Saga continues for UCLA, Diddy’s son
After a tumultuous offseason at UCLA, coach Jim Mora and the Bruins are eager to get back to football.
The Bruins were in the news for all the wrong reasons in recent months, from the suspension and reinstatement of offensive line coach Adrian Klemm to the arrest of top incoming freshman Soso Jamabo in Texas.
But for sheer weirdness and the accompanying media spotlight, nothing compared to hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs’ arrest for an alleged fight with assistant strength coach Sal Alosi in the weight room in June. Diddy, father of defensive back Justin Combs, is still waiting to hear whether he’ll face misdemeanor charges.
At the first day of the Pac12 Conference’s football media summit Thursday at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif., Mora provided no revelations about the incident. While declining several invitations to discuss the dust-up, Mora confirmed Justin Combs is still on the team heading into his junior year, saying the Bruins “have had no changes to our roster.”
“Well, really nothing has changed,” center Jake Brendel. “It’s just been business as usual, really. We got a new lock on the weight room, but that’s it.”
With the new season just five weeks away, the Bruins insist they haven’t been distracted by those offseason issues. The focus is on football, not the media attention that can surround a school next to Hollywood.
“Things are going to come up that might set the team back publicly, but you can’t let that affect your 3-foot world, your 3-foot space,” Brendel said. “I feel like in these times, if you just focus on yourself and the team’s goals, then you shouldn't have a problem.”
Trojans picked to fight on
Southern California was selected to win its first Pac-12 title since 2008 in a preseason media poll. The Trojans received 21 of 45 votes for the title, edging defending champion Oregon. The Ducks got 17 votes for the top spot and were picked to win the North division, while Southern California is favored to win the South. Oregon has won four of the past six league titles, reaching the national championship last season.
No pressure on Irish
Notre Dame and other independent teams won’t be forced to join a conference in the future to remain eligible for the College Football Playoff. The subject has come up at several conference media days this month, but CFP executive director Bill Hancock told ESPN.com there is no movement to head in that direction. The three Division I-A independents are the Irish, BYU and Army. “The three independents are perfectly happy being independent,” Hancock said.