Your team has a new head coach, a new offense, you're limited to 15 highly structured practices in the spring and the players just skip out? Apparently the coaches had a group of refs there to ref a scrimmage, they had high school coaches in attendance, they had local recruits...and they all just waited for nothing as the players left following a tradition that dates back to the 80s.

Now I just heard about this on the radio here in Alabama and they mocked UCLA to no end. Apparently Neuheisel started this tradition when he played there but now he looks ridiculous as the head coach.

I don't know how many of the details are accurate (the radio personalities down here are pathetic) but if Neuheisel really wasn't expecting his players to ditch out, and local recruits really were present with HS coaches, then this is pathetic.
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/04/15/rick-neuheisel-allows-players-to-skip-practice/

I'm not able to find the quotes that the radio guys were reading (brutal stuff from the So Cal HS coaches ripping UCLA and comparing them to good programs like USC that actually practice) but here's a little more about it.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-spw-ucla16apr16,1,7153722.story

lol, that's pretty stupid of the players. Do they do that every year, or are they just brining back old traditions?


Maybe Neuheisal took them to the football stadium and had them lay down on their backs and imagine skipping on practice?

If this is how seriously they take things, BYU is going to lay one on them when they come to LES.

Too funny. I went to the LA Times and read the story. Even Chow was bummed they did the skip. Crazy. Only 15 practices and they missed one. Good luck Rick N you were an instigator when you played there now you have to deal with it. Go Cougs

I thought they were running when they heard that Olsen would be starting against BYU

Wow. Just...wow. Maybe they're so good they don't need the practice.