The young quarterback took snaps on the sidelines while UCLA football practiced on Spaulding Field Monday. Standing at 4 feet tall in an oversized Brett Hundley jersey, the elementary schooler tossed himself a blue foam football and then scrambled around in the pocket.
The Bruins have spent much of spring practice talking about the prospects of a different young quarterback as the team increasingly inches toward naming a newcomer to that spot – freshman Josh Rosen.
The rookie saw 30 snaps in 11-on-11 coverage Monday, completing 12 of 21 passes. After being three of six his first turn at scrimmage, Rosen returned to throw nine for 15, including a 50-yard touchdown throw to redshirt junior Kenneth Walker.
In contrast, redshirt junior Jerry Neuheisel only got four plays in the first round of 11-on-11. The veteran was pulled after throwing out of bounds twice. He placed his hands on his hips and shook his head as he stalked toward the sideline. Offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone pulled him aside, delaying him from joining the next drill, and continued to pull Neuheisel out of the following throwing drill to talk to him.
While he would return in 11-on-11 to throw 21 plays, he still finished with fewer reps than the two most prominent quarterback candidates. Redshirt sophomore Asiantii Woulard got 27 reps to go with Rosen’s 30, while redshirt junior Mike Fafaul featured in 23 plays.
The quarterback story plays into two of the overarching themes of spring practice: competition and the role of veteran players.
“It’s a veteran team,” said senior receiver Jordan Payton. “When you have a lot of veterans and the whole offense returning besides the quarterback, just (three) players on defense … we know the deal, we know what to do.”
With 65 upperclassmen on the 98-man roster, this spring practice has a different energy than coach Jim Mora’s first three.
“(This spring) is different. The energy is different, I feel like they know what the expectations are and they’re trying to live up to them at every moment,” Mora said. “It just feels more professional to me. It feels more like I’ve always been used to my whole life – the way NFL teams practice, that’s the way it feels to me.”
The high level of competitiveness evident in spring has been touted for the 12 practices so far. The team has been practicing in full pads for eight of those 12 sessions, with no holds barred, delivering strong hits and aggressive plays.
“One thing that I notice is there’s very few players on the ground, yet we practice really fast,” Mora said. “To me, that’s a sign of athleticism, a sign of understanding how to play physical, practice fast and yet take of each other.”
Junior linebacker Myles Jack said he and sophomore receiver Mossi Johnson are keeping a running tally of the times each of them beats the other in coverage play, and they aren’t the only ones so invested in the spring season.
“We just want to keep pushing each other and competing, be hard on each other when we know we should be making plays,” said redshirt junior defensive back Ishmael Adams.
The spring game is still four days away, and so the real competition is on the practice field, with the standard of intensity set by the veteran players.
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