Ping-JeeberD

[MrBug708]

Another ping eh?

You are getting former 1000 yard freshmen RB from UCLA, Tyler Ebell. Should be a solid pickup and maybe he won't be caught from behind in your conference

[JeeberD]

Yeah, I saw that this morning on the UTEP mesage board. It looks like he'll only be there for his senior year unless he can somehow convince the NCAA to give him an extra year of eligibility. Either way, we're sure glad to have him in El Paso.

Mike Price has done a fantastic job with recruiting in the short time he's been in El Paso. In today's El Paso Times there's an article saying that we've got verbal recruits from two very good JC corners, one of whom Arizona State thought they had locked up. UTEP only has eight or nine football schollies this season, but Price sure looks like he's going to make them count...

[MrBug708]

Ya, he already redshirted at UCLA so he doesnt have any eligibility to keep using. He's shifty, but he can't block, can't catch out of the backfield, and doesnt have great speed

[JeeberD]

Well, hopefully by the time he's in uniform the Miners will have a solid offensive line for him to run behind. And he can't be that bad if he managed 1000 yards in the Pac-10...

[MrBug708]

Well 994, but whose counting

[bbor]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

He's shifty, but he can't block, can't catch out of the backfield, and doesnt have great speed

Not exactly a versitile back is he?

[MrBug708]

Well, he set the single season California rushing record in HS with 5200 yards in one year and he's durable, and he never fumbles

[JeeberD]

5200 yards in one season? Did his team even throw the ball once? That's freakin insane...

[bbor]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

5200 yards in one season? Did his team even throw the ball once? That's freakin insane...

Skydog was the offensive co-ordinator

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

He's shifty, but he can't block, can't catch out of the backfield, and doesnt have great speed

Are you describing Ebell or Jeeber?

[MrBug708]

He supposedly had an all senior OL, they played in a rich area, and no, they never through the ball. I think Booker of Florida State broke his record and Ebell broke DeShaun Fosters record

[JeeberD]

Posted on Miner Digs by "bruinbob" of BruinBlitz.com.

Awesome get for MP's new team.

If you dont know Tyler Ebell is a rb transfer from UCLA. He holds the national high school record for yards and TDs in a season. Tyler ran for a 1000 yards as a rs-freshman. This year he got dinged up and had to share time with freshman Maurice Drew and Manuel White. Anyways he should be a great addition for UTEP.

Ebell has outstanding vision and knows when to cut. he never fumbles. He can take a hit and is a good receiver out of the backfield. Even though he's 5'9 180 he loves to run up the middle. I think he needs to work on his speed, because it's just so so IMO.

Sounds like the two of you have the same scouting report on the kid, except for the recieving aspect of his game...

[MrBug708]

Well, he "had" to share time because he wasn't good enough to win the job and is transferring because he was going to third string.

Ebell is better off the tackles and not up the middle, but he has a low center of gravity, he doesn't fumble, and he isn't very good at catching the ball really

[JeeberD]

You know, I'm still pissed at UCLA. They took the best damn quarterback I ever saw play high school ball in El Paso and made him into a linebacker and then a fullback. Ed Stansbury deserved so much better...

[MrBug708]

LOL

I always liked him, but if you can't beat out Cory Paus or Ryan McCann, you were never that good anyways.

We could use him now though

[JeeberD]

Hey MB, I thought you might be interested in the El Paso Times article on Ebell...

Linky

[MrBug708]

Well, the fallout came when Ebell, instead of talking to his positional coach, had his dad go talk to Dorrell about his playing time and then he also went to the media. This are college athlete's an most people stand behind the coaching staff and Ebell drew a rep as sort of a crybaby.

I will be following his progress however

[rexallllsc]

Set new national records as a senior with 4,495 rushing yards and 64 rushing touchdowns … Set California career records with 7,385 rushing yards and 111 rushing touchdowns on 895 attempts (8.3 average) …

[Poli]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

5200 yards in one season? Did his team even throw the ball once? That's freakin insane...

I think I recall in my double wing readings that Ventura runs the double wing. If that's the case, I doubt they threw 5 times a game, honestly.

[JeeberD]

Just an update for ya, Bug...


