A week before UCLA heads to Lincoln, Neb. to take on “Big Red,” the focus for the Bruins will be on greener things.
With the Bruins spending the rest of the weekend away from Spaulding Field before a full-speed-ahead week of preparation for Nebraska, grounds crews will take the next three days to re-sod Spaulding Field’s south gridiron just in time for the team’s Monday return.
The reason for the sudden landscaping adjustment: A destructive fungus that took to the grass during the summer. Throughout the conclusion of fall camp and into the first couple weeks of the season, the patch deteriorated into a sandy hodgepodge of grass in need of significant improvements, especially in higher-traffic areas toward the middle of the field.
Following Thursday’s practice, coach Jim Mora said he was impressed with Athletic Director Dan Guerrero’s quick action in rushing new sod from Texas on short notice.
“To me, it’s just another indicator of Dan making another commitment to football, bringing sod in here from Texas to lay it in this weekend,” Mora said. “It’ll be ready to go Monday, but it’s just another good sign of the way things are going here.”
UCLA’s assistant coaches will earn a different green—their paychecks—by cashing in on a recruiting opportunity with an unoccupied Thursday night, Friday and Saturday. They will visit high school games around the area to take a look at some of UCLA’s biggest class of 2014 targets, with a luxury of free time few programs have so early in the season.
“Pretty much everyone will be at a game either tonight, tomorrow night or Saturday night,” Mora said. “So we’ll be able to get out and see some really good players and make our presence felt a little bit.”
As of Thursday, UCLA has nine verbal Class of 2014 commits, including four-star defensive back Adarius Pickett out of El Cerrito, Calif., who committed to the Bruins just two days ago. Moving forward, performances like UCLA’s 58-20 win over Nevada will serve to help the team’s coaching staff in recruiting conversations, especially for offensive specialists looking to score touchdowns early on in college.
“I think that we kind of got on the radar a little bit last year, and then this year when you start out like that, people notice,” Mora said. “Especially skill players. They see 58 points up there and say, ‘Hey, how’d they get that?’”
Going the Distance
Following the Nevada game, one of Mora’s few criticisms of his quarterback was that he missed on a few deep balls, leading his receivers on go routes and placing the ball just past their outstretched fingertips.
While redshirt sophomore Brett Hundley’s long pass of the game was just 27 yards, he did complete 22 passes to a total of 11 different receivers.
One of those receivers, redshirt sophomore Devin Lucien, said the deep ball, while imperfect in game one, is a multi-faceted play that will take more in-game trial-and-error to perfect.
“The deep ball is just really a timing thing, and when you’re in a game, it’s different from (practice),” said Lucien, pointing out that Saturday was just the team’s first game. “Brett’s going to be pumping with adrenaline, so that’ll make him throw it farther. …You have to get everything right, and then it’ll be good.”
Young Targets
Of the twelve different receivers who caught a pass in Saturday’s game, seven are sophomores or younger, indicating a number of talented options at the position in the coming years.
True freshman Darren Andrews was one of three Bruins to catch his first-ever pass against the Wolf Pack, a 17-yard gain that took two tries to accomplish as he and Hundley failed to connect on the freshman’s first target.
“I knew my assignment and did it,” Andrews said. “After the first catch I was happy, but I wasn’t nervous at all.”
Players like Andrews and freshman Jalen Ortiz performed well enough in the closing two weeks of fall camp to avoid redshirting and could perhaps carve out a small niche in the Bruin offense, but with so many mainstays atop the depth chart out wide, snaps will be limited early on. With that in mind, a young Andrews has tempered his expectations as he continues to develop.
“I don’t want to put a high standard on myself right now, but I just want to keep doing what I’m doing and have fun with my team,” Andrews said.