Players attend Cassel funeral

UCLA had quite a Saturday, especially considering the team didn’t have a game.

Many of the players and coaches attended the funeral for Marcus Cassel, the former Bruins cornerback who died Nov. 17 in a car accident.

The UCLA contingent, which included Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, boarded two buses for the 11 a.m. funeral in Gardena. They returned to campus after the two-hour service, and the team had an hourlong practice.

“It was a pretty eventful day for us,” Dorrell said. “You had some emotional roller coasters like you would normally have given the circumstances.”

Dorrell said he experienced a similar situation while an assistant coach at Colorado when a linebacker on the team died of leukemia and an assistant died of a heart attack.

“It’s tough on a team, it’s tough on young men,” Dorrell said. “Especially if they haven’t dealt with this in their past experiences.”

*

Dorrell said Saturday’s practice “wasn’t the perfect practice, but we didn’t expect it to be.”

Still, there was work to be done, namely finding out whether quarterback Ben Olson, who tore a knee ligament Oct. 7 against Arizona, is ready to play. Olson’s injury did not require surgery, only rest.

Olson worked with the first-team offense and split snaps with Patrick Cowan. On a few occasions, Olson scrambled up field and made cuts.

“He’s feeling confident with his physical skills,” Dorrell said. “Now we’re going to work on it this week to see how sharp he can be from the mental aspect of the game.”

Dorrell said he would know by the middle of the week whether Olson will play Saturday against USC.

-- Peter Yoon

*

For the last two years, UCLA had two Saturdays off before playing USC -- a gap the players considered too long.

This year, the Bruins have only one Saturday off, which suits players just fine.

“With a big rivalry like this, you can’t wait to play, so you want to get out there as soon as possible,” guard Shannon Tevaga said. “We’re excited to have the wait cut down a week.”

Dorrell said the extra time should benefit the team, which has not had a week off since its open date on Sept. 16.

“This is about right for us,” he said. “We have some guys who are little bit dinged up and give them some rest a little bit, but not too much time off.”

-- Lonnie White