UCLA kicked off fall camp doing just about every imaginable drill you could do on the football field Wednesday night. For three hours, UCLA did individuals, situational stuff, team stuff, 7-on-7s, 1-on-1s, special teams ... you name it, Jim Mora did it. There were no pads, only helmets, but here were the notes from Day One:
-The new facility and the new field are really spectacular. Spaulding Field feels very secluded now with higher brick walls and really only one way in and one way out if you're not coming through the Wasserman Center. We haven't been allowed in it yet, but everyone who's seen it loves it. It appears UCLA hit a home run with this one. One notable thing: Both fields are now turf. If you remember, there used to be one grass one and one turf one.
-The new Under Armour practice jerseys were underwhelming. They look exactly like the adidas ones, only just no shoulder stripes. They're also the wrong blue, more of a dark blue than the "Powderkeg Blue" that will be on the real uniforms.
-Some notes on the incoming freshmen with regards to their future positions: Morrell Osling and Quentin Lake worked at safety, while (as expected) Elijah Gates and Jay Shaw worked at cornerback. Martin Andrus and Greg Rogers worked as noseguards. Jax Wacaser and Stephan Zabie worked at tackle, while Sean Seawards and Zack Sweeney were on the interior. The only 2017 freshman signee not out there today was Kanan Ray (who was out there in street clothes watching). He's slated to greyshirt after injuring his shoulder.
-Some instant analysis on the new freshmen:
*Greg Rogers and Mo Osling were probably the two most impressive looking newcomers from a physical standpoint. Rogers is already bigger than Boss Tagaloa and carries his weight in all the right spots for a noseguard. Osling, meanwhile, is long and lean and fluid. Surprised he's actually starting out at safety given his body. He basically looks like a more fluid Colin Samuel.
*Stephan Zabie appears to be the only OL newcomer with any shot of seeing the UCLA field in the next year or three. He has a great tackle frame with some nice feet, though he's certainly on track to redshirt. You can already tell there's just not enough power nor weight there to contribute right away. As for Seawards, Wacaser and Sweeney, I had a hard time distinguishing any of them from UCLA's walk-on OLs. Especially Sweeney, who looks even smaller than he did in high school compared to some of the guys already on UCLA's roster.
*Rahyme Johnson is still a string bean and appeared to be swimming a bit out there when it came to drills. He's athletic, though.
*Elijah Gates and Jay Shaw are much, much smaller than I thought they'd look out here. At one point, the two were standing next to Darnay Holmes, who's also really small, and Holmes looked to be an inch or two bigger and certainly much thicker.
*Odua Isibor looks like he hasn't had much coaching at all when it comes to technique, but he has just about every raw trait you want in a pass rusher. He's long, has great bend and is really quick. It might be a while because he has to learn the game and put on weight, but a nice piece of clay to mold.
-Mique Juarez looks like he's back down to the size he was when he came to UCLA as a true freshman. Which is still about 10-15 pounds overweight, but it's far from where he was when he showed up to spring camp at around 275-280.
-Not too many other notable body differences I saw out there today, though Josh Woods needs noting here. He's just huge now, in a good way.
-Mossi Johnson was back on defense today and he stayed there full time, playing mostly safety with the threes. Keyon Riley moved from spring cornerback to safety now, running with the twos and threes.
-UCLA spent the last hour and half or so of practice going through 11-on-11s, here were some of the notes there:
*Sunny Odogwu looked solid to me. Like most massive human beings who play tackle, he struggled to move his feet when there was a speed rush to the outside or quick rush to his inside, but if he got set and got his body in front of the defensive end, it was over. Really looking forward to seeing him with pads on.
*Tonight was the worst I've ever seen Josh Rosen look. His completion percentage had to be around 25 percent. He was nearly picked off twice, one that was really bad that Kenny Young just dropped. The other near pick went through Darnay Holmes' hands for a touchdown to Darren Andrews. Almost everything he threw was just overthrown.
*There were no pads, but Jaleel Wadood and Adarius Pickett were still headhunting. Wadood nearly took Austin Roberts' head off on a catch over the middle of the field. Pickett rocked Eldridge Massington so hard on a ball over the middle he had to leave practice.
