On Thursday, the UCLA football team reached a consensus: Redshirt senior running back Damien Thigpen was a force once again.
Katie Meyers/Daily Bruin senior staff
In a team film review session, linebackers coach Jeff Ulbrich played a clip of the redshirt senior returning a kickoff that he wanted to rewind a few times for the Bruins to admire.
Thigpen, who tore his left ACL during UCLA’s 38-28 victory over USC last November, stutter-stepped using his once-injured knee to make a defender miss, which, according to coach Jim Mora, drew some “hooting and hollering” from his fellow teammates.
“It was like, ‘Thiggy’s back,’” Mora said. “It’s almost been a year. It takes a good year to recover from an ACL.”
It took just one long run to prove it to the Colorado defense. In the fourth quarter of UCLA’s 45-23 win over Colorado, the running back took a handoff from redshirt sophomore quarterback Brett Hundley and scorched through the middle of the field for a 27-yard gain that nearly went for a touchdown. Sophomore wide receiver Devin Fuller finished what Thigpen started with an 8-yard touchdown run just a play later.
“It really was just me keeping my feet and making a good move,” Thigpen said. “I had to restart (myself) and it kind of sucked, but it was a good play.”
Thigpen finished the game with four carries for 38 yards, including a 5-yard rushing touchdown that gave UCLA a 35-13 lead late in the third quarter. The score was his first since the Bruins’ 66-10 victory over Arizona last November.
“You saw his burst, didn’t you?” Mora said. “It was great to see that one at the end. It was great to see him back in the end zone. He deserved to be back in the end zone. … His confidence is coming back off that knee (injury).”
Rumor has it
On Wednesday, National Football Post’s Jason Cole reported that Hundley, who would be eligible to declare for the NFL Draft after this season, had “his representatives” approach Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports about representing him for May’s draft.
Hundley’s father, Brett Hundley Sr., denied the reports to Rivals.com that same day. When asked Monday about whether or not the meeting took place, Hundley replied with an unequivocal, “No.”
“To be honest, I have no idea,” said Hundley about the rumor. “I guess stuff like that happens. I was talking to the coaches about that. I guess when you have a decision like that, people just throw out stuff like that. It is what it is.”
When push comes to shove
Mora said in a Sunday teleconference that Saturday’s game,which saw the Bruins flagged 11 times for 122 yards,gave him very few problems as a coach, since most of the team’s penalties were of the aggressive, not mental, variety.
Two of those penalties belonged to senior outside linebacker Anthony Barr, coming on consecutive plays in the fourth quarter. Barr, with a clear path to Colorado quarterback Sefo Liufau, knocked the freshman quarterback down on the first play, which drew a personal foul call. A displeased Liufau firmly tapped Barr in the chest as he stood up.
“I’ll admit it, that was also a first. Nothing nice (was said),” Barr said of the exchange. “I said something, too.”
Barr proved that actions are louder than words on the next play, when he drilled Liufau to earn his second personal foul in two snaps, again a roughing the passer flag.
Hundley, who has faced the 248-pound Barr for two year’s worth of practices, said he has learned not to say anything.
“I wouldn’t even do that in practice,” Hundley laughed. “I felt scared for him, the quarterback. It’s not smart to talk to A.B. like that. Surely, as a quarterback, (Barr’s) going to get to you one way or another … and he got to him.”