A Guidry family affair in Utah
If his weekly routine holds up, UCLA cornerback Elisha Guidry will FaceTime with a counterpart from the Utah defense in the days before their teams’ showdown Saturday.
Don’t worry, no pregame protocols will be violated between the players. They’re brothers. Elisha is a reserve for the Bruins’ resurgent defense and Javelin is a starting nickel back for a Utah defense that has been among the best in the nation all season.
Their parents, Javelin Sr. and Kaishauna, both attended UCLA but may not have to split their allegiances when their sons face each other at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.
“We’re both on defense,” Elisha said Tuesday, “so they can really root for us.”
The family is expected to wear Guidry Bowl shirts featuring helmets from each team when the Bruins (4-5 overall, 4-2 Pac-12 Conference) play the No. 7 Utes (8-1, 5-1). The younger Javelin, a junior, will have the namesake factor in his favor but Elisha, a redshirt freshman who didn’t play when the teams met last season, can always remind his parents where they went to school.
“My parents are alumni, so they might be a little bit [pro]-UCLA,” Elisha said, “but they definitely want to see us both succeed, so that’s the main thing.”
Elisha and his sibling were inseparable growing up, sharing the same room and playing on the same teams at Cedar Park (Texas) and Vista Murrieta highs before Javelin went to Utah before the 2017 season and Elisha completed his final season of high school. They were reunited last week at their Murrieta home because both of their teams had open weeks on the schedule. Trash talk was not on the agenda, at least according to the younger brother.
“We just want to see each other succeed,” Elisha said. “We’ve never been big on smack talk, but that’s my brother and I love that dude.”
Said the younger Javelin, during a telephone interview: “I just said, ‘I hope y’all are ready for the cold.’ It’s going to be cold because we play at 6 [p.m. MST]. And he was like, ‘Aw, I’ll be all right.’ ”
The forecast calls for temperatures to drop into the high 30s by game’s end.
“They’re not used to that at all,” Javelin said. “I’ll be fine, but … ”
Elisha is following in the footsteps of his father, who played defensive back for the Bruins from 1994 to 1997, but the younger Javelin is stepping into foreign territory with the Utes.
“They’re the ones that offered me,” said Javelin, who has 32 tackles and four pass breakups. “That was the best option I felt like for me. That’s why I’m here.”
Javelin, a decorated sprinter, is quicker, but Elisha, whose 5-foot-11 frame makes him two inches taller than his sibling, possesses superior length. Elisha has made 24 tackles and one fumble recovery this season for the Bruins. “I’m able to break on routes quicker than he can,” Javelin said. “But still, he’s longer than me, so he’s able to jump higher and make plays.”
On that, the siblings can agree.
A real ‘yes man’
UCLA is on such a recruiting tear that the Bruins received one commitment twice.
It came from Myles Jackson, a defensive end from Hoschton (Ga.) Mill Creek High, who originally committed in June only to back out after UCLA opened the season 0-3. He committed anew last week, with the Bruins on a three-game winning streak, announcing the move on Twitter.
The Bruins also received a commitment Monday from Kenny Mestidor, a defensive end from Oakdale (Conn.) St. Thomas More School. UCLA has received five commitments this month, significantly enhancing a recruiting class that now includes 19 players and is ranked fifth in the Pac-12 and No. 31 nationally by 247Sports.
Etc.
For the first time since he suffered a foot injury in August, linebacker Tyree Thompson has returned to working out on the side of the practice field with a trainer. Thompson worked out Tuesday alongside running back Sitiveni Kaufusi and defensive lineman Winston Polite. … Safety Quentin Lake (wrist) and linebacker Bo Calvert (NCAA suspension) continued to work with the scout team in practice.