UTEP transfer gives Ebell new motivation

He is an incoming recruit for the second time in his college football career, but the second time around feels quite different to Tyler Ebell.

"It's a total different stage in my life than I was in high school," said Ebell. "Now I know what I'm capable of. I know what I can do in college."

Since he announced in January he would transfer to the University of Texas El Paso, most of the reports emanating from Texas refer to Tyler Ebell as a former "Parade All-American recruit" rather than a former "UCLA tailback." Anything to further the buzz around Mike Price's fresh start in West Texas. The Miners have already begun to prepare for Ebell's arrival. The El Paso Times recently reported UTEP has signed four offensive linemen who average 6-foot-5 and 296 pounds.

Although Ebell is not eligible to play this fall because of NCAA transfer rules, the break hasn't been cause for a vacation. He works out daily at Mavericks Gym in Ventura and Don's Gym in Ojai. He works with a personal sprint coach at Larrabee Stadium four days a week. He's also running the dunes at the beach and the hills of Arroyo Verde Park, as he did preparing for his famous 4,495-yard, 64-touchdown, CIF-title-winning senior year at Ventura High in 2000.

"I'm getting ready for football," said Ebell, who has reached 190 pounds for the first time. "Even though I'm not playing, I'm still going to be ready to play.

"I just have a little more time on my hands. I have more options. I don't have to go to UCLA and work out at 5:30 in the morning. I can go at 10 instead."

He plans to report to training camp on Aug. 1, a few days before camp begins in earnest. He'll use July to complete preparations for the move. He's focused on mending a few lingering bumps and bruises from UCLA. He gets his wisdom teeth removed this week. He is taking a few summer school classes at Ventura College to make up the credits he lost in the transfer and lighten his classload during the season.

"I don't know how you lose credits going from UCLA to UTEP," said Ebell, "but I did."

Credits aren't the only things he's lost in the decision. Ebell will lose a season of eligibility, barring a successful appeal to the NCAA. He says he'll begin the appeal process when he arrives in Texas.

He recently held a barbecue at his Ventura home with former UCLA teammates like Matt Ware, Tab Perry, Craig Bragg and Jason Harrison. He attended UCLA's spring football game to check up on a few friends still in the program.

"I miss my friends a lot from school," said Ebell. "But when I went out there and watched, I didn't miss being on the team one bit."

There is no hint of regret in his voice.

"People come up to me around town," said Ebell. "They ask me when I'm leaving and wish me luck. A lot of people told me I made the right decision."

[MrBug708]

Ya know, it's a shame he gave up at UCLA. He was at every spring practice when he was back home and I know his heart is at UCLA, but I hope he works out for you.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

"I don't know how you lose credits going from UCLA to UTEP," said Ebell, "but I did."

Easy. If you're taking fluff football-player classes.

If he had a realistic academic load, he'd have been okay.

[MrBug708]

So classes are recognized at different schools and others are not. I'd imagine they were, as Sack said, fluff classes.

What sucks for athletes at UCLA is they don't offer a PE degree. How did Harrick managed?

[JeeberD]

I'm sure Ebell will be majoring in Criminal Justice at UTEP. All the UTEP athletes major in CJ...

[JeeberD]

Hey Bug, look what I found!

http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fus...20050301074030

[JeeberD]

I personally enjoy his groups. I need to submit my application to the "Eight Inches and Above Club"...

Edit: And he has several current Bruins as his friends, Bug. And my personal favorite Bruin of all time, Ed Stansbury, left a comment for him...

[sterlingice]

That's too funny. And gotta love his "friends".

SI

[JeeberD]

Bumped for Bug since his lazy ass fnally made it over here...

[JeeberD]

http://www.elpasotimes.com/apps/pbcs...503200349/1019

Ebell ready to become starter

Matthew Aguilar
El Paso Times

Tyler Ebell knows how to follow quality.

While a freshman at UCLA, the 5-foot-9, 180-pound running back came in behind DeShaun Foster -- now with the Carolina Panthers -- and proceeded to set a Bruin freshman record of 994 yards, receiving freshman All-America honors from the Sporting News.

After sitting out a year as per NCAA rules following his transfer to UTEP, Ebell finds himself in a similar position this season, stepping in for departed All-WAC running back Howard Jackson. But this time, more of his career is behind him than in front.

