Matt Joye, braving the elements out in San Bernardino, with the morning report:
UCLA finished up its 11th practice of the fall on Wednesday morning. Similar to Monday morning, this practice was in just spider pads, meaning the later practice at 5:45 p.m. will probably be in full pads.
Notables
-Even though Wednesday morning’s practice lacked pads, it was definitely one of the most intense practices yet in fall camp. Coach Jim Mora yelled more than he has in any fall practice so far, even threatening to re-start practice at one point. It was vintage Mora, as he laid into Josh Rosen after an interception and said: “You get on the cover of Sports Illustrated with that bulls***?” Rosen’s interception was by far his worst of camp – a throw-away attempt that ended up landing directly in the hands of safety Jaleel Wadood in the middle of the field.
-Kennedy Polamalu also chipped in on the yelling as well during the running backs’ positional drills. He told them, “if you want to build stamina your way, then we will build stamina my way and run.” Polamalu was one of several UCLA coaches to stretch their vocal chords on Wednesday morning. It just seemed like the coaches were on edge, as they even ripped into players on the sideline for being too close to the white out of bounds lines.
-In a post-practice interview, Tom Bradley clarified that the coaching staff did not come out with a universal plan of yelling at the players or upping the ante on Wednesday morning. However, Bradley did say that the energy was lacking a little bit to start practice – so the coaches had to intervene and turn that around.
-Takk McKinley and Kolton Miller each got ejected from practice for a post-play first fight in 11-on-11s. McKinley swung both a left and right hook at Miller before being contained. It was probably the most aggressive post-play fight of camp thus far, with the Lokeni Toailoa-Marcus Boyer tussle from last week paling in comparison.
-After practice, Kenny Walker said that Theo Howard has potential to be the best wide receiver on the team – not only in future years, but in 2016 as well. Howard didn’t see any time on the field on Wednesday morning because he was back to nursing his sore hamstring. Walker said that Howard re-tweaked his hamstring in his first day back from injury yesterday, but that it was nothing serious.
-Mique watch: Nothing new to report here, as Juarez missed his fourth consecutive day of practice.
The Day Nine Depth Chart
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
-There was a heavy emphasis on situational football in Wednesday’s practice. The 11-on-11s at the end held a two-minute drill format, and there was a heavy focus on clock management in 7-on-7s as well. Mora got on Mike Fafaul for taking too long to snap the ball, and he yelled at Caleb Wilson for walking back to the line of scrimmage.
-The offense struggled to get out of the gates in 11-on-11s, committing a couple penalties to start out the session. Overall, the offense didn’t look crisp at all on Wednesday, with both Rosen and Fafaul throwing interceptions.
-Although the offense performed poorly, the conditions of the practice weren’t really suited for offensive success. First, the players were without pads – a huge advantage for the defensive line. Second, the defense had the benefit of knowing that the offense would be passing on basically every down – because of the two-minute drill format.
-There were two defensive players who really stood out in the morning practice: Keisean Lucier-South and Charles Dawson. Lucier-South forced as many phantom sacks as he has in any fall camp practice thus far, creating incessant pressure off the edge. Meanwhile, Dawson hauled in two interceptions – one on a jump ball against Jordan Lasley in the end zone, and the other on an out route thrown to the left sideline by Mike Fafaul.
-Mike Fafaul had his second iffy practice in the last three days. On Monday night, he threw a couple interceptions into traffic, with one being on a telegraphed out route along the left sideline. In Wednesday’s practice, the same thing happened: Fafaul went for an out route toward the left sideline, underthrew the pass, and had it returned for a TD by Charles Dawson.
-The defensive line switched up some of its fronts on Wednesday morning, having fewer down linemen at the point of attack. For example, nose tackle Eli Ankou stood in a two-point stance at the 1-technique before the snap, hovering between the center and guard. The psycho front seemed to help Ankou, as he had one of his most successful practices in terms of pressuring the QB. Once again, the disclaimers are that the players were not in pads and the defense pretty much knew that the offense was going to pass.
-Practice ended with an emphatic takeaway by the defense: It was the second-team offense versus the second-team D in the two-minute drill, and Mike Fafaul threw a post over the middle to Jordan Lasley. Once the ball touched Lasley's fingertips, Octo Spencer hit Lasley in the back to jar the ball loose. After Spencer knocked the ball up in the air, Cam Judge charged over and scooped the ball up with one hand before it hit the ground, securing the interception.
UCLA returns to practice at 5:45 p.m. tonight in San Bernardino.
