It's early, really early to start speculating on quarterbacks in the Pac-12 and whether or not they will be able to lead their team to success in the 2015 season. However, football is a 365 day a year sport and people want to talk about, so why not?! One of the most interesting new quarterback situations in football is going to take place at UCLA. The Bruins have to replace All-American and potential high round draft pick Brett Hundley.
By all accounts, the job of UCLA quarterback may just fall into the hands of Jerry Neuheisel who has come a long way since coming onto the Westwood campus. He certainly had the name by coming to UCLA, the looks, and even the mannerisms of his famous Bruin quarterback dad Rick Neuheisel. Rick was a walk-on at UCLA when he showed up and was best known for holding the kicks of All-American kicker John Lee until he lead the Bruins to a Rose Bowl victory. His son, Jerry, is not a walk on for the Bruins, but there has never been a lot of talk about Jerry being the guy to take over for Hundley.
Some people may think that the job is his based on what the public saw when he came in and relieved Brett Hundley against Texas and helped UCLA defeat the Longhorns in a very competitive game, but that thought may be somewhat of a dream considering that a big Bruin recruit may just come in and steal Jerry's thunder. The recruit, Josh Rosen, has shown up in time for spring practices, and evidently looks like a quarterback straight out of a casting agency in Hollywood. This begs the question, does Neuheisel have a shot at the quarterback position in Bruin country?
The answer to that is yes. Everybody has a shot at a position, but how big of a shot does he REALLY have? According to Jerry Neuheisel, he thinks that in the end it comes down to the best player to lead the team. "I know at the end of the day that it won't be about who's who but who is the best guy to lead the team. And I wouldn't want it any other way."
All a player on any team ever wants is a shot at the position. Neuheisel knows what he is up against, but he knows that he is a competitive guy and won't give up the position without a fight. He has shown that he is a fighter and counting him out of the quarterback job at UCLA is the last thing that people want to do. In that Texas moment, he showed some serious moxie. He threw for 178 yards, on 23-30 passes, with two touchdowns, and more importantly, no interceptions.
"It showed what I could do." said Neuheisel. It certainly did. He also added that he dreamed of a moment like that when he was a young kid, growing up in the household of a Bruin quarterback, and making a play to win the game for UCLA.
Jerry Neuheisel is a confident, junior quarterback who talks about going through his progressions a lot slower than he did last year in his limited playing time. He looks at film, studies himself very closely and will try and translate those study habits to practice field this spring and summer. To Neuheisel, if he does those things, he will be able to put himself into a situation where he WILL be the best guy to lead the team. He certainly does not want to leave any doubt with his coaches.
I, for one, will not doubt him.
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