And while Miners head coach Mike Price said Ebell will have to earn his starting spot, make no mistake about the reasons the 1997 national coach of the year brought in the powerhouse runner: He sees something special in the 2000 Parade All-American.

That is why all eyes will be squarely on the former Bruin when spring training starts on March 28. But the easy- going Californian takes a casual approach to a tough situation.

"It comes with the territory," said Ebell, a day before he was to leave for hometown Los Angeles for spring break. "It happens anytime you replace somebody who has been a starter for four years. You just have to try and step in and make your own mark.

"I sat out a whole year and didn't do too much. And my coaches and teammates still don't know what I can do as a running back."

Ebell certainly looks the part of a star. He is powerfully built, with cannon-sized biceps, hard shoulders and strong legs. On the practice field, he has shown glimpses of his style -- shifty and quick one minute, smash-mouth and in-your-face the next.

Obviously, it is his versatility that makes him someone to watch.

"I still consider myself shifty," he said. "But I can get in there and bang with the linebackers."

A running back since age eight, Ebell was excelling even while playing with boys two years older. A lot of his talent is natural. But he also had quite a teacher in his father, Dennis, who made sure his son had football sense before putting him in organized clubs.

"I was six or seven, and my dad was teaching me all the different receiver routes, and how to take handoffs, how to catch a pitch and how to be a running back," Ebell said. "He wanted me to be ahead of all the other kids, so I was coachable because I knew what I was doing."

The tutoring sessions paid off, as Ebell rushed for a national record 4,494 yards and 64 touchdowns as a prep senior at Ventura (Calif.) High School in 2000 -- earning Parade-All America honors.

He enjoyed that breakout season as a freshman at UCLA in 2002, rushing 234 times for 994 yards and 10 touchdowns. Then his rushing attempts and production were cut in half (116 for 501 yards) in 2003 under first-year coach Karl Dorrell.

That's when he decided to transfer.

"I didn't even know about El Paso," he said. "The only way I knew of (UTEP) was my old fullback (Ed Stansbury) was from El Paso. (But recruiting coordinator and running backs coach Jeff) Banks was one of the first people on my answering machine when I got released (from UCLA). I thought, 'UTEP? Where the heck is that?' I had no idea."

But Ebell certainly knew of Price, and it wasn't long before he committed to the Miners.

"I wanted to play for coach Price," he said.

Last year was tough for Ebell, as he watched the Miners go 8-4 and play in the EV1.net Houston Bowl. But that didn't keep him from supporting his teammates. He often bought plane tickets himself to go watch road games.

"I enjoyed watching our team develop," he said.

Now, though, it's his time. Finally.

When he steps on the field for the Miners' first game at New Mexico State on Sept. 3, it will have been 21 months since he played in a collegiate football game.

"I think our offense will be way more explosive (than last year)," he said. "We'll score a lot more points because we have nine returning starters. And we've got people to fill positions."

Price said Ebell has kept himself in good shape during the past two seasons.

"He's got a bad wrist that is a little sore, but he was in great shape when he came in," Price said said. "He can cut on a dime, and he has good speed at 4.4 flat, which is pretty good for a running back. He's not like Howard. He's not going to run by guys. But he'll cut cut back and forth and break tackles. He's a tough runner.

"We'll have to see this spring if he's a good draw runner, a good trap runner, outside zone or inside zone."

Price said the starting job isn't Ebell's automatically, however.

"He wants to do well and we want him to have a great opportunity," he said. "(But) we feel like we have three really good backs. Matt Austin is really good. And Marcus Thomas has gained 14 pounds, weighs 200 pounds, is running a 4.5 (40-yard dash) and has improved his vertical (jump) by six inches. I think it's going to be competitive, which is good. Tyler needs to have to compete. He'll be better if we can give him some competition."

Price said ball-handling is something that may give Ebell problems, given his wrist problems and inactivity.

"Contact is something he hasn't had a lot of," Price said. "This fall, we didn't tackle him too much. But he'll get plenty of reps this spring."

Ebell just wants to pick up where he left off in Los Angeles.

"As long as I'm healthy and I stick to the team goals, everything should be fine," he said. "It's more about the team than about myself. And if everything comes together, we should be fine."