Matt Joye with another great report from San Bernardino this evening:
After a two-a-day practice schedule on Monday, UCLA had a little bit of a rest day on Tuesday, practicing just once – with no pads. The team got an elongated water break about halfway through practice, and it seemed as if the team was resting up a little bit for what will be another two-a-day tomorrow.
Notables
-Mique watch: Nothing new to report here – Mique Juarez was once again absent from practice, not even appearing on the sidelines. Like we said in yesterday’s notebook, it’s likely that we won’t get a definitive answer on Mique Juarez’s status until Thursday afternoon – when coach Jim Mora is next scheduled to meet with the media.
-Theo Howard, Andre James and Jordan Wilson all returned to the practice field Tuesday. Howard had been out of practice since last Tuesday with a hamstring strain, and James and Wilson sat out yesterday’s practice with minor injuries.
-Paco Perez was the only member of the injury/rehab group during Tuesday’s practice, with Deon Hollins and Cam Griffin being off site nursing their respective concussions.
-Eddie Vanderdoes was given a pretty good amount of rest in this practice. He didn’t suffer any sort of injury, but coach Tom Bradley gave Jacob Tuioti-Mariner a lot of first-string reps at the 3-tech.
-After practice, Kennedy Polamalu spoke with the media, and gave some interesting tidbits. He said that he will have 10 to 15 pre-scripted plays that he will run to start each game. He also said that some of Noel Mazzone’s plays will still remain this year. Lastly, Polamalu didn’t give any update on the running back competition, saying only that they’re all still competing.
-Last key quote from coach KP: He said that he’s done adding plays to the playbook. The “menu” of plays, as Polamalu calls it, has been set. All the team is doing now is just refining the plays they’ve already learned, and adding some “window dressing,” per Polamalu.
The Day Seven Depth Chart
-The one noticeable change here was at the second-string center position. Previously, Markus Boyer had been slotted in here, and had been doing a pretty good job. But last night, Boyer committed a costly penalty in 11-on-11s, and the coaches got on him pretty good. In today’s practice, Gyo Shojima replaced Boyer in that second-string center role. Boyer, meanwhile, was moved to the third team.
Offense
QB - Josh Rosen, Mike Fafaul
RB - Soso Jamabo, Nate Starks
FB - Ainuu Taua
LT - Conor McDermott, Cristian Garcia
LG - Kenny Lacy, Najee Toran
C - Scott Quessenberry, Gyo Shojima
RG - Poasi Moala, Josh Wariboko
RT - Kolton Miller, Andre James
TE - Nate Iese, Austin Roberts
WR - Kenny Walker, Ish Adams
WR - Eldridge Massington, Alex Van Dyke
Defense
CB - Nate Meadors, Marcus Rios
CB - Fabian Moreau, Johnny Johnson
S - Jaleel Wadood, Tahaan Goodman
S - Randall Goforth, Octo Spencer
DE - Matt Dickerson, Rick Wade
DT - Eddie Vanderdoes, Boss Tagaloa
DT - Eli Ankou, Nick Terry
DE - Takkarist McKinley, Keisean Lucier-South
OLB - Cam Judge, Breland Brandt
MLB - Isaako Savaiinaea, Kenny Young
OLB - Jayon Brown, Josh Woods
Practice Observations
-After the secondary really had the wide receivers’ number on Monday night, the wideouts bounced back on Tuesday. In 1-on-1s, the WRs got about as many clean catches as they had during any 1-on-1 session in camp. Eldridge Massington had Fabian Moreau spinning in all different directions on one play, Darren Andrews did the same to Brandon Burton, and Jordan Lasley also burned his man – Colin Samuel – for a nice 40-yard catch.
-More on the wide receivers: Ish Adams made a top-five play in this camp, if not the best play yet. In 7-on-7s, he went deep over the middle and leaped up, palmed the ball with one hand for a second, then tipped the ball in the air to himself for the touchdown. It was just 7-on-7s, but it was nonetheless a very impressive catch by Adams.
-Josh Woods shined with the second-team defense on Monday. During one 11-on-11 session against the second-team offense, Woods had a phantom sack, a tackle for loss, and a QB hurry on a play-action bootleg.
-Dymond Lee got his first semi-competitive action at QB on Tuesday. So far, it’s been only Josh Rosen, Mike Fafaul, Devon Modster and Matt Lynch taking the QB reps in 11-on-11s and 7-on-7s. Lee was given four plays of work in the 7-on-7 session. He looked a little nervous, overthrowing two passes high and throwing one pass way behind his receiver. The one completion Lee had was a short curl to Mossi Johnson, which Johnson had to dive for because the pass was underthrown. Overall, it wasn’t an impressive showing for Lee in the short time he was in at QB.
-Theo Howard looked pretty impressive in his first practice back. He didn’t have any long catches, but his routes looked crisp and he shook a few CBs with his quick feet. Next to Ishmael Adams, Howard probably has the best agility of any UCLA receiver, with Darren Andrews being in the mix as well.
-J.J. Molson had his most impressive showing since spring. At the end of practice, he made five of six field goals, with his only miss being from 54 yards – and that kick had the distance, it was just wide left. Molson’s successful field goals came from 26, 26, 43, 43, and 50 yards.
UCLA returns to practice at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow, and then once again at 5:45 p.m. It’s likely that the morning practice will be in spider pads, with the later practice being in full pads.
