This Saturday, the NFL Draft begins, and by the end of the first
day, former UCLA cornerback Matt Ware will most likely know what
team he will be playing for in the NFL. Current UCLA cornerback
Matt Clark will be at Ware’s home Saturday morning, watching
the draft with his former teammate. “Me personally, I would
have liked to see him stay another year (at UCLA), so we could play
our last year together,” Clark said. “But he made his
own decision, and it was a good choice for him.” When Ware
decided to forego his senior season and enter the draft, UCLA lost
its premier cornerback and one of its star players. But Clark, who
started opposite Ware last season, and Marcus Cassel are looking to
step up their games to fill the void. “As of right now,
myself and Matt are starting,” Cassel said. “Matt is
our only veteran, and despite the fact that our cornerbacks are
fairly inexperienced, we’ve all stepped it up. I can see
improvement in all of the guys. Practice is going well for all of
us.” At 6-foot-3 and 223 pounds, Ware offered the Bruins size
that none of the remaining cornerbacks have. Clark is 5-foot-9,
Cassel and Jebiaus Brown stand 6 feet tall, and Trey Brown is
5-foot-10. Trey and Jebiaus (no relation) are both competing for
playing time, and have impressed both Cassel and Clark with their
efforts. “Practice is a learning process,” Trey said.
“You’ve got to build on everything you are doing. You
have to make sure that when you make a mistake, you don’t
make it twice.”
INJURY AND WORK UPDATE: Defensive end Justin
Hickman missed practice Tuesday with a sprained left shoulder. He
had X-rays taken, which came back negative. “He’s still
pretty sore and swollen, so we kept him out today, and hopefully,
he’ll be back within a week,” coach Karl Dorrell said.
The team worked hard Tuesday, ending the day with red-zone
practice. Dorrell said he noticed the players were worn out.