UCLA Football: Turn Up the Music

UCLA's Spaulding Field Saturday morning

Scott Robinson

As the first few drills took place, today’s practice brought with it a new mentality of confidence. With music now on the loudspeakers, the NFL theme song piped through as the Bruins began practice installing their respective playbooks.

Unlike Thursday, the stands were packed full and along the sidelines roamed a party of coaches and recruits.

Today, spectators even camped out along Parking Lot Six, looking over the East side of Spaulding from various levels in the structure. Entering this morning, UCLA held a coaching clinic—College jerseys of the respective staff present were shown along the fence separating Spaulding from Pauley’s construction site.

There was a feel out there unlike any other practice: a business mentality was at the forefront. From the get-go, even when players were stretching, the Bruins were attentive and quick to direction.

The energy was also evident: Another near dust-up pitted Cassius Marsh against Kevin Prince—One has to like the cut-throat attitude carried by the team nowadays.

Rounding out the practice was a good amount of 11-on-11’s, yielding further insight into how the depth charts might look once the remaining 2012 recruits arrive this summer.

The One’s

Starting with the defense, there appears to be a consistent group working as the first team (“the White jerseys”).



However, today’s hits might be cause for a change in the lineup as one particular play left ILB Patrick Larimore a little dazed and confused. Jumping in his spot was RS JR Isaiah Bowens, who performed well in Larimore’s stead.

Also getting mixed in with the first group defense were the following players:


Of course, this projection is subject to change with a few blue-chippers yet to don some pads this summer.

Apart from ILB Kendricks, who picked off a floater from QB Kevin Prince, the LB’s had a rough day. In addition to LB Larimore getting shaken up, OLB Aaron Wallace went down as well. Although Wallace got up and walked off the field, the amount of attrition seen outside of the line positions is beginning to add up for the defense.

Defense Wins Championships

Two players continue to stand out on the defense: One being DS Tevin McDonald and the other in DC Marcus Rios.

One nice swing pass brought RB Franklin down the sideline until he met McDonald, who promptly discharged him out of bounds. It was the sort of hit one would not expect in practice—Franklin was tossed a few feet from his vector to the end zone.

On another play, RB Franklin ran up the gut for some good yardage until he was stood up by both McDonald and DC Aaron Hester. Good to see the secondary stepping up to deliver some resistance against the run.

It should also be noted that Defensive Backs Coach, Demetrice Martin, was sure to point out correct angles to McDonald when accelerating towards the tackle. A lot of talk last year revolved around appropriate closing lines—Looks like the correct approaches are being spelled out.

Rios, as the other defensive highlight of camp so far, has been showing a mental aptitude not particularly common amongst true, early-entry freshmen. Lining up with the first team defense, Rios stepped into press coverage with purpose behind it; Anticipating a swing to the RB, Rios took the space away from the offensive player and tackled him for what would have been a five-yard loss.

On another instance, further buffering the type of intelligence he has, Rios was beat by a nice fingertip catch by WR Tyler Scott. The very next play, Rios was again on Scott, this time defending against a fade route to the back of the end zone.

With his back turned, Rios kept pace with Scott and put his hands up to defend what would have been a nice touch pass by QB Neuheisel. The ball was slapped out of Scott’s hands—without Rios looking.

Talk about a sign of coaching fundamentals…

Ones, Twos, Threes, Fours…

Offensively, the first team is much harder to decipher. A couple hints in the QB race were shown today with further situational drilling.

For one, an easy contrast was displayed on a particular flat pattern to FB David Allen while the team practiced goal-line situations. On the roll-out right, even with it resulting in a TD, QB Prince put a hard ball out for Allen to catch, who was forced to fall into a dive while rolling to keep the ball in the air. Conversely, when QB Brehaut jumped in, his flat pass hit Allen in stride for an easy catch.

However, Prince was not all bad, that’s for sure. RB Steven Manfro, whose name continues to come up, hauled in a nice over-the-shoulder ball from Prince as he streaked in for a TD. Another play during the 11-on-11’s had Prince swing to Manfro, who again was able to bring it home for the TD.

