UCLA football needs to guard against nation’s most prolific receiver

Of all the Pac-12’s dynamic receivers – USC’s Nelson Agholor, UCLA’s Jordan Payton, Arizona State’s Jaelen Strong, Stanford’s Ty Montgomery – coming from the conference’s top teams, the name that sits atop that list doesn’t come from one of the Pac-12’s marquee programs and hasn’t yet become as much of a household name.

Nelson Spruce. It’s a name that has been called by commentators more than any other receiver in the nation this year – as he leads the NCAA in receptions – and likely will be even more Saturday when UCLA (5-2, 2-2 Pac-12) faces Colorado (2-5, 0-4).

The Buffaloes’ junior wide receiver is not only one of the Pac-12’s top targets, he’s arguably the most prolific receiver in the nation this season. Spruce is No. 1 in both receptions and receiving touchdowns with 71 and 11, respectively and ranks No. 8 in receiving yards with 801. He leads the Pac-12 in all three categories.

Even with Cal, Pac-12’s second-best passing offense, behind UCLA, the Bruins face just as tough of a challenge through the air this week. Colorado averages 307.6 passing yards per game this season – No. 18 in the nation – with Spruce on the other end of many of those.

“You have to be aware of (Spruce), but the most important thing is that we play sound schematically and our technique is sound and (we) do our job and if they catch it, tackle him,” said coach Jim Mora. “You don’t change a ton. You might spend a little bit more time getting concentration on a guy and putting more resources into him but you don’t make wholesale changes.”

The Bruins may need to change something though, as they have struggled to defend bigger receivers. Last week, Cal’s 6-foot-3 sophomore receiver Kenny Lawler went for 88 yards and a touchdown against the Bruins. And Arizona State’s, 6-foot-3 redshirt junior receiver Jaelen Strong put up 12 catches for 146 yards against the Bruins.

At 6-foot-1, Spruce measures in as slightly smaller, but equally dangerous.

Working in the Bruins favor, however, is the history they have with Spruce, even beyond the past two years’ matchups. Junior wide receiver Jordan Payton and redshirt sophomore cornerback Ishmael Adams both attended Oaks Christian School in Westlake Village, Calif. Spruce played right across town at Westlake High School.

“We’ve had some battles, me and him when we were at Oaks. We’d always see each other like twice a year, in playoffs and also in regular season,” Adams said. “I was playing running back then. It’s gonna be a lot (more fun) playing defensive back. “

As Adams now gets the chance to defend Spruce, he might want to talk with Payton for some tips.

“Aw man, (Spruce has) haunted me for years. I used to play safety, so I used to have to game plan against him,” Payton said. “Man! For him, he’s always been a phenomenal player. He has some great hands. In high school I used to be so mad when we played him because he used to kill us.”