A look at the five freshmen Mick Cronin is looking toward:

To little surprise, given his upcoming official visit starting tomorrow. He canceled an unofficial to Syracuse to get UCLA an official. Story to come.

Not sure if you'all are paying attention with basketball at the top of the mind but DTR and Bobo participated at the combine yesterday. Charbonnet and Gaines go today.

DTR ran a great 40 at 4.56. That put him 4th and was a bit overshadowed by Anthony Richardson, the 244 pound QB from Florida who ran a 4.43. Overall, this was one of the fastest (maybe the fastest) QB groups ever at the combine with 4 guys running sub 4.6 and all 7 guys who ran were a sub 4.8. DTR's 10 yard split of 1.51 was even more impressive. That tied him for 1st among QBs and put him on the upper end of DBs and WRs. To put it in perspective, his 40 time would have finished 1st or 2nd among QBs in the prior 10 combines. His Vertical placed him 8th out of 9. Not great but once again the QBs who tested were well above average. His broad jump was a solid 10'1" which placed him 4th out of 9. His 3 cone and shuttle were not great but not bad either. Not great against the group he was competing against but compared to prior combines we was about average. I was a bit surprised by this but maybe he was taking it easy because he was focused on the 40 and he knew he was going to throw later or maybe he did not train for these events. His throws were a mixed bad. He was good on the short throws but did not stand out when throwing deep. There is definite interest and it looks like he will get drafted. Phili would be a great landing spot. They have a system that suits a QB that runs 8-12 times a game and uses the run game to create easy throws.

Bobo did not complete in any of the athletic testing. He was one of the only WRs to skip the athletic part. He did stand out in the drills with soft hands. He was as smooth catching the ball as anyone else out there. He dropped down to 205 for the combine. It looks like he is focused on being a WR in the NFL rather than bulking up to play TE.

Outside of the UCLA guys and the crazy athletic performance by Richardson, I thought there was some pretty high level QB talent. I would not be surprised to see 5 to 6 guys from this draft class become NFL starters and 3 to 4 start for NFL teams for a decade. The talent is so deep, the best of the bunch may not end up being a big name guy.

The story:

Mick Cronin’s full press conference starting with the update on Jaylen Clark:

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Do we know when Spring ball starts?

I know that Cronin is doing his best to preserve a high seed, but I really hope that he is not putting a program gag order on a severe, career-altering injury affecting one of his best players.

My logic at this point is that if it were positive news, it would have been leaked or outright announced.

If this is all an effort to move up a spot, I think it shows a lack of perspective and a lack of compassion. Clark and his teammates should be able to process it and grieve his injury in any way they want, including to the press.

Speaking of the press, that is the one aspect of his game that is irreplaceable: his elite ability to disrupt ball handlers in space. Very few college players have ever shown the combination of anticipation, intelligence, situational awareness, athleticism, and coordination to consistently disrupt a progressing ball handler the way Clark does.

Right here:

Here’s what is known going into tonight’s contest:

Top-seeded UCLA, which has a first-round bye, will play in the first game of the day Thursday at noon against the winner of Wednesday’s 8/9 contest.

Should the Bruins get all the way through, they will also play: Friday at 6 p.m. and in the 7:30 p.m. championship game Saturday. In that scenario, all games would be on Pac-12 Network except for the title game, which will be on ESPN.

The Bruins trail only top-ranked Houston, with Kansas, Alabama and Purdue rounding out the top five.

who you got??

Already on campus, saw 2023 signee Sebastian Mack walking around

Tomorrow’s regular-season finale will be a game within the game, with Pac-12 player of the year contenders Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Azuolas Tubelis taking center stage.

So, coming off last night’s postgame comments from both sides, I took a look at the case for both players.

Can't ask for anymore in a regular-season finale than this!

Our ladies basketball team took down a Stanford team they haven’t beaten in over 12 years in the tournament. They were down by 16 points and I almost turned off the game in the third quarter, but instead watched them come back systematically and take the lead with about two minutes to go in the game. They play Washington state for the championship on Sunday. They have an excellent chance at winning the PAC 12 title. Perhaps this is an omen for both BB teams to take the PAC 12 crown.

Would you prefer to be the number 2 seed in the West OR the number 1 seed in the East.

I understand that the question needs more info (who else is in the region, where are the games played, etc.) but just figured I’d get the input from my fellow bruins.

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Chip Kelly has signed an extension with UCLA that will keep him as the Bruins' head coach through 2027.

"I am excited about our football program under the leadership of Coach Kelly and his talented staff," Martin Jarmond said in a statement provided by the program. "The football program is on an upward trajectory, both on the field and in the classroom. Coach Kelly and his staff have done a tremendous job developing young men as demonstrated by their academic excellence."

Has anyone heard of whether they got their media contract resolved?? Any more schools leaving? They have another year to sort this out and time is running out

I like doing away with the shifts.
Not yet on board with time clocks on batters and pitchers.
Also never liked the ghost runners in extra innings.

Tip-off approaching, about 30 mins away on ESPN.

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Wasn’t able to make it out, fighting off a cold so I can make sure I’m 100% to get to this week’s games.

Here is Mick Cronin from today’s presser:

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Jaime Jaquez Jr., Tyger Campbell, David Singleton:

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In a corresponding move, former defensive coordinator Bill McGovern moves into the role of director of football administration.

Three additional moves also announced:

-RBs coach DeShaun Foster is now an associate head coach

-Ikaika Malloe adds defensive line coach onto duties along with OLBs

-Brian Norwood, formerly DBs coach, now safeties coach now that Kodi Whitfield is coaching the CBs

Full story coming soon.

Jeremy Akers. Seems like a good guy. Hope he always has been.