The Augusta Sports Council announced today the candidates for the 2009 Ray Guy Award, which identifies the nation's top collegiate punter.

UCLA redshirt freshman Jeff Locke, currently ranked second in the NCAA FBS in punting average, is included on the list, which will be narrowed to ten semi-finalists that will be named on November 13.

Following the semi-finalists announcement, a national body of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) sports information directors, coaches, media representatives, and previous Ray Guy Award winners will vote for the top three finalists, and ultimately the winner. The winner will be announced live during the Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards Show airing on ESPN December 10.

Two punters from the pre-season watch list, Michigan's Zoltan Mesko and Derek Epperson of Baylor, both semi-finalists in 2008, have proven their pre-season notice was well deserved. Mesko is currently ranked fifth in the NCAA rankings, with his Wolverines ranked fourth in Net Punting. Baylor's Epperson is currently ranked third.

Two new standouts are Georgia sophomore, Drew Butler, currently ranked first, and UCLA's Locke, who is second in the NCAA. The Bulldogs and the Bruins are also ranked first and second in Net Punting.

About the Ray Guy Award
The Greater Augusta Sports Council created the Ray Guy Award in 2000 to honor Thomson, Georgia-native and College Football Hall of Fame inductee Ray Guy. The Ray Guy Award winner is determined by a national selection committee of football writers, FBS college coaches, sports information directors, and past Ray Guy Award winners. Among the statistics used to identify the winner are total yardage punted, number of times a punt is downed or kicked out of bounds inside the opponents 20-yard line, net average, average returned yardage, and percentage of punts not returned. The winner must display team leadership, self-discipline, and have a positive impact on the team's success.

About the Greater Augusta Sports Council
The Greater Augusta Sports Council (GASC) is a 501-c-3 not-for-profit organization established in 1992 to market the Augusta-area as a major amateur sports destination.  Annually, the organization attracts, supports, and creates numerous competitions and activities, at all levels of participation. 

About the National College Football Awards Association
 The Ray Guy Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game's predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients. For more information, visit the association's official Web site, www.NCFAA.org.

UCLA all-time great Bill Walton recently made a return trip to the city of Portland, where he started his NBA career and led the Blazers to the 1977 NBA title.

Walton has battled through adversity over the last two-plus years because of severe back problems that forced him out of work and confined him to his floor for much of that time.

To read the story about Walton's return to Portland in the Oregonian, click here.

The UCLA Bruins have been picked to finish third in the 2009-10 Pacific-10 Conference Men's basketball race, according to a poll of media members who cover Pac-10 men's basketball. The poll results were announced at today's Pac-10 Men's Basketball Media Day.

The Bruins, who won three straight Pac-10 titles (2006-07-08) and finished second last season, picked up five first-place votes and 302 points.

California, which returns four starters and 94 percent of its scoring from last season, gathered 24 first-place votes to finish first in the poll with Washington placing second.

Arizona barely held off Oregon State for fourth place. Oregon was picked for sixth, followed by Arizona State, Washington State, USC and Stanford.

2009-10 PAC-10 MEN'S BASKETBALL MEDIA POLL

TEAM PTS
1. California (25) 350
2. Washington (7) 330
3. UCLA (5) 302
4. Arizona 221
5. Oregon State 218
6. Oregon 175
7. Arizona State 144
8. Washington State 123
9. USC 109
10. Stanford 63

Several of UCLA's athletic programs or coaches have official twitter pages. Be sure to follow the following:

UCLA Athletics - www.twitter.com/UCLAAthletics

Head football coach Rick Neuheisel - www.twitter.com/CoachNeuheisel

Head men's basketball coach Ben Howland - www.twitter.com/Ben_Howland

Head women's basketball coach Nikki Caldwell - www.twitter.com/NikkiCaldwell

Women's volleyball program - www.twitter.com/UCLABruinVolley

Women's gymnastics program - www.twitter.com/uclagymnastics

Water polo program - www.twitter.com/UCLAwaterpolo

Men's golf program - www.twitter.com/UCLA_bruin18

The NBA season opens tonight (Tuesday) and 14 Bruin alums are on teams throughout the league. That total is the highest of any school (tied with Duke).

