Following the trend of many NFL teams, coach Jim Mora is uprooting the Bruin football team from the UCLA campus for their first practices of the preseason.
UCLA and Cal State San Bernardino jointly announced last month that the Inland Empire school will host the first two weeks of the Bruins’ football practices, from Aug. 3-16.
While UCLA’s usual on-campus practice home, Spaulding Field, undergoes renovations, the Bruins will be practicing at a school that has no football program and no football-specific facilities. The CSUSB campus contains a large outdoor soccer complex.
“We believe the move to CSUSB will be a very positive experience for our football team,” Mora said in a statement. “We are excited for the opportunity to continue to lay the foundation for the coming season.”
The change in venue means that the quarterback battle between rising redshirt senior Kevin Prince, rising senior Richard Brehaut and Brett Hundley, a rising redshirt freshman, will be contested and completed before the team returns to Westwood. Mora previously said that he would select a starter for the position on Aug. 16, allowing two weeks for competition and two weeks of preparation for the starter before the season opener.
All practices in San Bernardino are open to the public.
“We are pleased that coach Mora and the entire UCLA football staff will begin their fall season here at Cal State San Bernardino,” CSUSB athletic director Dr. Kevin Hatcher said in a statement. “That our two staffs can collaborate on this project is no small undertaking. The cooperation of many individuals and departments here at CSUSB has enabled us to move forward.
“I know I speak for many as our entire university looks forward to working with and hosting the Bruins and staff as they get ready to begin a new era under Coach Mora.”
UCLA begins its season under first-year coach Mora in Houston on Aug. 30 against Rice. The home opener is the following weekend, Sept. 8 against Nebraska.
Award watch
Three Bruins, all rising redshirt seniors, have already landed on watch lists for college football’s end-of-the-year awards.
Running back Johnathan Franklin, who considered a jump to the NFL after last season, was named a candidate for the Maxwell Award, given to the nation’s best overall player.
For the second straight year punter Jeff Locke is on the shortlist for the Ray Guy Award, annually given to the best player at his position. Locke was a semifinalist for the award in 2009 but was not one of three finalists.
Tight end Joseph Fauria was listed by the John Mackey Award as a preseason candidate. The honor, given to the nation’s top tight end, was won by UCLA’s Marcedes Lewis in 2005.
No Bruin has ever won the Ray Guy Award. Quarterback Gary Beban was the last to win the Maxwell, in 1967, when he also won the more prestigious Heisman Trophy.
Compiled by Ryan Menezes, Bruin Sports senior staff.