*A couple notable plays from the 11-on-11: Bo Olorunfunmi fumbled one that Leni Toailoa scooped and scored on. Austin Burton chucked up a prayer of a deep ball that landed right in a streaking Jordan Lasley's hands for a nice touchdown. Devon Modster threw a gorgeous TD pass to Caleb Wilson in the corner of the endzone off a playaction.
*Jaelan Phillips was outstanding throughout practice. He was great in individuals, showing power and speed, and then in team drills he had a bunch of QB hurries and a tipped pass. He's already running with the ones full time ahead of KLS.
*JJ Molson was tonight's top performer. I had him at 3-for-3 from 39, 44 and 33 in team field goals. Then I had him at 4-for-4 in field goal practice drills from XP, 25, 30 and 32.
*Walk-on wideout Christian Pabico probably had the most catches of any UCLA wideout tonight.
-Some other notables: Jordan Lasley didn't get much run at all with the ones or twos, working mostly with the threes all night. Nate Meadors didn't do much, if anything at all, in 11-on-11 drills. Stefan Flintoft worked as the starting holder while Darnay Holmes worked as the starting punt returner.
Tonight's depth chart:
Offense
QB - Josh Rosen; Devon Modster
RB - Soso Jamabo; Bolu Olorunfunmi
WR - Everyone was rotating in and out here, but it appeared the starters were Eldridge Massington and Darren Andrews while the twos were Theo Howard and Alex Van Dyke/Demetric Felton
TE - Caleb Wilson; Jordan Wilson
LT - Kolton Miller; Jake Burton
LG - Najee Toran; Michael Alves
C - Scott Quessenberry; Josh Wariboko
RG - Andre James; Poasi Moala
RT - Sunny Odogwu; Kenny Lacy
Defense
DE - Jaelan Phillips; Keisean Lucier-South
DT - Jacob Tuioti-Mariner; Chigozie Nnoruka
DT - Boss Tagaloa; Nick Terry
DE - Matt Dickerson; Rick Wade
OLB - Breland Brandt; Mique Juarez
MLB - Kenny Young; Lokeni Toailoa
OLB - Josh Woods; Krys Barnes
CB - Denzel Fisher, Darnay Holmes
S - Adarius Pickett; Will Lockett
S - Jaleel Wadood, Keyon Riley
CB - Nate Meadors, Colin Samuel
-The new facility and the new field are really spectacular. Spaulding Field feels very secluded now with higher brick walls and really only one way in and one way out if you're not coming through the Wasserman Center. We haven't been allowed in it yet, but everyone who's seen it loves it. It appears UCLA hit a home run with this one. One notable thing: Both fields are now turf. If you remember, there used to be one grass one and one turf one.
-The new Under Armour practice jerseys were underwhelming. They look exactly like the adidas ones, only just no shoulder stripes. They're also the wrong blue, more of a dark blue than the "Powderkeg Blue" that will be on the real uniforms.
-Some notes on the incoming freshmen with regards to their future positions: Morrell Osling and Quentin Lake worked at safety, while (as expected) Elijah Gates and Jay Shaw worked at cornerback. Martin Andrus and Greg Rogers worked as noseguards. Jax Wacaser and Stephan Zabie worked at tackle, while Sean Seawards and Zack Sweeney were on the interior. The only 2017 freshman signee not out there today was Kanan Ray (who was out there in street clothes watching). He's slated to greyshirt after injuring his shoulder.
-Some instant analysis on the new freshmen:
*Greg Rogers and Mo Osling were probably the two most impressive looking newcomers from a physical standpoint. Rogers is already bigger than Boss Tagaloa and carries his weight in all the right spots for a noseguard. Osling, meanwhile, is long and lean and fluid. Surprised he's actually starting out at safety given his body. He basically looks like a more fluid Colin Samuel.
*Stephan Zabie appears to be the only OL newcomer with any shot of seeing the UCLA field in the next year or three. He has a great tackle frame with some nice feet, though he's certainly on track to redshirt. You can already tell there's just not enough power nor weight there to contribute right away. As for Seawards, Wacaser and Sweeney, I had a hard time distinguishing any of them from UCLA's walk-on OLs. Especially Sweeney, who looks even smaller than he did in high school compared to some of the guys already on UCLA's roster.
