It’s getting to that point in training camp where the coaches are starting to test the will of their players.
On Wednesday morning, in a padless practice, multiple UCLA coaches shouted louder than they have thus far in camp. During positional drills, offensive coordinator and running backs coach Kennedy Polamalu pulled the tailbacks aside and made them run because they weren’t bringing enough effort. Later, coach Jim Mora threatened to restart practice because of the lack of urgency shown in 7-on-7.
Once Mora reached his boiling point, he didn’t really simmer down. He laid into Josh Rosen after the sophomore quarterback threw an interception directly to the safety. Mora continued on a profanity-laced rant for about 20 seconds as Rosen jogged off to the sideline.
“You get on the cover of Sports Illustrated with that bull****?,” Mora yelled at Rosen.
Rosen wasn’t the only subject of Mora’s criticism. The UCLA coach also called out redshirt freshman tight end Caleb Wilson for walking back to the line of scrimmage after a play, as well as redshirt senior backup quarterback Mike Fafaul for taking too long to snap the ball in 7-on-7s.
Overall, it appeared that the coaches were trying to collectively challenge the players’ poise and composure. The plan wasn’t drawn up before practice, but rather thought up on the spot after the players began the practice a little flat.
“No, we didn’t plot that out (beforehand),” said defensive coordinator Tom Bradley with a laugh. “Defensively, we were not on top of our game. And we had to push them a little bit.”
As a result of the prodding, some players snapped.
Senior defensive end Takkarist McKinley was one of those players who lost his composure. During 11-on-11s, McKinley broke through the offensive line and recorded a sack. But after the play, McKinley started a fist fight with redshirt sophomore Kolton Miller, swinging a left and a right hook before being ejected from the practice. Miller was ejected from the rest of practice as well.
“We had to push them a little bit, and I think that caused some of the chipping with each other out there,” Bradley said.
What made McKinley’s transgression even worse, in Bradley’s eyes, was the timing of it. The fight occurred after a fourth-and-16 play during a two-minute drill. If McKinley had just sacked the quarterback and jogged off the field, the defense would have won. But since McKinley threw two punch attempts, he drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and gave the offense a fresh set of downs.
“We made a point of it: There we are, in a two-minute situation – you can’t lose your poise,” Bradley said. “If it happens in practice, it’s going to happen in the game.”
Perhaps these lessons will come in handy down the road, as UCLA has had a recurring penalty problem since Mora took over as coach in 2012. While some of those penalties have been so-called “aggressive” penalties like holding and pass interference, others have been careless ones, like unsportsmanlike conduct and personal fouls.
“That’s one of the things we’ve tried to emphasize: penalties,” Bradley said.
Since the spring, UCLA’s coaches have stressed the importance of penalties by bringing referees out to practice and by having a shorter leash for players who show attitude.
McKinley is the third player to be thrown out of practice since the spring, with senior outside linebacker Jayon Brown being ejected from an April practice because of a targeting penalty, and freshman middle linebacker Lokeni Toailoa being tossed from practice last week because of a post-play altercation.
These quick ejections have not always been the norm at UCLA practices. Last year, when then-UCLA linebacker Myles Jack had a post-play altercation in fall camp, it escalated for several minutes as Jack went up and down the field yelling. It took a few more minutes before Jack was off the practice field entirely.
On Wednesday morning, things were much different. Coaches escorted McKinley off the practice field just seconds after his punches were thrown, preventing any further disruption.
Similarly, when Toailoa got into his altercation last week, Mora ended practice right on the spot to discuss sportsmanship with the team.
Bold prediction
After practice, redshirt senior Kenny Walker predicted who the top UCLA wide receiver would be this year – and it wasn’t him.
“Promise you, Theo (Howard) is gonna be the top receiver at UCLA,” Walker said.
A reporter asked if Walker was referring to this year, and Walker replied, “yes.”
Howard shined as an early-enrollee freshman in spring camp, but he has been hampered by a hamstring strain thus far in fall camp. The 6-foot tall receiver has only been active for three days of practice – the first two, and then yesterday. Howard sat out of Wednesday morning’s practice because he re-aggravated his hamstring on Tuesday, according to Walker.
“He came out yesterday, tweaked it some more,” Walker said of Howard. “I told him to just sit it out – there’s no point in pushing it now, you still have time (before the season).”