Football team moves on despite suspensions and replaces starters Ricky Marvray and Sean Sheller

The mood at Tuesday night’s UCLA football practice was a somber one.

Coach Rick Neuheisel announced Monday that redshirt freshman wide receiver Ricky Marvray and redshirt senior offensive tackle Sean Sheller would be suspended for Saturday’s contest against the Arizona Wildcats at the Rose Bowl.

But the Bruins definitely weren’t feeling sorry for themselves.

“It’s huge but I really can’t do anything about it now,” Sheller said of his absence in the game. “It’s over and done with. I’m sorry, and there’s really nothing else to say.”

Neuheisel said Micah Kia would fill in at left tackle for Sheller this weekend, even though freshman Chris Ward was listed as Sheller’s understudy on UCLA’s most recent depth chart.

Kia is also a redshirt senior and has played at many different spots on the offensive line. He missed all of last season with a knee injury and started the first two games of this season at right tackle before sitting out because of an ankle injury early in the season. Kia was replaced by redshirt junior Mike Harris for the Bruins’ Sept. 18 game against Houston, and Harris has played in every game since Neuheisel called it “a luxury” to have both players ready to play as Kia healed.

But Neuheisel won’t have that luxury anymore as Harris, Kia and the rest of the UCLA offensive line prepare to take on the Pac-10’s top scoring defense in Arizona, which allows 13.4 points per game. The Wildcats also lead the league in rushing defense and are second in pass defense. Arizona’s tandem of senior defensive ends, Ricky Elmore and Brooks Reed, rank first and second in the Pac-10 in sacks per game, respectively.

Needless to say, it’s not the most opportune time for the Bruins to be missing their starting left tackle. But don’t tell that to Kia.

“I’ve played left (tackle) pretty much the entire time I’ve been here,” Kia said of moving to the left side of the line. “This year, I got moved to right (tackle). We’ve been moved around a lot but I’m completely comfortable with it.”

Newly named starting quarterback Richard Brehaut seemed to have the utmost faith in Kia’s abilities.

“It’s a bummer when we don’t have a guy available for the game, but we have great players that are going to step up,” Brehaut said. “I know Micah Kia’s going to come right in there and he’s going to play his butt off and it’s going to make us look like we never lost a player.”

Marvray Moving On
As all of the players were wont to do, Ricky Marvray put talk of the suspensions in the rearview mirror.

“It’s unfortunate,” Marvray said. “I just happened to make a couple of bad decisions. I’m really sorry to my parents; they didn’t raise me that way. It’s not something I’m proud of.

“I’m just trying to get this week over with as fast as possible and move on from it. I’ve learned my lesson and it for sure won’t happen again.”