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BRUINS GET QUALITY INSTEAD OF QUANTITY SMALL RECRUITING CLASS PACKS A LOT OF TALENT.


Byline: BRIAN DOHN Staff Writer

UCLA's recruiting class barely registers on the national radar, but that did not dampen the spirit of Bruins football coach Karl Dorrell Karl Dorrell (born December 18, 1963 in Alameda, California) is the first black head coach in the history of the UCLA Bruins college football team, a position he took on December 18, 2002. .

Not when, top to bottom, he signed arguably his best of five classes Wednesday on national letter of intent signing day.

What kept UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles
UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University)
UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX
 from joining the elite ranks was the size of the class. The Bruins lost only eight scholarship seniors, and two other players to medical issues, so they signed just 10 players, matching the lowest number in the nation and the fewest for a BCS conference The BCS conferences are the six major NCAA Division I FBS football conferences whose champions receive an automatic bid into the Bowl Championship Series every year. All of these conferences besides the Big East have strong ties to certain BCS bowls (called "affiliations"). .

``This class is going to (have) the quality playmakers Playmakers is a TV series on ESPN that depicted the lives of the players on a fictional professional football team. The show starred Omar Gooding, Marcello Thedford, Christopher Wiehl, Jason Matthew Smith, Russell Hornsby and Tony Denison.  that are going to be differences in our program in the future,'' Dorrell said. ``This class has been our best class so far, since I've been here. It's about quality.''

The group is led by Crenshaw cren·shaw   also cran·shaw
n.
A variety of winter melon (Cucumis melo var. inodorus) having a greenish-yellow rind and sweet, usually salmon-pink flesh.



[Origin unknown.]
 defensive tackle Brian Price Brian Price (born February 19, 1976 in Belleville, Ontario) is a Canadian coxswain. He is a graduate from Seneca College with a Civil Engineering Technology diploma. He won the gold medal at the 2002, 2005 and 2007 World Rowing Championships for Canada's men's eight rowing team in  and tailback Raymond Carter Raymond John Carter (born 17 September 1935) is a British Labour Party politician.

Carter was educated at Mortlake Secondary School, Reading Technical College and Stafford College of Technology and became an electrical engineer.
, both of whom should play significant roles in the upcoming season.

UCLA's class was ranked 38th in the nation by rivals.com, but the average of 3.60 stars per player ranked eighth nationally, despite the unexpected defection of Loyola High safety Chris Conte.

``I'm a little bit confused with how they do the rankings,'' Dorrell said. ``It's hard for us to be a highly ranked recruiting class because our numbers were so small. But if you go by in terms of quality that is in the class, I would say it's probably top-10, or inside the top 10.''

Rick Kimbrel, who runs bruinblitz.com on the rivals.com network, said several factors determine the rankings.

``It is the quality of the player and depth of the class,'' Kimbrel said. ``I guess you could say, the more, the merrier.''

The loss of Conte was big. He originally gave an oral commitment to California, but changed his mind last month and switched to UCLA. Dorrell said he and his staff learned Wednesday morning that Conte had changed his mind again and signed with Cal.

``It was a very hard choice for him and a hard decision,'' said Conte's mom, Anne. ``He maturely looked at a lot of things, not just football. I think there were a lot of intangible things he considered. He struggled and struggled and struggled with it. It's been a pretty emotional day for him.''

Conte did not return a message left on his cell phone.

``Those things happen,'' Dorrell said. ``It's common. It happens a lot. We got exactly the number we were targeting to get. We're in pretty good shape the way things ended up.''

It was previously reported that safety Robert Kibble kibble

baked dough that is crushed or cracked. Prepared usually by extruding and then heating-drying the dough. Used as dry food for dogs and cats.
 (multiple sclerosis) would take a medical scholarship and end his football career, and Dorrell said offensive lineman Chris Johnson Chris Johnson may refer to:

In sports:
  • Chris L. Johnson (born 1976), Australian rules football player with Brisbane
  • Chris A. Johnson (born 1986), Australian rules footballer with the Melbourne Football Club
 (shoulder) is doing the same.

Among the signees who may make an immediate impact are Price, Carter, defensive back Courtney Viney (Edison of Fresno), linebacker Steve Sloan Steve Sloan was was an All-American college quarterback, college football head coach, and an athletics administrator.

Sloan's football career took him to several locations. He coached at Duke University from 1983 to 1986. During his tenure, he compiled a 13-31 record.
 (Archbishop Mitty of San Jose San Jose, city, United States
San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850.
) and linebacker/defensive end Akeem Ayers (Verbum Dei).

Safety Glenn Love (Hamilton of Chandler, Ariz.), tight end Nate Chandler (Mira Mesa of San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. ) could see action.

Meanwhile, quarterback Chris Forcier (St. Augustine of San Diego), offensive lineman Mike Harris (Duarte) and defensive end Justin Edison (Verbum Dei) will have time to develop in the system.

``We had to put some targets on some guys early,'' Dorrell said. ``We landed the guys that we wanted to at the very beginning, with Brian Price and Raymond Carter, and we followed it up with some very quality picks that, I think, were important for us to have in this class.''

brian.dohn@dailynews.com

(818) 713-3607

CAPTION(S):

8 photos, 11 boxes

Photo:

(1) Defensive tackle Brian Price (Crenshaw High) could contribute right away for the Bruins, coach Karl Dorrell says.

Photo courtesy of Price family

(2) Fresno Edison's Courtney Viney, right, will put pressure on UCLA's cornerbacks for playing time.

Darrell Wong/The Fresno Bee

(3 -- color) PRICE

(4) AKEEM AYERS

(5) BRIAN PRICE

(6) RAYMOND CARTER

(7) STEVE SLOAN

(8) COURTNEY VINEY

Box:

(1) SIGNEES

(2) STARTERS LOST

(3) SUMMING IT UP

(4) RIVALS.COM RANKING

(5) IMMEDIATE IMPACT PLAYERS

(6) TOP NEEDS

(7) OTHER SIGNEES

(8) BREAKING IT DOWN

(9) NOTABLE

(10) MAYBE LATER

(11) SIZE ISSUE

By Brian Dohn/Daily News
COPYRIGHT 2007 Daily News
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2007, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Article Details
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Title Annotation:Sports
Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Date:Feb 8, 2007
Words:710
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