Two weeks into spring practice, the UCLA football team finally
got a chance to put it all together. But while the Bruins were
sloppy, with dropped balls, missed tackles and penalties, coach
Karl Dorrell was still pleased with the effort, given the rainy
weather and the injuries. “The film will tell us a lot, but
I’m encouraged with what I saw live,” Dorrell said.
“We did a lot of different situations to see how they could
respond. We got a chance to see the young players without a lot of
coaching to see how they would react going full speed. It’ll
be a great film for us to watch and evaluate as a staff.” In
particular, running back Maurice Drew was by far the most
impressive player on the field, using his newly added bulk to force
some missed tackles. He scored the offense’s first touchdown
with a nimble 62-yard run, and added another touchdown on a punt
return where he looked like he was down, but kept his knees above
the ground by sitting on the would-be tackler and taking off for
another 52-yard score. “Maurice Drew was Maurice Drew
today,” Dorrell said. “We saw today how he can run the
ball with both power and speed.” It was also offensive
coordinator Tom Cable’s first opportunity to see quarterback
Drew Olson in a game situation. Olson struggled with his passing
throughout the day, but was praised by coaches for his
decision-making and checks at the line of scrimmage. And if Olson
didn’t get the memo regarding Dorrell’s emphasis on
hitting, he received it on the second play. During a quarterback
bootleg, despite his red jersey, Olson was knocked to the ground by
a safety, sending him face-first into the wet turf. “A couple
of times, I went the wrong way,” said Olson, who finished the
scrimmage completing nine of 21 passes for 76 yards and one
touchdown. “I’ve been holding higher expectations this
spring, and I don’t think I was where I should have been. We
have a long way to go. We have to get ready and that’s what
spring is for.” With the injuries, the coaches were also
evaluating potential replacements, such as defensive end Bruce
Davis for Kevin Harbour, who suffered a possible season-ending torn
ACL last week. “They’re having an opportunity to play
against the first-string,” Dorrell said. “They
aren’t familiar with those situations, so we wanted to see
how they’d respond.” Walk-on Brian Rubenstein and
starting guard Paul Mociler both saw time at center during the
scrimmage in place of the injured Mike McCloskey and Robert
Chai.
INJURY UPDATE: UCLA received good news after
learning that center Chai had a strained right MCL and would not
need surgery. Chai, who had the same injury on his other knee last
season, is expected to be out for two to three weeks. Defensive end
Harbour will have surgery in a couple of weeks, and only at that
time will UCLA know how long he will be out. Fullback Jimmy
Stephens, who suffered a high ankle sprain last Thursday, is likely
out for the rest of spring practice.