After a two-a-day practice schedule on Monday, UCLA had a little bit of a rest day on Tuesday, practicing just once – with no pads. The team got an elongated water break about halfway through practice, and it seemed as if the team was resting up a little bit for what will be another two-a-day tomorrow.
Notables
-Mique watch: Nothing new to report here – Mique Juarez was once again absent from practice, not even appearing on the sidelines. Like we said in yesterday’s notebook, it’s likely that we won’t get a definitive answer on Mique Juarez’s status until Thursday afternoon – when coach Jim Mora is next scheduled to meet with the media.
-Theo Howard, Andre James and Jordan Wilson all returned to the practice field Tuesday. Howard had been out of practice since last Tuesday with a hamstring strain, and James and Wilson sat out yesterday’s practice with minor injuries.
-Paco Perez was the only member of the injury/rehab group during Tuesday’s practice, with Deon Hollins and Cam Griffin being off site nursing their respective concussions.
-Eddie Vanderdoes was given a pretty good amount of rest in this practice. He didn’t suffer any sort of injury, but coach Tom Bradley gave Jacob Tuioti-Mariner a lot of first-string reps at the 3-tech.
-After practice, Kennedy Polamalu spoke with the media, and gave some interesting tidbits. He said that he will have 10 to 15 pre-scripted plays that he will run to start each game. He also said that some of Noel Mazzone’s plays will still remain this year. Lastly, Polamalu didn’t give any update on the running back competition, saying only that they’re all still competing.
-Last key quote from coach KP: He said that he’s done adding plays to the playbook. The “menu” of plays, as Polamalu calls it, has been set. All the team is doing now is just refining the plays they’ve already learned, and adding some “window dressing,” per Polamalu.
The Day Seven Depth Chart
-The one noticeable change here was at the second-string center position. Previously, Markus Boyer had been slotted in here, and had been doing a pretty good job. But last night, Boyer committed a costly penalty in 11-on-11s, and the coaches got on him pretty good. In today’s practice, Gyo Shojima replaced Boyer in that second-string center role. Boyer, meanwhile, was moved to the third team.
Offense
QB - Josh Rosen, Mike Fafaul
RB - Soso Jamabo, Nate Starks
FB - Ainuu Taua
LT - Conor McDermott, Cristian Garcia
LG - Kenny Lacy, Najee Toran
C - Scott Quessenberry, Gyo Shojima
RG - Poasi Moala, Josh Wariboko
RT - Kolton Miller, Andre James
TE - Nate Iese, Austin Roberts
WR - Kenny Walker, Ish Adams
WR - Eldridge Massington, Alex Van Dyke
Defense
CB - Nate Meadors, Marcus Rios
CB - Fabian Moreau, Johnny Johnson
S - Jaleel Wadood, Tahaan Goodman
S - Randall Goforth, Octo Spencer
DE - Matt Dickerson, Rick Wade
DT - Eddie Vanderdoes, Boss Tagaloa
DT - Eli Ankou, Nick Terry
DE - Takkarist McKinley, Keisean Lucier-South
OLB - Cam Judge, Breland Brandt
MLB - Isaako Savaiinaea, Kenny Young
OLB - Jayon Brown, Josh Woods
Practice Observations
-After the secondary really had the wide receivers’ number on Monday night, the wideouts bounced back on Tuesday. In 1-on-1s, the WRs got about as many clean catches as they had during any 1-on-1 session in camp. Eldridge Massington had Fabian Moreau spinning in all different directions on one play, Darren Andrews did the same to Brandon Burton, and Jordan Lasley also burned his man – Colin Samuel – for a nice 40-yard catch.
-More on the wide receivers: Ish Adams made a top-five play in this camp, if not the best play yet. In 7-on-7s, he went deep over the middle and leaped up, palmed the ball with one hand for a second, then tipped the ball in the air to himself for the touchdown. It was just 7-on-7s, but it was nonetheless a very impressive catch by Adams.
-Josh Woods shined with the second-team defense on Monday. During one 11-on-11 session against the second-team offense, Woods had a phantom sack, a tackle for loss, and a QB hurry on a play-action bootleg.
-Dymond Lee got his first semi-competitive action at QB on Tuesday. So far, it’s been only Josh Rosen, Mike Fafaul, Devon Modster and Matt Lynch taking the QB reps in 11-on-11s and 7-on-7s. Lee was given four plays of work in the 7-on-7 session. He looked a little nervous, overthrowing two passes high and throwing one pass way behind his receiver. The one completion Lee had was a short curl to Mossi Johnson, which Johnson had to dive for because the pass was underthrown. Overall, it wasn’t an impressive showing for Lee in the short time he was in at QB.
-Theo Howard looked pretty impressive in his first practice back. He didn’t have any long catches, but his routes looked crisp and he shook a few CBs with his quick feet. Next to Ishmael Adams, Howard probably has the best agility of any UCLA receiver, with Darren Andrews being in the mix as well.
-J.J. Molson had his most impressive showing since spring. At the end of practice, he made five of six field goals, with his only miss being from 54 yards – and that kick had the distance, it was just wide left. Molson’s successful field goals came from 26, 26, 43, 43, and 50 yards.
UCLA returns to practice at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow, and then once again at 5:45 p.m. It’s likely that the morning practice will be in spider pads, with the later practice being in full pads.
