Renewing the annual templates of spring.
I can hear the protests of Florida and Texas fans already, and maybe a cough or two from LSU. But the fact is, when it comes to experienced, incumbent quarterbacks who appear completely untenable to continue in starting role, they've got nothing on UCLA. In fact, the Bruins have spent pretty much the entirety of Rick Neuheisel's tenure as head coach redefining untenable QB play at a major program. Neuheisel's first starter, Kevin Craft, set the school record for interceptions in 2008 and had already been relegated to lame duck status by the time coaches handed the reins to redshirt freshman Kevin Prince the following spring. But Prince, too, has spent the last two years in various states of injury and ineffectiveness, twice yielding last year to the equally injured and ineffective Richard Brehaut.
Between them, Prince and Brehaut have attempted 721 passes in 23 starts over two years. But scanning the seven candidates in the Orange County Register's spring quarterback preview, it seems the real question when the Bruins hit the field isn't going to be "Why should we bench our veteran QBs for incoming freshman Brett Hundley?" but why not?
The most obvious reason why not: Prince and Brehaut are severely damaged goods after presiding over arguably the most spectacular offensive collapse in UCLA history. The Bruins finished dead last in the Pac-10 in total offense and very nearly last in the entire country in pass efficiency, beating out only Vanderbilt and Buffalo; only the triple-option attacks from the service academies and Georgia Tech passed for fewer yards. The two primary passers combined to serve up 12 interceptions to just nine touchdowns, and failed to lead a single victory when not subsidized by at least 200 yards from a relatively mediocre running game. Beyond them, it was even worse: With Prince (knee), Brehaut (concussion) and third-stringer Nick Crissman (shoulder) all on the bench at Washington on Nov. 18, backups Clayton Tunney and Darius Bell completed twice as many passes to Husky defenders (two) as they did to their own receivers (one) in 11 attempts in the fourth quarter, one of which was returned for a touchdown that iced another nationally televised catastrophe for the Bruin offense.
All that in a year that was supposed to yield at least another modest step toward breaking out of a decade of mediocrity in the shadow of the fading crosstown giant, USC, with the Trojans' old quarterback guru, Norm Chow, pulling the strings. Honestly, with the veterans starting over under a new offensive coordinator —�and one of them (Prince) sitting out the spring to continue rehab — can the new kid really be worse?
Another reason: Hundley is worth the investment. He enrolled in January as the undisputed headliner of an otherwise unremarkable recruiting class, one of the top 100 overall prospects in the entire 2011 class according to Rivals, and the second-best "all-purpose" quarterback, and looking the part at 6-4, 210 pounds. And another: Neuheisel, staring down the chopping block himself after offering up both of his coordinators over the winter, can't afford to bring anyone along slowly. In 2008, it made sense to ride out the season with Craft rather than blow Prince's redshirt on a low-stakes transition season that wasn't going anywhere, anyway. Now that that investment has (apparently) gone bust, he has to hit paydirt — or at least come close enough to convince fans and administrators that paydirt is around the next corner —�right now. Hundley seems to be unanimously regarded as the best talent at the position, and if he's not curling himself into a fetal position in the pocket, he has to get his shot.
If he doesn't, though, it may be for the same reason. With two years spent on developing Brehaut and three on Prince, Neuheisel has to hope one of them is on the verge of a return on investment as a junior. The head coach is personally taking over the title of quarterbacks coach from Chow, and the new offensive coordinator (Eric Johnson, in from the San Francisco 49ers) can breathe a little fresh air into a meeting room that had to be stale with the stench of Vicodin and failure by last Halloween. If Hundley represents the highest ceiling in terms of potential, Prince and Brehaut may finally be at the points in their career where they offer a significantly higher floor.
The real question, then, is which of the two newcomers makes his presence more immediately felt. If it's Hundley, Neuheisel can conceivably write off another mediocre record as "growing pains" as long as his new star-in-waiting still looks the part in December. If it's Johnson, the onus will be squarely on making one of the older guys look like a viable Pac-10 quarterback at last in his pro-style system. If it happens to be both, they'll go into the fall ready to sink or swim together. But just treading water isn't an option.
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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.
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