The second day of fall football practice is in the books and, once again, there were no major injuries for the Bruins. After last season’s camp that saw season-ending injuries to several key players, coach Rick Neuheisel and the UCLA football team are praising the football gods. Here are some notes on the practice:
– UCLA officially welcomed two newcomers in junior college offensive line junior transfer Albert Cid and Vanderbilt graduate cornerback Jamie Graham. Graham is a redshirt senior, who despite already finishing his degree at Vanderbilt, has one more year of eligibility. Both come in at major positions of need and figure to make contributions to the team immediately.
– The quarterback competition is still considered wide open with redshirt junior Kevin Prince and junior Richard Brehaut being the frontrunners. Both had iffy days with Brehaut missing short on a few passes and Prince throwing two interceptions on back-to-back plays to redshirt freshman safety Tevin McDonald and redshirt freshman linebacker Eric Kendricks.
“There is still some inconsistency,” Neuheisel said. “There are some decision-making things we need to keep working on and that’s part of the job. You’re not always going to be perfect, but we’ve got to make sure that the guys are learning and understanding why that was a mistake.”
– The wide receiving corps continues to look like an entirely different unit than the squad that was crippled with drops and inconsistency only a year ago. Senior Nelson Rosario looks the part of a No. 1 option with his size/speed blend and he had several nice grabs today. Three players stuck out as well: junior Randall Carroll, redshirt sophomore and Notre Dame transfer Shaquelle Evans and freshman Devin Lucien.
– Evans had a very consistent day with very few drops and a couple acrobatic catches.
“Shaq looks really good so far,” Prince said. “He made a couple spectacular catches today in one-on-ones and he’s getting more comfortable with the offense. He’s going to be kind of a sleeper for us this year.”
– Lucien also had a solid showing in his first practice with the veterans. He was the target of a couple of bubble screens as well as a bomb from junior quarterback Darius Bell that he caught effortlessly. The play had the whole UCLA offense going wild on the sidelines.
– Sophomore F-back Anthony Barr looks like he’s going to have a breakout year for UCLA. He showed a little bit of everything ““ speed, hands, blocking and route running. There was a play in one-on-ones where he was in the slot and he juked inside and went out, and the corner guarding him just buckled and fell down. Barr is going to be one to watch once the season starts.
– Another slight note on offense: The quarterbacks were utilizing their check down options quite a bit more than in recent memory. Neuheisel and new offensive coordinator Mike Johnson have stated that they want the running backs to be more involved in the passing game and it looks like they’re doing just that.
“We’ve got to get better at not taking sacks,” Neuheisel said. “One way to do that is to get the backs out and so you can check down when the protection breaks down.”
– Defensively, UCLA looks bigger, faster, stronger and smarter than last season. There is tremendous depth at safety, linebacker and on the defensive line with there being a very minimal drop-off between the first and second stringers.
– At safety, McDonald was receiving a lot of reps with the first team and it paid off with an interception. As of now, the second safety spot next to Tony Dye is wide open, and there are really four or five guys that are viable options to claim the spot with McDonald being one of them.
“All of us know that we have a shot at the starting spot but we aren’t too worried about it. There are going to be some different packages that we’re going to throw out there so all of us will eventually get some time,” McDonald said.
– On the play following McDonald’s interception, Kendricks jumped a slant route and returned it for a pseudo-touchdown. He had an excellent spring that drew rave reviews from the coaches and he has continued his strong play into the fall. He along with redshirt junior Patrick Larimore and redshirt sophomore Isaiah Bowens had very good outings today. Larimore is 100 percent healthy after going down midway through last season with a shoulder injury, and he should be one of the top linebackers in the Pac-12 next season.
– Redshirt junior defensive end Datone Jones had another impressive showing, sacking the quarterback and making a few tackles for loss as well. He will undoubtedly make the UCLA defense more dangerous in 2011. Sophomore defensive linemen Cassius Marsh and Owamagbe Odighizuwa also stood out, making several plays behind the line of scrimmage.
– It’s clear that new defensive coordinator Joe Tresey wants the defense to constantly attack, as he was sending blitzes from all over the field. UCLA will probably give up some big plays next season because of it, but there will also be a lot more opportunities for turnovers.