Alterraun Verner News

UCLA passed over Al Golden in favor of Rick Neuheisel when it picked a coach two years ago.

Another day, another round of awards for talented seniors Taylor Mays and Jeff Byers .

Junior Brian Price picks up 2009 BN Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year honors via latimesblogs.latimes.com View full size photo>> The 2009 Pac-10 regular season has come to a close and as we all know, between the end of the regular season and beginning of the bowl season is the all-important awards season.

Freshman cornerback Sheldon Price is an aficionado of college bowl games. He can remember watching J.J. Stokes and the UCLA Bruins play in the 1993 Rose Bowl.

We should be able to get a high 2nd round and 5th round for him. Cleveland would be a good choice for the trade.

What's next -- It looks like coach Rick Neuheisel is going to haul in another highly rated recruiting class, but next year could be tough for the Bruins, starting with an absurd nonconference schedule -- at Kansas State, Houston and at Texas .

UCLA junior defensive tackle Brian Price has been named Pac-10 Pat Tillman defensive player of the year by the conference coaches.

UCLA defensive tackle Brian Price was named the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year on Monday.

LOS ANGELES - UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel might need to make a spur-of-the-moment shopping trip.

Defensive tackle Brian Price, safety Rahim Moore and running back Chane Moline were named winners of UCLA's Henry R. "Red" Sanders Award for most valuable player at the annual football awards banquet Monday at the Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel.

For many football fans in America's second largest city, this is the only game that matters.

An edge that UCLA appears to have over USC is on special teams. The Bruins have the top field-goal kicker in the nation and the nation's ninth-ranked punter .

Before the season, UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel repeated his expectations ad nauseam to anyone who would listen: Bowl or Bust.

Even now, Pete Carroll never has lost to UCLA in November. At this point, no straw is thin for USC to grasp.

Defense, specifically some of UCLAa s outstanding playmakers on that side of the ball, are of concern to USC coach Pete Carroll heading into Saturdaya s Trojans-Bruins showdown at the Coliseum.

Remember that 2008 full-page newspaper ad? It was the talker featuring then-first-year UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel, fresh from his college football banishment and freed from seven seasons of Pac-10 exile, standing in defiance and pointing beneath the bold pronouncement, "The Football Monopoly in Los Angeles is Official Over!" UCLA coach Rick ...

The USC Trojans have dropped to 24th in the most recent AP poll, and they will attempt to get on track against the UCLA Bruins in Pac-10 action.

As USC is mired in its worst season in recent memory, UCLA could be forgiven for paying more than a little attention to its crosstown rivals.

The defense accounted for two touchdowns and set up a field goal and quarterback Kevin Prince passed for 161 yards as UCLA beat Arizona State 23-13 Saturday at the Rose Bowl to become bowl eligible with their sixth win.

One day, one win, three teammates, three perspectives. Three of UCLA's four senior team captains - linebacker Reggie Carter, cornerback Alterraun Verner and wide receiver Terrence Austin - recall a December day in 2006 when the underdog Bruins took out crosstown rival and then-No. 2 USC, 13-9. As his team prepares to take on the Trojans once more, ...