It should be noted, however, that a majority of snaps for RB Manfro occur while the 2^nd team defense is on the field. How much of a difference does it make? Not sure it matters—Manfro, one way or another, has all but played himself onto the field for this Fall.

QB Brett Hundley might have had his best practice of spring so far. Culminating in an absolute dart to slanting WR Shaquelle Evans, for a TD no less, Hundley’s performance today definitely began to exhibit his athletic ability.

To highlight his athleticism, one particular 11-on-11 snap had both DE Datone Jones and DE Cassius Marsh break into the backfield, pushing Hundley to his right and out of the pocket.

Even though Hundley tossed the ball away, the fact that he could escape the defensive rush (and not sit only to take the sack), will bring quite an asset against any potential spotty offensive line play. This of course, also shows his understanding of the necessity to get rid of the ball, especially during a broken play.

QB Richard Brehaut, however, was less impressive today; He threw a pick over the middle that was snagged by OLB Ryan Hoffmeister. The play was a nice read by Hoffmeister on Brehaut's eyes, who looked to have Prince’s problem from a few days ago: The QB stuck on his primary and the defense knew it.

With the least number of snaps during the 11-on-11 was Jerry Neuheisel: the lone QB not to throw an interception. Neuheisel's signal calling appears controlled and calculated--While running the hurry-up, he was consistently able to line-up the offense with plenty of time left on the play-clock. Working against him is his arm-strength, which can waiver when throwing off the wrong foot.

“Here, let me show you…”

While not necessarily struggling, the offensive line unit certainly is experiencing quite a learning curve. Virtually every drill including the linemen ended with Coach Klemm exhibiting the correct hand placement or proper pushing technique.

And when I say “exhibit,” I mean Klemm shoved players as he might have while still in the league—Enough to put any of them on their heels or tread a few steps back.

Nice to have a proper NFL-caliber hit exemplified to the squad, only seconds after a mistake.

Other times, Klemm was pretty vocal. For nearly two minutes straight Klemm went on a rant that tag-teamed first with OT Alexandru Ceachir then moved onto OT Brett Downey.

It’s clear Klemm has his work cut out for him.

During one drill, a spectator watching the defensive and offensive lines, was heard, “You need a marriage license in most states to do that,” when referring to C Jake Brendel’s hold on NT Brandon Willis as he rushed the pseudo-QB.

Brendel had a few problems blocking Willis, who again held him the next go-round.

On the bright side, and even with the fanfare of his return, OT Xavier Su’a-Filo has continued to live up to his billing. During the 1-on-1’s, Su’a-Filo was able to pancake NT Wesley Flowers and then absolutely manhandled DE Iuta Tepa.

Hampering a clear understanding of the first offensive unit are the growing number of players stuck with Coach Alosi. The “Blue” jerseys lineup is now without Y Joseph Fauria, C Greg Capella, OG Wade Yandall and WR Ricky Mavray.

But as always the case: One player’s injury is another’s opportunity.

Meanwhile, the right side of the line continues to be sorted out. Seeing time with the first group was both OG Alberto Cid and OT Torian White.

It appeared as though the second line was comprised of the following: OT Michael Padovese, OG Ben Wysocki, C Kody Innes, OT Alexandru Ceachir and OT Brett Downey.

Given the variety of snaps given to the offensive players vying for the first team (in addition to the amount of injuries piling up) it seems pointless to put together a first tem unit in conjecture… Look for one later down the road.

Practice Notes:
Remember to ask for players or coaches to report on! Tweet us who you'd like us to cover at @BruinsBall!

Requested Players:
-Brandon Willis (Thanks, @RealJoeLopez): Looked stellar against C Jake Brendel. Willis has a big body and is very difficult to position against when his momentum kicks in. His size alone should keep him on the field at NT, but he showed

-Owa Odighizuwa (Thanks, @ZellerRiley): While working with the 1’s during the scrimmage portions of practice, Owa was able to get into the backfield quite often. Had one nice tackle on RB Malcolm Jones, which would have meant nearly no gain. Further, during the 1-on-1’s, he dusted up OT Torian White, showing instant acceleration towards the QB.

UCLA’s next practice is next Tuesday, April 24^th at 3:45PM.

Follow Spring Practice here on BruinsBall.com and Twitter: @BruinsBall