A reporter asked defensive backs coach Demetrice Martin if this year’s secondary is the most experienced one he’s coached during his four-plus years at UCLA. Martin didn’t even hesitate when he heard the question.
“By far,” he said. “These guys have been playing together, they know each other’s shortcomings, they know each other’s strengths.”
UCLA’s secondary was already No. 1 in the Pac-12 in pass yards allowed last season, even without the services of starting cornerback Fabian Moreau, who suffered a season-ending foot injury in the third game of the year.
Moreau returns this season as a redshirt senior, and a key cog of a secondary that has combined to accumulate 100 career starts. That doesn’t even include the 34 career starts from redshirt senior Ishmael Adams, who transitioned from cornerback to wide receiver this spring.
To bring context to just how much 100 career starts is: UCLA’s offensive line unit has only 56 combined career starts, and the wide receiver corps just 29.
“I want to win and (allow) no touchdown passes,” Martin said. “Has anyone ever done that? No touchdown passes?”
No touchdown passes would be an incredibly tall task, especially in the pass-heavy Pac-12. But with Moreau back in the fold, UCLA could actually be even better than it was last year.
“Last year I feel like we did good as a unit, but there’s always room for growth,” said redshirt senior safety Randall Goforth.
The room for growth would be in finishing off games, such as the 31-27 loss to Washington State last year. On the final drive of that game, the Bruins allowed 13.4 yards per pass as Cougar quarterback Luke Falk led his team to victory.
“Close things out – that’s the step that we have to be able to take, in my opinion, to really reach that elite status,” Mora said.
Closing out practice has been something that Mora has emphasized in this first week of camp – on both sides of the ball. On Thursday, a late-practice scuffle led to the entire team meeting in the middle of the field. On Wednesday, Mora said his team was having its “best practice ever” during his tenure – up until the final 20 minutes.
“What you see is that at the end of every practice, we start to lose it,” Mora said Thursday. “We have to develop the discipline to keep it together, and that’s one of the things we’re working on.”
The finish to Saturday afternoon’s practice appeared to be quite a bit stronger.
The first-team offense was moving the ball well in a competitive drive against the first-team defense. With the ball inside the five-yard line, sophomore quarterback Josh Rosen made an audible at the line of scrimmage, took the snap, and ran the ball in for a touchdown. Rosen’s touchdown run was met by an applause from the spectators who were on hand for fan appreciation day at UCLA.
Off to San Bernardino
Over the next week, local fans in Westwood won’t be able to see the Bruins practice, as the team heads out to San Bernardino for a one-week crash course.
“We’re out there for six days, with nine intense practices,” Mora said. “We want that intensity.”
Injury update
Mora said that he expects freshman wide receiver Theo Howard to be back on the field and ready to go when the team begins practice in San Bernardino on Monday morning. Howard missed all but two practices this week with a strained hamstring.
Mique Juarez update
Freshman linebacker Mique Juarez’s disappearance continued Saturday, as he wasn’t at either of the two practices in the doubleheader. Juarez last practiced with the team on Thursday.
When Mora was asked why Juarez was out of practice, he kept returning to the same refrain: “He’s got an excused absence.”
Here’s Coach Mora’s response to why Mique Juarez has missed the last 2 practices: pic.twitter.com/QXi3y0MQEj
— Matt Joye (@mattjoye) August 13, 2016
When asked if Juarez could possibly leave the team in the future, Mora neither confirmed nor denied the possibility.