May 29, 2012

Edward Lewis
BruinSportsReport.com Publisher

Mike: Out of all the recruits at EYBL you saw this weekend, who's a must-get for UCLA?

Really tough question, seeing as there were more than two dozen elite recruits out there this weekend. But I think out of all the UCLA targets there, I would have to take either Tyler Ennis or Marcus Lee. I don't think I've ever been more impressed with a point guard than I was with Ennis this weekend. He fills up a stat sheet like Rajon Rondo and has an amazing feel for the game at that extremely valuable point guard spot. He creates such havoc for defenses when he drives the lane and can either score or use his great vision to dish to a teammate. With Kyle Anderson likely being a one-and-done, it's even more important for UCLA to land a PG with Ennis' talent.

As for Lee, his stats out at EYBL will rarely "wow" you, because for some reason AAU teams all over the country have an impossible time feeding their big man. But his ceiling is so sky high, and by the time the final Rivals150 rankings come out, I'll be shocked if he isn't in the top 20. His shot-blocking skills are blue chip - he got No. 1 recruit Jabari Parker twice on Friday - and his length and athleticism are as well. Plus, when we talked to his older brother at the Oakland session, he said Lee still might grow to 6 feet 10 or 6 feet 11.

Mark: Who are some legit hoops prospects that we can realistically expect in this class?

We broke the EYBL UCLA leans down a lot more in our Overtime with BSR video, but in short, I think it's very possible the Bruins end up with a class of Semi Ojeleye, Ishmail Wainright, Zach Lavine and one or two more recruits, possibly Allerik Freeman, who told me he'll take an official visit to UCLA in the fall. I also think the Bruins ultimately end up with the Robinson twins as well, because I think they'll both opt to play on football scholarships at UCLA and walk-on to the hoops program in the winter.

That's kind of my gut feeling on the 2013 class right now, and I think it would be a great haul. All of those recruits play great defense and none is expected to be a one-and-done. And that's a formula we've seen Ben Howland win with a lot here in Westwood in the past.

SouthOCPsyD: What's the latest on the potential "package deal" of recruits (i.e., Moore, Byrd, Goodman, Willis, Clark, Mathis, etc)? How many players are actually included in this potential "package" - and what's the likelihood that they end up at UCLA? If we land a bunch of the kids that are expected to be a part of this package deal - and we get an OL class of Falah, Dowling, Bunte, Rogers, and Morris/Lopez - plus we get Larue, Ross, and Owusu at WR - Lee and Green at RB - Printz at QB - and Hollins and Jack at LB - is this a class that could compete with the small - but elite group of recruits that USC is pulling in this class?

Well, the package deal seems to still be an idea with around seven or eight elite West Coast prospects (you can read who's supposedly involved in that deal here), but I'd bet my apartment that the "deal" has no influence on where all of the players actually end up. Really, I think the only legitimate Happy Meal deal out of all the recruits is Priest Willis and Tahaan Goodman. Where one goes, the other will follow. I'm not sure if you can say that for the rest of the recruits in this alleged package. They'd all like to play with each other, but just because Goodman and Willis go to UCLA, I don't think that immediately makes Joe Mathis want to follow. It certainly doesn't hurt, however.

As for the dream-case scenario you listed above, I think it would be right on par with USC, although probably ranked just a little bit lower - given the fact that the Trojans may not have a single three-star in their entire class. But if that Bruin class did play out, I think it'd certainly be a top 15 class, and you could argue it might even have a bigger impact down the road considering there would be around 20 really good players as opposed to the 15 USC is bringing in.

As for the odds of all of this happening, I actually think they're pretty good. I think UCLA quietly leads for Goodman and Willis, and that's the first domino needed to fall for all of this. The second is, of course, win some football games in the fall.

Smartone148: In Chris Brown's new book (@smartfootball on twitter), he talks about defenses that run hybrid 3-4 / 4-3's where each side of the defense looks like a different defensive set. He talks about coaches likes Belichick and Saban running defenses like this. Could you see Spanos incorporating a concept like this for UCLA's defense, given the desire to play 3-4 but the greater depth of defensive linemen than linebackers?

We've been asked to not give away any of the strategic stuff we see out at Spaulding Field for obvious reasons, but from what I gathered out there at the 15 practices so far, don't expect this defense to be a Rex Ryan-like 3-4 set yet. Honestly, I didn't see one exotic blitz package or crazy front seven look that made me say, "woah." I'm really just assuming it's because UCLA is trying to acclimate its players to the 3-4 look first before it overwhelms them with the Dick LeBeau crazy stuff.

I'd imagine your wish of a combo / exotic front seven look is on its way, although I wouldn't expect to see it until either late fall camp or even late September - when the Bruins are finally comfortable in their new positions and defenses.

SouthOCPsyD: How many OL are you hearing that the staff is planning on taking? Do you think the following class would be a realistic possibility: Falah, Bunte, K. Rogers, C. Morris, Dowling, and Lopez? Is there a more likely OL class that you would expect us to get (you seem to think Quessenberry is a high priority for us - would you substitute him in for somebody on my list)?

We're hearing the Bruins would like to take five or six offensive lineman, and I think their ideal class would be Nico Falah, Christian Morris, Khaliel Rodgers, Sean Dowling, Erik Bunte and Scott Quessenberry. That haul would just be ludicrous. Not sure there'd be a better 2013 O-line class than that in the entire nation.

The scary thing is it might actually be realistic too. Bunte and Dowling are already committed, Falah appears to have a top two of UCLA and USC (although he hasn't officially said that yet), Rodgers has the Bruins in his top six, Morris has UCLA as his favorite right now and Quessenberry has the Bruins high in his top four. My guess right now is UCLA gets some combination of four of these guys, and then fills the last two OL spots with players like a Cameron Hunt, a John Lopez or a David Maka.