My letter to UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel and his reply of Kevin Craft!

Photo Courtesy of Mt. SAC Athletics


I sent an e-mail to UCLA football head coach Rick Neuheisel in regards to Kevin Craft. I figured he needed to know a bit more of what Kevin is about. So I decided to take my journalism hat off and put on my fan cap on and send him what I wanted to say and this is what I said:


from James Choy
to rneuheisel@*******.***
date Feb 6, 2008 9:41 AM
subject An Email Regarding KEVIN CRAFT
mailed-by gmail.com


Coach Rick Neuheisel,

First off, thanks for taking the time in reading this email.

Secondly, Congratulations on being UCLA head coach.

My name is James Choy. I was formerly the sports editor of the Mountaineer newspaper here in Mt. San Antonio College during the fall of 2007. I am currently the sports editor of a small newspaper in the city of Walnut called the Walnut Weekly.

I have spent the entire semester in the fall following Mt. SAC football and have also done 'research' of the team during their season.

At this point I want to STOP speaking as a journalist and speak to you not as a fan but more as an informer/scout.

I have talked to, hung out, spent time with Craft just to get to know him a little more. I went to practices and had casual conversations and there are certain things I can say most definitely of him.

OFF THE FIELD:
- The most down-to-earth person you'll ever know.
- Seemingly shy but extremely passionate of football from A-Z.
- He's very family-oriented and not really the outspoken, rowdy type.
- A dedicated person and very low-key.

ON THE FIELD:
- He's friendly as you can see anyone to be; he unifies with this teammates well and builds a chemistry instantly with his quiet personality. Everyone at Mt. SAC really looks up to him.
- During pressure situations when opponents were threatening to score on the Mounties with time running out, Craft is great ... he's very composed and mindful of the situation at hand. A couple of games when the Mounties were down, Craft was real efficient in the short-game pass and sometimes the 15-30 yard passes. Him and receiver Aiona Key would be a deadly go-to combo with Aiona's height and his spectacular vertical leap.
- Craft loves to pass. His first two games were so impressive, I wrote an article seeing as how bizaare he was assimilating his style of play much like Peyton Manning.
- On some games during the season, he would do a little rushing and scrambling to show some extensive abilities as QB.
- As long as the O-line is stable, Craft is good at catching his teammates and targeting his passes with accuracy--much different from other quarterbacks. I spent extensive time checking out some other quarterbacks from opposing schools at how they play their game and I just notice the difference of Craft's style a bit more.
- He makes other players better PERIOD.
The Mt. SAC unit were all 'pretty good' players but Craft did such a good job at distributing the ball to receivers and backs .... on some research, I saw in two-three weeks straight, there were about 3-4 receivers each ended the game with 70-80 yards receiving and a couple with 1 or 2 TD's in the process.

You may know most of this stuff already - but from someone else's eyes, I figured with what I reiterate to you might be something you can obtain as what to remember and note.
Kevin is a professional. He has great coaching from his father and from Coach Jastrab --- his way of life outside the gridiron is equally as great.

On my final interview with Coach Jastrab *during a home playoff game* , he pointed to both Tom and Kevin walking off the field and he told me, "Those two ... I really don't know what what we'd be without them ... I mean what can you say."

I hope this email provided some deeper insight and understanding of what Kevin's about.

He told me he's willing and ready to be nurtured under yourself and Norm Chow ...
And I'm downright proud of him ...

Thanks for taking the time in reading this.

Sincerely,


James Choy

PS - Good fortunes to you and the team!


In response to this email --- Coach Neuheisel replied to me and said:


from Rick Neuheisel
to James Choy ,
date Feb 18, 2008 7:20 PM
subject Re: An Email Regarding KEVIN CRAFT
7:20 PM (1 hour ago)


James, Thanks for your insight. We are very excited to have Kevin coming to UCLA!

Let's hope we're both right! All the best, RN



All eyes on Craft who will be headed to UCLA this spring. He has told me during a phone interview that he's ready for the quarter to begin with his classes and that, 'he was pumped up.'

Good luck Kevin ... the whole eastside is standing behind you man.