On Toma
As many of you guys know, I am not big on on star rankings. From what I've heard, UCLA kept scouting Roby Toma's teammates, and every time they watched the tape, Toma kept cropping up and making plays.
He is also a kid that could go to West Point and play for Army, which is a huge deal. It is a very difficult place to get in to, and speaks of the high quality of an individual. UCLA is a program that needs more leadership, and Toma could be a guy like that.
In addition to playing receiver, he could excel on special teams. Sometimes, size and 40 times do not tell the whole story, and I believe that is what UCLA is thinking in recruiting Toma.
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About Inside UCLA
This is Brian Dohn's sixth season covering UCLA after spending 4 1/2 years covering the Dodgers for the Daily News and other Los Angeles Newspaper Group papers. He graduated from Rutgers, where the first college football game was played in 1869. Sure, the Scarlet Knights suffered for a long time, but now RU is doing what Jerseyans always thought was possible. Winning at Rutgers also proves winning is possible everywhere else in the nation, so underachieving coaches better be careful. Now, if only men's hoops can turn it around.
As I said before - Toma is no Lil Romeo. Go Bruins!
Yea right,UCLA needs a major upgrade in talent,i think they are thinking Te,o,they cant afford to be thinking about a special teams player.
keep up the good work b! check this site out for my bruin info. some of those other sites are waaaay too biased.
Little guys are useless in D-1 football.
Signed -- USC 5-star Defense September 24
Holy @#$%!
Signed -- USC 5-star Defense September 25 after not being able to tackle Jacquizz Rodgers (Scout height and weight when recruited 5'6 165 lbs.)
pfft...first of all Jacquizz Rodgers was very highly recruited and offered by a number of programs. So while he was small he wasnt short on talent.
And Army always signs 2 star guys and probably offer 200000 kids a year.
You could pretty much watch any 2 star guy and go "WOW he has shades of (insert nfl guy). And remember (random walkon star from some current program), he turned out ok"
You don't take a Toma this early in the season the strategy is to get Te'o,its that simple.
Thanks for that perspective Brian. Just like we trusted Howland when he brought in the not-so-highly-regarded LRMAM (the rating services had Ryan Wright rated much higher than him), I'm going to give a guy like Norm Chow the benefit of the doubt when it comes to picking the right people for our program.
Brian,
Is Pete going after any of these guys or are they just laughing down in south central?
Luc Richard,is 6'8 and ultra athletic,Toma is 5'9 160 4.6 speed Bruins could've gotten him in feb.Toma wont play for at least 2-3 yrs,i just hope we get Te'o
Bill Walsh found Dwight Clark almost exactly the same way. He found him while scouting QB Steve Fuller at Clemson. Nobody except Walsh really thought Clark could play pro football. He worked out pretty good for the Niners though.
Div I is full of guys who are tremendous players who most people said "wouldnt be able to cut it" after high school for some reason or another. Lets give Toma a fair chance.
Except Clark was alreayd playing D1 ball at Clemson...not the best example buddy
Taylor Embree - 1-star - not even ranked for his position. nuff said.
I agree Brian. Taylor Embree is a perfect example of this. He wasn't highly rated or very fast. That kid is AMAZING. He catches everything that comes his way. I don't think I have EVER seen another UCLA WR catch a higher percentage of balls than him. Can you research this Brian? He's like the Cookie Monster. He just gobbles up everything that comes his way.
Hey VB, when are you going to start NukeNeuheisel.com?
VB doesn't have time to start an unwarranted site like NukeNeuheisel.com....he still needs to work on GetRidOfGeoffStrand.com that is warranted.
I don't mind this offer/signing as long as we don't get 25 toma types. With all due respect to the Embrees and Tomas of the world, they're fine players but they're not going to be difference makers/home run hitters. 1* can turn out to be 3* or even 4* players, but 5* players are the difference makers. UCLA is not going to sign too many 5* players so I don't mind taking a chance on a Toma.
Toma, supposedly looks good, so who knows... They'll try to get Te'o, but it wasn't like they stopped recruiting Te'o and went for Toma... Toma wanted to be a Bruin, UCLA offered...and there you go.
I thought the Bruins would be horrible this season. I know their bad but not horrible... 3 wins so far and close games. They gotta work on that offensive line. This is ridiculous, other than that, they got some talent from previous years and also this year so far.
Go Bruins!!!!
"Luc Richard,is 6'8 and ultra athletic,Toma is 5'9 160 4.6 speed"
Yes, because basketball recruits and football recruits are judged on the exact same spectrum of physical tools.
Man, that Maurice Jones-Drew was only 5'6", amazing that he ended up a success. I wonder if he can hit a jump-shot.
taylor embree was a 1 star? dang, that dudes sick! dont trust the media about anything (especially politics)! down with the media!!! well, except for dohn of course.... lol
I think we need to give this guy a chance before everyone starts leaping to conclusions about him. For everyone saying we should be going after 4 and 5 star players, I'm sure the coaching staff feels the same way, but many of those players want to go to elite programs right now, not one that is rebuilding. Teams like Fresno State show that its possible to build a quality program by taking character and effort guys, and when we start getting more competitive we will become more attractive to those elite 4 and 5 star players.
I think our team makes it pretty clear just how unreliable the star system can be anyways. Embree=1*, ATV=3*, Bell=3*, Carter=3*. Meanwhile, Kia=4*, Chane Moline=4*, and Forcier=4*.
Carter was a 4 star and Moline was a three star. That is just the first two that I checked.
Embree = decent
ATV = great
Bell = bust
Carter = nothing to brag about
Kia = pfffff
Moline = tough, reliable
Forcier = lol
You on scout.com?
They have chane moline has a 4* and Carter as a 3*.
Sorry it was Rivals I never checked Scout
Uhm....isn't it thought that this kid runs in the 4.4? He looks pretty fast in his videos. 4.6? or 4.4? Which is it?
You can't take a bunch of meathead website all-americans ala the SEC. We also need guys on the team that will graduate with a degree not produced on the North Campus once in a while. UCLA Football has more than filled its quotas of historians and socialogists.
What are you saying? North campus grads are not as intelligent as the rest of campus? You pompous, .edu tool. I will wager a guess that you are one of the losers who leaves the game early, or reads his novel during halftime. I'll wager you that your wife wears holiday earings and knits during the game.
pfft...first of all Jacquizz Rodgers was very highly recruited and offered by a number of programs. So while he was small he wasnt short on talent.
That must be why he was rated 3 stars according to Rivals.com
I guess your 3 stars rating is retroactively upgraded to a 5-star once you pwn USC.
since we're talking about stars, wasn't kevin craft a 5* player? nuff said
YES...Ben Olson was 5 Stars too!