UCLA had another three-hour, full-pad practice Thursday evening. The team worked out on the north side of the field again, so small details were hard to see. But nonetheless, here were the notes from UCLA's practice this afternoon:
-We'll start with the injuries, because they seem to keep mounting. OLB Breland Brandt and CB Colin Samuel didn't practice today and instead spent the afternoon on bikes with Sal Alosi. Najee Toran (back) also remained out. Brandon Stephens and Nate Starks are "fighting through injuries," per Jim Mora, and also didn't practice. Sunny Odogwu continued to sit out of team drills ("managing his workload," Mora said). Soso Jamabo returned to practice but is clearly still hurt. Jaelan Phillips was "removed" from practice early in the workout because he did something Mora deemed worthy of ejecting him for. Poasi Moala got hurt midway through practice and didn't return. He was spotted with a heavy limp later in the evening. Audie Omotosho remained out after injuring something earlier this week. I think that's all the notables.
With the injuries, here's what I think today's depth chart looked like:
Offense
QB - Josh Rosen; Devon Modster
RB - Bolu Olorunfunmi; Jalen Starks
WR - Christian Pabico, Theo Howard and Darren Andrews were the ones here.
TE - Caleb Wilson; Jordan Wilson
LT - Kolton Miller; Jake Burton
LG - Michael Alves; Paco Perez
C - Scott Quessenberry; Josh Wariboko
RG - Andre James; Sean Seawards
RT - Kenny Lacy; Poasi Moala
Defense
DE - Jaelan Phillips; Keisean Lucier-South
DT - Matt Dickerson; Osa Odighizuwa
DT - Boss Tagaloa; Nick Terry
DE - Jacob Tuioti-Mariner; Rick Wade
OLB - Kenny Young; Brandon Burton
MLB - Lokeni Toailoa; Mique Juarez
OLB - Josh Woods; Krys Barnes
CB - Darnay Holmes; Denzel Fisher
S - Adarius Pickett; Will Lockett
S - Jaleel Wadood, Octo Spencer
CB - Nate Meadors, Didn't see who was the fill-in for Samuel here
-Mora started his press conference singling out these guys for popping out to him this camp. Not sure I agree with the OL takes (Seawards, Sweeney, Burton, Wariboko mostly), but his list nonetheless: Sean Seawards, Stephan Zabie, Zach Sweeney, Jacob Burton, Michael Alves, Josh Wariboko ("improved"), Martin Andrus and Greg Rogers ("impressive things"), Darnay and Jaelan ("special"), Marucs Moore ("shows up"), Colin Samuel, Jimmy Jaggers and Moses Robinson-Carr ("really impressive").
-Mora said UCLA has only one scholarship available for a walk-on this fall. Christian Pabico is going to make that decision very easy for the head coach if he keeps playing the way he's playing. He was probably the top -- or at least most notable -- performer at practice today. He and Josh Rosen have really developed a chemistry. The two linked up on one of the very first plays of 11-on-11 -- a 30-yard post over Nate Meadors -- and they just kept clicking throughout practice. Pabico made two more highlight grabs on the sideline, one with a fancy toe tap. If you were ranking the receivers out here on performance/ability, you'd probably go 1. Darren Andrews, 2. Jordan Lasley, 3. Christian Pabico and 4. Theo Howard.
-On the flip side, Alex Van Dyke had a tough day catching the football. It's just crazy to think that after this many practices and this many years, he's still dropping the easy ones.
-The battle between Caleb Wilson and Josh Woods was fun to watch today. The two went at it in 1-on-1s, with the pair probably splitting their reps there. In 11-on-11s, Wilson got a few nice grabs on Woods (one was a deep ball over the middle from Rosen that Wilson hauled in well). Woods made some plays today, too, though. He had good coverage on Wilson throughout 11-on-11s and had one play in the backfield where he would have destroyed Bolu Olorunfunmi. In terms of activeness and just being around the ball, he's probably been the best of the three starting LBs this camp.
-Jalen Starks ran with some power today. There was one play in particular that had the small crowd in attendance "ohh-ing" and "awe-ing." He took a handoff straight up the middle and got going so fast nobody wanted to step in front of that train. Bolu Olorunfunmi was efficient and Joshua Kelley does his thing as a scat back, but nobody's really separated themselves from the group yet. Perhaps if Jalen Starks keeps running with that kind of power maybe he can.
-I liked what I saw from Rahyme Johnson in 1-on-1s today. He was strong with the jam at the line, holding up big TEs like Devin Asiasi and Jimmy Jaggers. He finished some reps with pass breakups as well. The game looks to be slowing down for him a little bit.
