UCLA Football: Back to the Basics

Practice Onlookers at UCLA's Parking Lot 8

Scott Robinson

The stands, although still near full, were nothing like they were only one week ago.

No, Primetime and John Stamos did not walk through the door.

An overcast day must have weeded out the bandwagon from the faithful. Despite the clouds, and a cool nip in the air, the True Blue spectators brought a jacket and took to Parking Lot 8.

On the field, the team surely did not notice—they played through each drill, kept the hustle apparent and continue to exhibit the sort of drive necessary to make sure all the small things are being learned.

Players are communicating. They chip at the opponent. They talk after plays. The coaches are in their ear—and they are listening.

Case and point: RB Damien Thigpen ran a flat in front of WR’s coach, Steve Broussard. Post-catch, Thigpen sprinted up the left sideline—But that wasn’t good enough.

“Outside arm! Outside arm!” Broussard yelled.

With his head high, Thigpen shook it off and stuck the pigskin in the appropriate arm on the next play.

To some, these are the basics of football. To this team, this is a learning curve: the arena, coaching staff and tools are there for the taking. Now this team has to just keep it up.

Another example of this growing need to get better: QB Brett Hundley delivered a perfectly spiraling 30-yarder to a streaking WR Shaquelle Evans—who promptly dropped the TD. As Evans ran back towards the huddle, while the next team jumped in, him and Hundley discussed the drop. Later in the 11-on-11’s, Hundley threw the same ball, this time facing the opposing end-zone, and Evans spooled in what would have been a beautiful six points.

They’re learning. And, they’re getting better.

Never Settle

Today’s practice continued to maintain the expected high level of intensity. Another “dust-up” occurred between RB Dalton Hilliard and DE Brandon Willis.

Between the piped in fan noise and the focus on tempo, these drills continue to embody a tangible experience, as practice should be.

Furthermore, the coaching staff seems to maximize each sort of drill—Whether that’s five QB’s passing simultaneously or a hurry-up allowing for three to four plays in the span of one minute.

They want more.

On the recruiting front, UCLA stocked up on another offensive lineman in Fallbrook High School’s 2013 OT Sean Dowling (6’6 / 265). While attending practice Dowling gave a verbal to the Bruins, despite garnering offers from Arizona, Colorado, Duke, Navy, San Diego State and Washington State.

Also at practice was Juniperro Serra High School’s 2014 LB Dwight Williams—he looks like he could suit up in a white jersey today.

Additionally, another big man was on-site in Torrey Pines High School’s 2013 OT Jacob Alsadek.

If one sort of assertion could be made between the types of athletes now showing interest, it’s this: These recruits look the part.

Bruising Bruins

Meanwhile, the Bruin football squad is taking a little bit of a licking. Unquestionably, the physical nature of practice simply cannot be compared to the past few seasons.

Luckily, it appears no major injuries have occurred since the onset of the spring season. With this in mind, out of pads today included the following:


Of the above, Jerry Rice Jr. (in a sling) and Ricky Marvray (on crutches) looked the worst. Today’s lone casualty was DE Cassius Marsh, who went down with a minor right leg injury. He limped off the field and returned to practice later out of pads—on his own power, which should be a good sign.

As noted earlier, Sal Alosi, who takes ownership of the wounded during practice, seems to never let up. Whether on a bike or tugging on elastics, the injured group simply does not sit still.

On a side note: Someone tell WR Shaquelle Evans to watch out for number 63 on the scout team (Evans took out the pop-up dummy while jumping for a ball from Prince)…

Practice Notes

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DB’s:
-Marcus Rios: Has great range. Tipped a few balls that could have easily been caught—The play was broken up because of proper spacing. Rios, despite being a freshman and early entrant at that, is an exceptional talent that can only get better with time.

-Tevin McDonald: Continues to show a physical side of defense. He can defend the pass with his speed alone, but the same speed helps deliver quite a hit should the receiver have any luck catching the ball. In a trench drill pitting the offense against the defense, McDonald hit the RB so hard it got Mora’s hands up in validation.

RB’s:
-Dalton Hilliard: Outside speed is unmatched; Hilliard hits the corner and turns up-field with ease. While not necessarily a “down-hill” runner, his style and speed are giving him quite a few looks as a starter. With RB Johnathan Franklin being out with a minor injury today, Hilliard sure took advantage.

-Steven Manfro: This guy turns on a dime—Has a Barry Sanders-esque side-step technique that is incredibly hard to defend. Also continues to bounce off tacklers; His legs are always moving whenever facing contact.

ST’s:
-Jeff Locke: I made a point of timing his punts the past few days. Locke has been averaging a 4.5-4.9 second punt, often inducing “oooh’s” and “aaaah’s” with the height of his kicks. While winning with his punts may not be an option, Mora’s got quite a leg at his disposal when it comes to a field-position sort of game.

UCLA’s next practice is this Saturday, April 14^th at 9:30AM.

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