Of the 14, nine have played for head coach Ben Howland. Of those nine, six - Arron Afflalo, Darren Collison, Jordan Farmar, Jrue Holiday, Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook - were selected in the first round of the last four NBA drafts.

Here is the list of UCLA alumni in the NBA:

Arron Afflalo, Denver Nuggets
Trevor Ariza, Houston Rockets
Matt Barnes, Orlando Magic
Darren Collison, New Orleans Hornets
Baron Davis, Los Angeles Clippers
Jordan Farmar, Los Angeles Lakers
Dan Gadzuric, Milwaukee Bucks
Jrue Holiday, Philadelphia 76ers
Ryan Hollins, Minnesota Timberwolves
Jason Kapono, Philadelphia 76ers
Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Milwaukee Bucks
Earl Watson, Indiana Pacers
Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder

UCLA alum Justin Hickman, defensive end for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, was named CFL Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts in a 26-17 win at Toronto.

Hickman dominated the line of scrimmage for the Tiger-Cats in their victory over the Argonauts on Friday night. Hickman put constant pressure on Argos QB Kerry Joseph, recording four tackles including three sacks in the victory.

Two of Hickman's sacks came in the fourth quarter to help ensure the Argos could not make a comeback. Hickman sacked Joseph for losses of one, nine and 11 yards. Hickman now has six sacks this season to put him one back of Khari Long's team leading seven in the category.

The November 7 UCLA Homecoming football game at the Rose Bowl against Washington has been scheduled for 12:30 pm.

The game will be televised locally by Prime Ticket, which will also have a half-hour pre-game show as well as post-game coverage.

In case you missed this on the University's homepage or UCLA's YouTube site, here is a great video about what makes UCLA unique from the perspectives of faculty, staff and students across campus.

To watch the video, click here.

How is Bruin All-American Arron Afflalo adjusting to life with the Denver Nuggets?

Read about AA in today's Denver Post by clicking here.

A day after being named the Pac-10 Men's Soccer Player of the Week, UCLA senior goalkeeper Brian Perk picked up NSCAA National Player of the Week honors after posting a pair of shutouts against Top 20 opponents in No. 10 California and No. 18 Stanford.

In Friday's match against the Golden Bears, Perk had three saves as his defense held its opponent to eight shots. In the 79th minute, he made a leaping save to preserve the shutout and give the Bruins the 1-0 win. Closing out the weekend against Stanford, Perk had another solid performance as once again his defense surrendered single-digit shots on goal, allowing only six. He made two saves in the Bruins' 2-0 victory over the Cardinal. In the 62nd minute with UCLA clinging to a 1-0 lead, he dove to punch out a dangerous ball in front of the box.

UCLA junior place kicker Kai Forbath has been named to the Sporting News Mid-Season All-America team.

Prime Ticket in Los Angeles and FS Northwest in Oregon State's home area will produce a delay telecast of the UCLA-Oregon State game in Corvallis on Oct. 31.

The telecast will begin at 3:30 pm. The game kicks off at 1:00 pm.

The game can not be televised live because the Pacific-10 Conference's contract with ABC gives the network exclusivity in the 12:30 - 3:30 window when the network is televising a Pac-10 home game. ABC is televising California at Arizona State at 12:30 pm, thus no other Pac-10 telecasts can occur in that protected window.

The Scout.com site that covers Washington State has posted its Pac-10 basketball preview. Here is what analyst Daven Harmeling, a former Cougar player, has to say about Bruin head coach Ben Howland.

"We all know UCLA has been the breeding grounds for NBA draft picks: Farmar, Hollins, Afflalo, Collison, Mbah-a-Moute, Westbrook, Love, Holiday, etc. But I would argue that their talent is item 1B in terms of what has led them to three Final Fours in four years. Item 1A? Head coach Ben Howland. With all due respect to other great coaches in the country, Howland is the best there is. What makes him the best? His teams always come prepared and they always play with passion. But the most important thing is detail. Howland preaches minute detail that most coaches overlook. And when Howland preaches detail, his players listen and respond. Talent obviously helps, but I believe no other coach in the country could have taken those UCLA teams to three-straight Final Fours. And for that reason, I purposely am not even mentioning any current players' names in this article. Because for me, UCLA is all about Howland. And while they don't have the talent in my mind to compete for the Pac-10 title this season, they do have Howland. If I were a betting man -- which I am -- I would never bet against Howland to exceed expectations."