-I also liked what I saw from Brandon Burton today. Finally getting the chance to shine with Breland Brandt out, I thought he was far more active today with the twos at OLB than Brandt has been all camp. He was in the backfield a bunch for some tackles for loss, particularly on outside runs, and he had some nice pass breakups in 1-on-1s as well. Maybe all he needed was a chance to showcase what he could do to get noticed at his new position.
-Devin Asiasi had a really impressive 7-on-7 period in front of us on the south field. He had a sweet TD grab from Austin Burton and had some other catches in the drill using his big frame.
-A couple freshmen flashed in that same drill. Mo Osling had a nice pass breakup, coming off his man to take the ball away from Moses Robinson-Carr on what would have been a touchdown throw from Devon Modster. Quentin Lake also had a near pick, though he did get shook at the goal line by Kelley a play or two later.
-Over in OL-DL 1-on-1s, I liked what Odua Isibor showed, with some really nice bend and some quick burst. He mostly rushes against walk-ons over there, but he's got all the tools you want to see in a young pass rusher. Ainuu Taua had the rep of the drill, running over Stephan Zabie for a sack. Greg Rogers is starting to remind me of Ellis McCarthy (not necessarily a bad thing) in the sense that he's literally always just going to try to bull rush you.
-UCLA didn't punt or kick field goals today. They did run some fire drills with the field goal team and they did do some kickoffs. J.J. Molson was the starting kickoff guy with Austin Kent backing him up. Damian Alloway, Bolu Olorunfunmi, Stephan Johnson and Jordan Lasley were the returners.
-The two most impressive D-linemen today: Osa Odighizuwa and Marcus Moore. Odighizuwa just has a field day against guys like Sean Seawards, Zack Sweeney and Josh Wariboko. He had several would-be sacks and some tackles for loss as well. Moore, meanwhile, is in a similar boat to Odighizuwa. He often goes against walk-on tackles and just feasts. He's really hard to stop when he knows it's a pass and is usually shining brightest in two-minute drills where he just gets up the field on tackles.
-Keisean Lucier-South had a solid day filling in for Phillips, with at least one sack that I saw. The five-star light still hasn't turned on, though.
-Mossi Johnson had probably his eighth interception of camp to close out 11-on-11 drills, returning a Devon Modster pick to the house. It's such a crowded secondary, but he's easily been one of the four or five most impressive DBs out here.
UCLA practices next at 6:45 p.m. on Friday night before fan appreciation day on Saturday. They'll finally take a day off on Sunday.
-We'll start with the injuries, because they seem to keep mounting. OLB Breland Brandt and CB Colin Samuel didn't practice today and instead spent the afternoon on bikes with Sal Alosi. Najee Toran (back) also remained out. Brandon Stephens and Nate Starks are "fighting through injuries," per Jim Mora, and also didn't practice. Sunny Odogwu continued to sit out of team drills ("managing his workload," Mora said). Soso Jamabo returned to practice but is clearly still hurt. Jaelan Phillips was "removed" from practice early in the workout because he did something Mora deemed worthy of ejecting him for. Poasi Moala got hurt midway through practice and didn't return. He was spotted with a heavy limp later in the evening. Audie Omotosho remained out after injuring something earlier this week. I think that's all the notables.
With the injuries, here's what I think today's depth chart looked like:
Offense
QB - Josh Rosen; Devon Modster
RB - Bolu Olorunfunmi; Jalen Starks
WR - Christian Pabico, Theo Howard and Darren Andrews were the ones here.
TE - Caleb Wilson; Jordan Wilson
LT - Kolton Miller; Jake Burton
LG - Michael Alves; Paco Perez
C - Scott Quessenberry; Josh Wariboko
RG - Andre James; Sean Seawards
RT - Kenny Lacy; Poasi Moala
Defense
DE - Jaelan Phillips; Keisean Lucier-South
DT - Matt Dickerson; Osa Odighizuwa
DT - Boss Tagaloa; Nick Terry
DE - Jacob Tuioti-Mariner; Rick Wade
OLB - Kenny Young; Brandon Burton
MLB - Lokeni Toailoa; Mique Juarez
OLB - Josh Woods; Krys Barnes
CB - Darnay Holmes; Denzel Fisher
S - Adarius Pickett; Will Lockett
S - Jaleel Wadood, Octo Spencer
CB - Nate Meadors, Didn't see who was the fill-in for Samuel here
-Mora started his press conference singling out these guys for popping out to him this camp. Not sure I agree with the OL takes (Seawards, Sweeney, Burton, Wariboko mostly), but his list nonetheless: Sean Seawards, Stephan Zabie, Zach Sweeney, Jacob Burton, Michael Alves, Josh Wariboko ("improved"), Martin Andrus and Greg Rogers ("impressive things"), Darnay and Jaelan ("special"), Marucs Moore ("shows up"), Colin Samuel, Jimmy Jaggers and Moses Robinson-Carr ("really impressive").
