Kevin Prince may be UCLA's starting quarterback, but Richard Brehaut is getting his fair share of praise from coach Rick Neuheisel. Reporters keep asking Neuheisel about Prince, yet with every answer comes a reference to Brehaut. The rising sophomore played in six games last season, completing 11 of 17 pass attempts. I briefly caught up with him after Friday night's practice.
Blair Angulo: What's your approach been like this spring with Kevin Prince pegged as the starter?
Richard Brehaut: Last spring it was a little bit more open just because we didn't have an established starter from the year before. Of course, Kev is going to get the majority of the reps with the ones and I understand that. At the same time, I'm getting almost equal reps with the twos and we're running the same thing. I'm getting my chance to show what I've learned and how much I've progressed.
UCLA AthleticsRichard Brehaut
Angulo: How have you improved? Where have you progressed?
Brehaut: The game has slowed down for me a bit. Everything is not 100 miles an hour anymore. I can actually sit back now. I have a full grasp on the whole playbook, so now it's just about executing. Last spring it was about trying to learn on the fly, now that I've kind of learned everything it's about making that throw, making that right read.
Angulo: How have you handled the pistol formation?
Brehaut: I don't mind it at all. I ran some of that quarterback-read stuff in high school, so I'm used to that. I think it will be good for our offense -- we're going to get more plays done.
Angulo: Is the quarterback role in the offense expanding? Do you feel like offensive coordinator Norm Chow is giving the quarterbacks more control and liberty?
Brehaut: Yeah, yeah. He wants us to get to a point where we can just take over the game. If we see something that we want to change and we know that we have a certain look that we like, then we can just take advantage of it. I definitely say that's where we're moving to. I don't think we've fully there yet, but that's what we're working toward.