Game to give first look at team

If you are waiting to find out whether sophomores Matt Moore or
Drew Olson will start at quarterback for the Bruins, don’t
hold your breath ““ you might pass out before Sept. 6.

“We’ll probably pick a number before we go out
there,” Olson joked.

Olson’s right. A toss of the coin will decide who you see
first, because both quarterbacks will start for their respective
teams in Saturday’s intra-squad scrimmage.

“We’re going to use a format where we try to keep
our good players playing against our good players so that it is not
so lopsided,” head coach Karl Dorrell said.
“We’re going to have kind of a blue-and-gold game.
It’ll be fun.”

The spring game takes place at 6 p.m. at Drake Stadium following
a 5 p.m. alumni flag football game. The flag football game is the
brainchild of Dorrell, a former Bruin wide receiver. Unfortunately,
he will be too busy coaching to play in the alumni game, but
participants include former quarterback and current Fox analyst
Matt Stevens and alumnus James Washington.

As far as the key position battle goes, fans won’t be the
only ones left wondering where the quarterbacks stand.

“Everybody is doing good. That’s a good thing for
the team, but then individually you’re like,
“˜Yay,’ but “˜nay,'” Moore sighed.

The scrimmage is the closest thing to a game situation that the
players and fans will see until the season opener at Colorado on
Sept. 6.

“It’s a time to go out and show what we’ve
learned and what we can do, especially competing for a starting
job,” Olson said.

While splitting up the first string might make it harder to
predict who will start in the fall, you can expect Justin London to
start on one of the two teams at middle linebacker.

Junior Matt Clark should start in one of the corner spots and
may be split up from his cousin, junior Matt Ware. Clark has played
solidly over the last few weeks, but a starting spot in the fall is
not certain.

“I think that’s my spot, and I’m going to hold
on to it throughout the summer,” Clark said.

“I would say he is the leader at that corner spot. Has he
just taken over? I would say he is in the position to, but he still
has things to work on,” Dorrell said.

Sophomore tight end Marcedes Lewis will start for one of the
teams at tight end, where he has shown good pass-catching ability.
For the wideouts, the spring game could be a chance for sophomore
Junior Taylor to show what he could do as a starter and for senior
Ryan Smith to show that he’s returned from the ankle and foot
injury that held him out all season.

Splitting up the players on both offense and defense should also
help control against the fact that the defense has been a few steps
ahead of the offense all spring, as expected when installing new
systems.

“We’ll give the fans a little taste of what is going
on with the new coaches and the new system,” Clark said.

And maybe that will take your breath away.

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Redshirt freshman Kirby Joseph announced on Thursday that he
intends to transfer to Tulane after completing the school year.

Joseph, who left the team during the first week of spring
practice, said his desire to pursue a film career at UCLA took him
away from football, his first priority.

“I want what’s best for Kirby and for him to go
where he can make his potential,” Dorrell said. “He
made a decision, and I support him.”

The 6-foot-2, 241-pound defensive end from Lake Charles, La.
never appeared in a game. He redshirted last year, partly due to a
shoulder injury and would have missed the entire spring due to a
torn ACL.

With reports by Diamond Leung, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.