Hanging out with Illinois-UCLA players at Alcatraz

By Evan Bailey - University of Arizona '12 - 222 views

One of our OCS writers, Evan Bailey, is in San Francisco covering the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl on Saturday at AT&T Park. – Editor

While both Illinois and UCLA had high expectations coming into the season, each school’s interim coaches expressed excitement and gratitude to spend a week in San Francisco, vacations that will ease the pain of the last few weeks for both programs. Illinois has lost 6 straight coming into this game, and UCLA has been embarrassed by cross-town rival USC and Pac-12 champion Oregon.

Both interim coaches Mike Johnson (UCLA) and Vic Koenning (Illinois) have been open about this being their last game with their respective programs, but both were optimistic about their futures.

I really admired Mike Johnson after speaking one-on-one with him about his week in San Francisco and how he’ll prepare for the big game Saturday. “It’s all about the players,” he said, trying to deflect any negative discussion about the coaching turnover for either program. “We’re excited to be in such a great city and playing for such a great cause.”

The players are just as enthusiastic, junior Running Back Johnathan Franklin told me. “I’m excited to spend a week in San Francisco and really bond with my teammates,” he said.

This is what bowl games are all about: an exclamation point on a program’s season and a chance for worthy young men to enjoy a week of travel and fun in a new city.

I was lucky enough to go on a trip to Alcatraz with the players after the bowl’s press conference, and was curious to see how putting both teams on the same boat to “The Rock” would pan out.

It was a great time. The players would crack a sly joke such as Illinois lineman holding a cell door that a UCLA lineman had just entered, or pal around with opposing players. For now, it’s all fun and games.

It’s easy for their respective fan bases to forget that these student-athletes, aside from wanting to win in big-time college athletics, also enjoy being young and the festivities and accommodations that a bowl generously gives to them.

More updates to come.