*Rahyme Johnson is still a string bean and appeared to be swimming a bit out there when it came to drills. He's athletic, though.
*Elijah Gates and Jay Shaw are much, much smaller than I thought they'd look out here. At one point, the two were standing next to Darnay Holmes, who's also really small, and Holmes looked to be an inch or two bigger and certainly much thicker.
*Odua Isibor looks like he hasn't had much coaching at all when it comes to technique, but he has just about every raw trait you want in a pass rusher. He's long, has great bend and is really quick. It might be a while because he has to learn the game and put on weight, but a nice piece of clay to mold.
-Mique Juarez looks like he's back down to the size he was when he came to UCLA as a true freshman. Which is still about 10-15 pounds overweight, but it's far from where he was when he showed up to spring camp at around 275-280.
-Not too many other notable body differences I saw out there today, though Josh Woods needs noting here. He's just huge now, in a good way.
-Mossi Johnson was back on defense today and he stayed there full time, playing mostly safety with the threes. Keyon Riley moved from spring cornerback to safety now, running with the twos and threes.
-UCLA spent the last hour and half or so of practice going through 11-on-11s, here were some of the notes there:
*Sunny Odogwu looked solid to me. Like most massive human beings who play tackle, he struggled to move his feet when there was a speed rush to the outside or quick rush to his inside, but if he got set and got his body in front of the defensive end, it was over. Really looking forward to seeing him with pads on.
*Tonight was the worst I've ever seen Josh Rosen look. His completion percentage had to be around 25 percent. He was nearly picked off twice, one that was really bad that Kenny Young just dropped. The other near pick went through Darnay Holmes' hands for a touchdown to Darren Andrews. Almost everything he threw was just overthrown.
*There were no pads, but Jaleel Wadood and Adarius Pickett were still headhunting. Wadood nearly took Austin Roberts' head off on a catch over the middle of the field. Pickett rocked Eldridge Massington so hard on a ball over the middle he had to leave practice.
*A couple notable plays from the 11-on-11: Bo Olorunfunmi fumbled one that Leni Toailoa scooped and scored on. Austin Burton chucked up a prayer of a deep ball that landed right in a streaking Jordan Lasley's hands for a nice touchdown. Devon Modster threw a gorgeous TD pass to Caleb Wilson in the corner of the endzone off a playaction.
*Jaelan Phillips was outstanding throughout practice. He was great in individuals, showing power and speed, and then in team drills he had a bunch of QB hurries and a tipped pass. He's already running with the ones full time ahead of KLS.
*JJ Molson was tonight's top performer. I had him at 3-for-3 from 39, 44 and 33 in team field goals. Then I had him at 4-for-4 in field goal practice drills from XP, 25, 30 and 32.
*Walk-on wideout Christian Pabico probably had the most catches of any UCLA wideout tonight.
-Some other notables: Jordan Lasley didn't get much run at all with the ones or twos, working mostly with the threes all night. Nate Meadors didn't do much, if anything at all, in 11-on-11 drills. Stefan Flintoft worked as the starting holder while Darnay Holmes worked as the starting punt returner.
Tonight's depth chart:
Offense
QB - Josh Rosen; Devon Modster
RB - Soso Jamabo; Bolu Olorunfunmi
WR - Everyone was rotating in and out here, but it appeared the starters were Eldridge Massington and Darren Andrews while the twos were Theo Howard and Alex Van Dyke/Demetric Felton
TE - Caleb Wilson; Jordan Wilson
LT - Kolton Miller; Jake Burton
LG - Najee Toran; Michael Alves
C - Scott Quessenberry; Josh Wariboko
RG - Andre James; Poasi Moala
RT - Sunny Odogwu; Kenny Lacy
Defense
DE - Jaelan Phillips; Keisean Lucier-South
DT - Jacob Tuioti-Mariner; Chigozie Nnoruka
DT - Boss Tagaloa; Nick Terry
DE - Matt Dickerson; Rick Wade
OLB - Breland Brandt; Mique Juarez
MLB - Kenny Young; Lokeni Toailoa
OLB - Josh Woods; Krys Barnes
CB - Denzel Fisher, Darnay Holmes
S - Adarius Pickett; Will Lockett
S - Jaleel Wadood, Keyon Riley
CB - Nate Meadors, Colin Samuel
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