Very nice!!

To read the entire article, click here. 

Here are a few additional notes from Saturday's game against California involving redshirt freshmen Kevin Prince and Johnathan Franklin.

Prince's 311 yards passing ranks No. 5 on UCLA's freshman list. Tommy Maddox passed for 409 (USC), 353 (Michigan) and 332 (Oregon) yards as a redshirt freshman in 1990 and Cory Paus also passed for 332 yards (Oregon) as a redshirt freshman in 1999. Cade McNown ranks sixth on the list with 306 (Fresno State) as a true freshman.

Prince's 332 yards of total offense ranks No. 3 among freshmen on that list, trailing only Maddox twice (445 vs. USC and 356 vs. Oregon) in 1990.

Franklin has now rushed for over 100 yards twice this year (119 vs. Kansas State and 101 vs. California). Only one Bruin freshman has rushed for over 100 yards more times. Tyler Ebell had six 100-yard games as a redshirt freshman in 2002. Other Bruin freshmen with two 100+ games include DeShaun Foster in 1998 (true freshman), Skip Hicks in 1993 (true freshman), Eric Ball in 1985 (redshirt freshman), Gaston Green in 1984 (true freshman) and Kevin Nelson in 1980 (true freshman).

Franklin has 433 yards through six games. Seven Bruins have rushed for 500 or more yards as a freshman (true or redshirt).

Benny Feilhaber was featured in the Miami Herald as the U.S. team prepares for its World Cup Qualifying game at Honduras on Saturday. Feilhaber is one of five Bruins on the U.S. roster. Also on the team are Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein, Jimmy Conrad and Frankie Hejduk.

The Seattle Times did a profile story on former UCLA player and coach Sigi Schmid last week. Schmid's Seattle Sounders FC squad is in a good position to make the playoffs in its first year, totaling 41 points, which is tied for fourth-best in the league. Seattle has a pair of Bruin alumni on its roster - Pete Vagenas and Patrick Ianni.

Cherif Zein, who played at UCLA from 1972-74, was featured in the PCC Courier. Zein is the men's and women's soccer coach at Pasadena City College and also runs the club team CZ Elite, which won the 2009 U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship, thanks in large part to Bruin sophomore Eder Arreola's five tournament goals.

Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden will celebrate his 99th birthday next Wednesday, October 14.

"A Game Plan for Life," a new book by Coach Wooden and Don Yaeger will be released on that day.

In celebration of Coach's 99th birthday, a website has been set up for fans to enter their birthday wishes.

To go to the site - Coach John Wooden, Happy Birthday - click here.

Alexander Wolff has a great story in the new issue of Sports Illustrated. It's about Kenny Washington, who broke professional football's color barrier in 1946.

Washington played his college football at UCLA (1937-39) and was one of the great players of his era. One of his teammates in 1939 was Jackie Robinson, who broke major league baseball's color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Also featured in the story is another teammate, Woody Strode, who enjoyed a long career as an actor.

These pioneers are a great part of UCLA's athletic history and another example of how UCLA has always been on the forefront of opportunity for everyone.

To read Wolff's story, click here.

Today's New York Times contained an article about NBA players going back to school to take classes. UCLA's Russell Westbrook was among those highlighted in the story.

To read the story, click here. 

Former UCLA left-handed pitcher David Huff complete his rookie season with an 11-8 record for the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first former UCLA pitcher to record at least 11 wins in a major-league season since 2000, when left-hander Jim Parque went 13-6 for the Chicago White Sox.

Huff became the first rookie in the Cleveland Indians' organization to lead the pitching staff in wins since 2001, when CC Sabathia went 17-5 during his rookie campaign.

Huff, who starred in UCLA's rotation in 2006, led Cleveland with 11 wins and registered a 5.61 ERA in 23 starts after having been promoted from the Columbus Clippers (AAA) in May. The native of Huntington Beach, Calif., finished second on Cleveland in starts (23), third in innings pitched (128.1) and fourth in strikeouts (65).

Huff becomes just the fifth former UCLA pitcher to record 11 wins or more in a season. Huff's 11-8 campaign in 2009 marks the seventh time a former UCLA pitcher has logged 11 victories or more in a major-league season.

