UCLA defensive tackle Brian Price will skip senior season to enter NFL draft

UCLA DT Price to skip senior season for NFL draft

LOS ANGELES — Brian Price used football to get across this sprawling town from his native South Central Los Angeles to peaceful Westwood, far away from the street dangers that killed his two older brothers.

Now the resilient UCLA defensive tackle is ready to see where football will take him next.

Price announced Wednesday he’ll skip his senior season to enter the NFL draft. Yet the Pac-10’s defensive player of the year says he didn’t rush to the pros, instead consulting with his father, UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel and NFL experts who believe he’s a likely first-round pick, probably as the third-best defensive tackle available behind Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh and Oklahoma’s Gerald McCoy.

“I just felt in my stomach that I was ready to compete against the best,” said Price, a 300-pounder with an exceptional first step. “Being a Bruin is great, but I’m ready for the next step.”

The 20-year-old Price has been a constant disruption to UCLA opponents’ running and passing games for three years, making 23½ tackles for loss and seven sacks during his just-completed junior season. After receiving the Pac-10’s top individual defensive honor despite playing for an eighth-place team, he finished his career at UCLA with five tackles in the Bruins’ win over Temple in the EagleBank Bowl.

The two-time all-conference lineman was a third-team All-America selection by The Associated Press and a first- or second-team choice on several other All-America teams. He had been contemplating the NFL leap for months, but Neuheisel and Price’s father, Frank, urged him to get more information about his potential draft status.

“I really wanted to be supportive of his decision, but I told him to make sure,” Frank Price said. “Don’t go in on emotion. Don’t go in to take care of your family. We’ve survived long enough. Another year won’t hurt us. We have a roof over our heads, dinner on the table. We’re not going to go out and buy diamonds or anything now. We’re going to be the same family whether you’re in the NFL or at UCLA.”

That family has tenacity. Brian Price’s brothers, Eddie and Damon, were shot and killed in the same Crenshaw section of South Central where Brian eventually starred at Crenshaw High, staying out of gangs and in football with the steadfast help of his parents and six sisters.

“That’s one of the things I love about UCLA, the family atmosphere,” Brian Price said. “Family is very important to me, and that’s why I love UCLA so much.”

Frank Price said his son moved closer to his NFL decision during the Bruins’ loss to USC in November. Brian Price made five tackles and forced a fumble in the game, but Frank Price said he also fought off a series of Trojans blockers taking aim at his lower legs.

Price also learned from the experience of former California defensive lineman Brandon Mebane, a fellow graduate of Crenshaw High, where Frank Price was an assistant coach. Mebane’s exceptional junior season with the Golden Bears in 2005 led to a less-impressive senior campaign when offenses constantly double-teamed him, and Mebane let his younger friend know about it.

“Brandon has really been an inspirational person to Brian,” Frank Price said of Mebane, who just finished his third season with the Seattle Seahawks. “Coach Neuheisel was great, too. He didn’t act like a desperate coach. I gained so much respect for him and for UCLA in this whole process.”

Neuheisel undoubtedly could have used Price next fall when the Bruins attempt to build on their 7-6 record in his second season in charge of his alma mater, but the coach refused to talk Price out of it. Neuheisel still is grateful to Price for his acceptance and leadership after the 2007 season when Neuheisel replaced Karl Dorrell, the fired Bruins coach who recruited Price.

“He was one of those guys that had proven he was a player here, and he still accepted the new culture,” said Neuheisel, an assistant with the Baltimore Ravens before returning to UCLA. “There’s always portions of his game that can improve. We’re coaches, so we’re always going to tinker, but I think he’ll do very well at the next level. He’s ready.”