A hush fell over Spaulding Field last Thursday as the ball spiraled through the air. But the silence was quickly erased as the small crowd burst into cheers.
Squinting against the sun, the UCLA football faithful saw Brett Hundley launch a deep ball down the right sideline where it landed in the hands of one of the redshirt junior quarterback’s new favorite targets.
Picking himself off the ground, redshirt freshman wide receiver Eldridge Massington calmly trotted back to the sideline, acting as if it was just another play. And for him, it may just well be.
A high school track star, Massington is expected to become UCLA’s newest deep threat given his speed, athleticism and 6-foot-3 frame.
“He’s not gonna be a possession guy, he’s gonna be an over-the-top guy,” said wide receivers coach Eric Yarber. “… Hopefully he’ll be that deep threat that we really need.”
Massington’s biggest asset – his speed – was thrown into question after an ACL injury forced him to sit out his senior season in high school and redshirt in his first year at UCLA last season. But with his knee brace off, Massington said he’s nearly back to full speed and is ready “to finally let loose.”
“I noticed that once we started offseason and I was running without it, I started getting faster and faster, and Brett used to be able to stay with me when we were running, now I take off on him,” Massington said.
Massington and Hundley did more than just race each other in the offseason. The two have developed a close bond after training together frequently, specifically on deep pass plays that the two are looking to perfect.
“That’s my big brother,” Massington said. “He looked after me, not only just on the field but off the field, like we used to stay together and he’s always picking me up to come to his house to chill and so it’s just the relationship we got and it just carries over to the field.”
But while Massington and Yarber envision that relationship helping with deep ball connections, coach Jim Mora envisions another area in which Massington could excel.
Given his size and strength, Massington could see significant playing time in the red zone to give Hundley a big body to throw to, Mora said. Massington has showed flashes of such ability in goal line one-on-one drills throughout spring practice, frequently muscling his way into position and catching touchdown passes over smaller defensive backs.
With his size, speed and connection with Hundley, Massington figures to compete for playing time throughout the year. But for all of Massington’s speed, Yarber said what the receiver most needs to work on to earn field time is not slowing down.
“(I) just need him to play a little faster, stop thinking,” Yarber said. “Sometimes he has paralysis by analysis, so he plays a little slower, but when he knows what he’s doing and he knows his assignments and he knows the technique to use, he’s playing well when it’s that way.”
Bunche explains transfer decision
After transferring from Miami, redshirt senior offensive guard Malcolm Bunche spoke to reporters for the first time Wednesday, saying that his decision to transfer was to get more playing time. Both Mora and offensive line coach Adrian Klemm have said that their intention is for Bunche to see significant time on the field this season.
While Bunche knew he wanted to transfer for his final year of eligibility, he wasn’t sure if it would be to UCLA or Texas Tech, the only other school he considered.
“I wanted to narrow down my options,” Bunche said. “I had a lot of schools that were contacting me, but I really didn’t want to talk to a lot of guys so I narrowed it down to two ASAP, like really quick.”
Bunche eventually settled on UCLA, and the Bruins are glad he did. Having played three seasons of college football already, Bunche provides a level of experience that is unmatched on UCLA’s offensive line.
“He gives that other experienced offensive lineman that we need,” Mora said Monday. “He’s acting as a mentor to some of those guys as well in his own quiet way so I appreciate that he’s here.”
Finding the balance between adjusting to a new school, team and environment while still having that veteran voice has been a work in progress for Bunche.
“The guys on the offensive line, we kinda gel anyway, so we’re all leaders in there,” Bunche said. “At the same time I’m leading but at the same time I’m still listening, ’cause like you said it’s my first time here, it’s only my second practice so I’m still learning.”
Injury update
Sophomore inside linebacker Isaako Savaiinaea left practice early with his left arm in a sling and did not return. Savaiinaea was expected to be a front-runner for the starting inside linebacker spot vacated by Jordan Zumwalt.