Another day of practice is behind the Bruins, and the UCLA football team once again steered clear of devastating injury news. Wednesday was the first day of pads, as the Bruins donned shoulder pads for the first time since spring football; accordingly so, players were excited to get closer to full speed contact. Practices will be in full pads by the end of the week.
Here are your practice notes:
-The Bruins did not escape completely injury free, as junior F-back Damien Thigpen walked, or rather, limped away with a hamstring issue.
“It’s unfortunate, looks like it’s a hamstring injury. We’ll wait and see the significance of it,” head coach Rick Neuheisel said. “He had that in spring football as well, so hopefully we can get him fixed and get him ready to go as fast as he can.”
-The offense struggled today with center-quarterback exchanges, as the ball repeatedly ended up on the ground before play could even begin in earnest. The second unit in particular struggled with this, as redshirt sophomore backup center Greg Capella took repetitions at guard today, leaving younger players like redshirt freshman Kody Innes to step in at center.
“Far too many center-quarterback exchanges on the ground, and you can’t play football that way,” Neuheisel said. “We’ve got to do a better job; there’s no reason and no excuse for not being able to handle the ball. It’s a four-yard pass.”
-Even when the ball did make it to the quarterback, things did not always go so well for the offense. Though the running game looked as good as usual, the passing game was somewhat of a mess all practice. The touted quarterback competition is not exactly creating inspired play from the position.
Decision making seemed to be improved in the passing game, which is a positive. Even so, most plays ended in an incompletion owing either to a poor throw or another dropped ball. On junior Richard Brehaut’s best ball of the day, a deep ball that was on the money to a wide receiver down the middle, freshman Devin Lucien let it slip through his hands. On the other end, sophomore F-back Anthony Barr found himself in a mismatch on the outside, and redshirt junior Kevin Prince overthrew the slant route by about a yard.
“As you get into camp, concentration wanes. That’s what we as coaches have to fight against. We have to make sure that every day is a competitive environment, and we have to make sure that guys are hanging onto the ball, and doing the things they are capable of doing if we are going to achieve our full potential,” Neuheisel said after practice.
Senior wide receiver Nelson Rosario was the sole bright spot at wideout today, catching mostly everything near him. Other usually dependable targets like sophomore Ricky Marvray and senior Taylor Embree found themselves dropping catchable balls.
Several receivers stayed after practice to catch balls from the machines, a fact many Bruins fans will be glad to hear.
-The defense looks big and fast, and they play that way as well. Clearly the players relished the return of pads, as they were allowed to get into a bit more contact than days previous. The defensive coaches bring energy and excitement to the defensive squad, and the players respond.
The return of redshirt junior Datone Jones to the defensive line cannot be understated in terms of impact; he takes pressure off of the whole group and allows linebackers to make plays.
“I’m feeling real good. I’m back on my feet, just having fun, flying around, doing what I do best,” Jones said.
Last year’s results were disappointing, to be sure, but Jones is making no excuses. “The only thing we can do is change the story for this next year.”
There is room for hope, as the team returns plenty of starters from last year’s team, gets back Jones, and has new direction under defensive coordinator Joe Tresey.
“We’re having fun. We’re a lot older on defense, we have a lot of experience. “¦ Everyone’s trying to make plays, everyone’s trying to make big plays. We should be a dominant defense.”
-New Bruins Albert Cid and Jamie Graham both practiced today, with each receiving plentiful reps to get them up to speed. Graham has taken little time to adjust, and says that the biggest adjustment, actually, has been the weather.
“They got it made out here, to have a breeze at all times, and you know, sun. It’s funny because I hear guys saying, “˜Oh, it’s hot,’ but this is like perfect weather for me,” Graham said. “That’s the main thing I have to get used to, but it’s so beautiful I can’t even complain about it.”
As for getting acclimated to practice, Graham is ready to go. Having played football in the SEC, hard practices are nothing new to him, and he already knows much of the terminology used in Tresey’s system.
More difficult for Graham will be getting accustomed to grad school, as he enters UCLA having already graduated from Vanderbilt. He is not flinching, though.
“Actually, I chose UCLA for the challenge. Coming from Vanderbilt, I had a challenge coming in, it was much different from high school and gave me a reality check. But as school went on, and I became more mature, then school got easier. So to come here to UCLA, and to have another challenge, I’m ready to meet that challenge.”