-Mora said UCLA has only one scholarship available for a walk-on this fall. Christian Pabico is going to make that decision very easy for the head coach if he keeps playing the way he's playing. He was probably the top -- or at least most notable -- performer at practice today. He and Josh Rosen have really developed a chemistry. The two linked up on one of the very first plays of 11-on-11 -- a 30-yard post over Nate Meadors -- and they just kept clicking throughout practice. Pabico made two more highlight grabs on the sideline, one with a fancy toe tap. If you were ranking the receivers out here on performance/ability, you'd probably go 1. Darren Andrews, 2. Jordan Lasley, 3. Christian Pabico and 4. Theo Howard.
-On the flip side, Alex Van Dyke had a tough day catching the football. It's just crazy to think that after this many practices and this many years, he's still dropping the easy ones.
-The battle between Caleb Wilson and Josh Woods was fun to watch today. The two went at it in 1-on-1s, with the pair probably splitting their reps there. In 11-on-11s, Wilson got a few nice grabs on Woods (one was a deep ball over the middle from Rosen that Wilson hauled in well). Woods made some plays today, too, though. He had good coverage on Wilson throughout 11-on-11s and had one play in the backfield where he would have destroyed Bolu Olorunfunmi. In terms of activeness and just being around the ball, he's probably been the best of the three starting LBs this camp.
-Jalen Starks ran with some power today. There was one play in particular that had the small crowd in attendance "ohh-ing" and "awe-ing." He took a handoff straight up the middle and got going so fast nobody wanted to step in front of that train. Bolu Olorunfunmi was efficient and Joshua Kelley does his thing as a scat back, but nobody's really separated themselves from the group yet. Perhaps if Jalen Starks keeps running with that kind of power maybe he can.
-I liked what I saw from Rahyme Johnson in 1-on-1s today. He was strong with the jam at the line, holding up big TEs like Devin Asiasi and Jimmy Jaggers. He finished some reps with pass breakups as well. The game looks to be slowing down for him a little bit.
-I also liked what I saw from Brandon Burton today. Finally getting the chance to shine with Breland Brandt out, I thought he was far more active today with the twos at OLB than Brandt has been all camp. He was in the backfield a bunch for some tackles for loss, particularly on outside runs, and he had some nice pass breakups in 1-on-1s as well. Maybe all he needed was a chance to showcase what he could do to get noticed at his new position.
-Devin Asiasi had a really impressive 7-on-7 period in front of us on the south field. He had a sweet TD grab from Austin Burton and had some other catches in the drill using his big frame.
-A couple freshmen flashed in that same drill. Mo Osling had a nice pass breakup, coming off his man to take the ball away from Moses Robinson-Carr on what would have been a touchdown throw from Devon Modster. Quentin Lake also had a near pick, though he did get shook at the goal line by Kelley a play or two later.
-Over in OL-DL 1-on-1s, I liked what Odua Isibor showed, with some really nice bend and some quick burst. He mostly rushes against walk-ons over there, but he's got all the tools you want to see in a young pass rusher. Ainuu Taua had the rep of the drill, running over Stephan Zabie for a sack. Greg Rogers is starting to remind me of Ellis McCarthy (not necessarily a bad thing) in the sense that he's literally always just going to try to bull rush you.
-UCLA didn't punt or kick field goals today. They did run some fire drills with the field goal team and they did do some kickoffs. J.J. Molson was the starting kickoff guy with Austin Kent backing him up. Damian Alloway, Bolu Olorunfunmi, Stephan Johnson and Jordan Lasley were the returners.
-The two most impressive D-linemen today: Osa Odighizuwa and Marcus Moore. Odighizuwa just has a field day against guys like Sean Seawards, Zack Sweeney and Josh Wariboko. He had several would-be sacks and some tackles for loss as well. Moore, meanwhile, is in a similar boat to Odighizuwa. He often goes against walk-on tackles and just feasts. He's really hard to stop when he knows it's a pass and is usually shining brightest in two-minute drills where he just gets up the field on tackles.
-Keisean Lucier-South had a solid day filling in for Phillips, with at least one sack that I saw. The five-star light still hasn't turned on, though.
-Mossi Johnson had probably his eighth interception of camp to close out 11-on-11 drills, returning a Devon Modster pick to the house. It's such a crowded secondary, but he's easily been one of the four or five most impressive DBs out here.
UCLA practices next at 6:45 p.m. on Friday night before fan appreciation day on Saturday. They'll finally take a day off on Sunday.