UCLA finished up its 11th practice of the fall on Wednesday morning. Similar to Monday morning, this practice was in just spider pads, meaning the later practice at 5:45 p.m. will probably be in full pads.
Notables
-Even though Wednesday morning’s practice lacked pads, it was definitely one of the most intense practices yet in fall camp. Coach Jim Mora yelled more than he has in any fall practice so far, even threatening to re-start practice at one point. It was vintage Mora, as he laid into Josh Rosen after an interception and said: “You get on the cover of Sports Illustrated with that bulls***?” Rosen’s interception was by far his worst of camp – a throw-away attempt that ended up landing directly in the hands of safety Jaleel Wadood in the middle of the field.
-Kennedy Polamalu also chipped in on the yelling as well during the running backs’ positional drills. He told them, “if you want to build stamina your way, then we will build stamina my way and run.” Polamalu was one of several UCLA coaches to stretch their vocal chords on Wednesday morning. It just seemed like the coaches were on edge, as they even ripped into players on the sideline for being too close to the white out of bounds lines.
-In a post-practice interview, Tom Bradley clarified that the coaching staff did not come out with a universal plan of yelling at the players or upping the ante on Wednesday morning. However, Bradley did say that the energy was lacking a little bit to start practice – so the coaches had to intervene and turn that around.
-Takk McKinley and Kolton Miller each got ejected from practice for a post-play first fight in 11-on-11s. McKinley swung both a left and right hook at Miller before being contained. It was probably the most aggressive post-play fight of camp thus far, with the Lokeni Toailoa-Marcus Boyer tussle from last week paling in comparison.
-After practice, Kenny Walker said that Theo Howard has potential to be the best wide receiver on the team – not only in future years, but in 2016 as well. Howard didn’t see any time on the field on Wednesday morning because he was back to nursing his sore hamstring. Walker said that Howard re-tweaked his hamstring in his first day back from injury yesterday, but that it was nothing serious.
-Mique watch: Nothing new to report here, as Juarez missed his fourth consecutive day of practice.
The Day Nine Depth Chart
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
-There was a heavy emphasis on situational football in Wednesday’s practice. The 11-on-11s at the end held a two-minute drill format, and there was a heavy focus on clock management in 7-on-7s as well. Mora got on Mike Fafaul for taking too long to snap the ball, and he yelled at Caleb Wilson for walking back to the line of scrimmage.
-The offense struggled to get out of the gates in 11-on-11s, committing a couple penalties to start out the session. Overall, the offense didn’t look crisp at all on Wednesday, with both Rosen and Fafaul throwing interceptions.
-Although the offense performed poorly, the conditions of the practice weren’t really suited for offensive success. First, the players were without pads – a huge advantage for the defensive line. Second, the defense had the benefit of knowing that the offense would be passing on basically every down – because of the two-minute drill format.
-There were two defensive players who really stood out in the morning practice: Keisean Lucier-South and Charles Dawson. Lucier-South forced as many phantom sacks as he has in any fall camp practice thus far, creating incessant pressure off the edge. Meanwhile, Dawson hauled in two interceptions – one on a jump ball against Jordan Lasley in the end zone, and the other on an out route thrown to the left sideline by Mike Fafaul.
-Mike Fafaul had his second iffy practice in the last three days. On Monday night, he threw a couple interceptions into traffic, with one being on a telegraphed out route along the left sideline. In Wednesday’s practice, the same thing happened: Fafaul went for an out route toward the left sideline, underthrew the pass, and had it returned for a TD by Charles Dawson.
-The defensive line switched up some of its fronts on Wednesday morning, having fewer down linemen at the point of attack. For example, nose tackle Eli Ankou stood in a two-point stance at the 1-technique before the snap, hovering between the center and guard. The psycho front seemed to help Ankou, as he had one of his most successful practices in terms of pressuring the QB. Once again, the disclaimers are that the players were not in pads and the defense pretty much knew that the offense was going to pass.
-Practice ended with an emphatic takeaway by the defense: It was the second-team offense versus the second-team D in the two-minute drill, and Mike Fafaul threw a post over the middle to Jordan Lasley. Once the ball touched Lasley's fingertips, Octo Spencer hit Lasley in the back to jar the ball loose. After Spencer knocked the ball up in the air, Cam Judge charged over and scooped the ball up with one hand before it hit the ground, securing the interception.
UCLA returns to practice at 5:45 p.m. tonight in San Bernardino.
