Preparation Helps Recruiting

UCLA Coach Bob Toledo has been to nine bowl games, all as an assistant coach, and along the way he has gathered ideas about how to prepare for postseason play. Now he’s in charge, and the final practice of 1997 at Spaulding Field was held Tuesday. Toledo said progress had been made.

How much progress will be learned Jan. 1 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas against Texas A&M.;

“We’ve got all the game plan put in,” Toledo said. “We’ve done it a little differently, with short, 10-15-minute meetings every day to go over things and then work on the field. The guys have had most of their afternoons off, and we’ve had the afternoons for recruiting.”

That apparently has borne fruit. Twenty high school players have said they will sign letters of intent to play at UCLA, and there are only 25 scholarships available.

The short-meeting regimen is a departure from the norm, because during the season much more time is spent inside, going over game plans and details. The Bruins have taken much of that detail work to the practice field.

“You have so long to prepare for a bowl game, that it just makes sense,” Toledo said. “You want the bowl to be a reward.”

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After practice Tuesday, players scattered to various Christmas sites, and most will reconvene in Westwood on Friday for the trip to Dallas. Some players, notably running back Skip Hicks of Wichita Falls, Texas, will join teammates Friday night in Dallas.