Senior midfielder Kyle Nakazawa was named for the second consecutive week to the National Team of the Week by both College Soccer News and Top Drawer Soccer. Nakazawa had a hand in all four of UCLA's goals over the weekend, scoring three and assisting on another. He has recorded either a goal or assist in six straight games and leads the team in scoring with career-bests of seven goals and 17 points. The Bruins' unbeaten streak coincides with Nakazawa's scoring streak. Both stand at six games.

UCLA (6-1-1) remains ranked No. 2 in Soccer America's Top 25 and moves up to No. 3 in the College Soccer News poll and No. 7 in Top Drawer Soccer's Tournament ranking.

Selected as the best and brightest from the college gridiron, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) announced today the 154 semifinalists for the 2009 William V. Campbell Trophy (formerly known as the Draddy Trophy), endowed by HealthSouth, and the candidates for the 2009 NFF National Scholar- Athlete Awards.

UCLA tight end Logan Paulsen is among the semifinalists.

"On the heels of our recent announcement to rename our top scholar-athlete award in honor of Bill Campbell, we are incredibly proud to select the next winner from this remarkable group of semifinalists," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning whose sons Peyton (1997 Campbell Trophy winner) and Eli were named NFF National Scholar-Athletes in 1997 and 2003, respectively. "As one of the nation's most influential business leaders, Bill Campbell is a powerful example of football's unique ability to build leadership qualities in our young people. The semifinalists for the Campbell Trophy have already built track records that place them squarely in his footsteps."

Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, semifinalists must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of eligibility, have a GPA of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have outstanding football ability as a first team player or significant contributor, and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. Renamed this fall in honor of Bill Campbell, the chairman of Intuit, former player and head coach at Columbia University and the 2004 recipient of the NFF's Gold Medal, the award comes with a 25-pound bronze trophy and a $25,000 post-graduate scholarship.

"The Campbell Trophy semifinalists represent everything great about college football, having achieved excellence in all aspect of their lives," said NFF President & CEO Steven J. Hatchell. "It is the NFF's duty to promote their accomplishments while encouraging future generations of gridiron standouts to aim high on and off the football field."

The NFF Awards Committee will select and announce up to 15 finalists on Oct. 29. Each finalist will be recognized as part of the 2009 NFF National Scholar- Athlete Class, receiving an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship. The Campbell Trophy winner, who will have his scholarship increased to $25,000, will be announced live at the NFF's Annual Awards Dinner on December 8 at the prestigious Waldorf=Astoria in New York City. A total distribution of $277,000 in scholarships will be awarded that evening.

Launched in 1959, the NFF scholar-athlete program became the first initiative in history to award post- graduate scholarships based on both a player's academic and athletic accomplishments. The William V. Campbell Trophy, first awarded in 1990, adds to the program's mystique, having previously honored two Rhodes Scholars, a Rhodes Scholar finalist and a Heisman winner. The University of California's Alex Mack, a first-round draft pick of the Cleveland Browns, was named the 2008 Campbell Trophy recipient.

In addition to the Manning Brothers, notable NFF National Scholar-Athlete alumni include NFL standout Derrick Brooks (Florida State); actor Mark Harmon (UCLA); NASA astronaut Leland Melvin (Richmond); former Dateline NBC anchor Stone Phillips (Yale); chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters Tournament, Billy Payne (Georgia); famed NFL quarterback Steve Young (BYU); and Heisman Trophy winners Terry Baker (Oregon State), Gary Beban (UCLA); Doug Flutie (Boston College) and Danny Wuerffel (Florida).

2009 WILLIAM V. CAMPBELL SEMIFINALIST NOTES

3.63 Average GPA
9 Semifinalists with a perfect 4.0 GPA
43 Semifinalists with a 3.9 GPA or better
65 All-Conference Picks
98 Team Captains
27 Academic All-America Selections
12 All-America Selections
14 of the top 25 teams in this week's FBS AP Poll represented
54 Nominees from the Football Bowl Subdivision
37 Nominees from the Football Championship Subdivision
15 Nominees from the Division II
34 Nominees from the Division III
14 Nominees from the NAIA
85 Offensive Players
61 Defensive Players
8 Special Teams Players