Buffalo, or even Matt Moore in Carolina, for example. But Schaub is an up and coming Quarterback who has recently entered the upper echelon of NFL QB’s. His lofty stats, aided by stud WR Andre Johnson, have made Schaub a Fantasy Darling, and have gotten him noticed as being one of the League’s best Field Generals. In other words, the only way Leinart takes a meaningful snap this year is if Schaub gets injured. Just like it was with Leinart backing up Kurt Warner for the last few years. Hopefully, true student-athlete Hundley is taking notes, and realizing what happens to cocky QB’s who don’t work hard at their craft, and don’t take it seriously enough. Whoa, Doctor!