Via staff writer Matt Joye today:
UCLA had yet another short-but-efficient practice on Saturday, with almost all of it being devoted to 11-on-11s. It was very similar to Thursday’s practice – which was just barely over two hours in length. The first 40 minutes of Saturday’s practice were devoted to the customary warm-ups and positional drills, but the final 1 hour and 20 minutes was all live, 11-on-11 action.
Over that final hour and 20 minutes, the Bruins were able to run more than 85 competitive plays, with some punt- and kickoff-return stuff mixed in between.
Afterward, offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch said that Saturday’s practice was basically “a game.”
“We had a little bit of everything going today – we had two-minute, we had four-minute, we had it all,” Fisch said. “So it was fun. It was all live, it was all tackling. Guys got a lot of great reps. I think we probably ran a lot of plays today. Going back in and watching them, I’ll have the exact number. But more is more. We’ll just try to keep getting better off of repetition.”
With all the plays that took place, and all the contact that was being made out on the field, there was one injury to report. First-team cornerback Denzel Fisher walked off at the end of practice with his right arm in a sling.
Here are some other news and notes from the practice:
News
-Dechaun Holiday was back out on the field on Saturday, albeit on the sideline with the trainers. He worked on the bike alongside Poasi Moala. The important development for Holiday is that he is no longer wearing an arm sling.
-Early-enrollee freshman QB Austin Burton saw more live 11-on-11 reps than he has at any practice all spring. He split the third-team opportunities with Matt Lynch, and actually outperformed Lynch for the day.
“Gave Austin (Burton) more of an opportunity today. He deserved it – he’s worked really hard,” Fisch said after practice.
-J.J. Molson worked as the starting kickoff specialist once again, but there was a new player back to receive his kicks: Brandon Stephens. Jordan Lasley took the second-team reps as kickoff-return man, followed by Darnay Holmes on the third team and Damian Alloway on the fourth team.
-The first-team punter on Saturday was Stefan Flintoft, and the first-team punt returner was Damian Alloway. Jordan Lasley and Darnay Holmes also went back to receive punts, although Holmes muffed one of the punts he was set to receive.
-After practice, Jedd Fisch clarified the comments that Matt Lynch made the other day about UCLA’s offense possibly resembling that of the Patriots and the Falcons. Fisch acknowledged that he has asked his QBs to look at some Patriots and Falcons film – but not for schematic purposes. Instead, Fisch wants his QBs to focus only on clips of Tom Brady and Matt Ryan, so they can examine Brady and Ryan’s footwork and fundamentals.
“I haven’t worked for the Patriots nor the Falcons, so no (UCLA’s offense won’t look like theirs),” Fisch said.
Day 11 Depth Chart
Offense
QB - Josh Rosen; Devon Modster
RB - Soso Jamabo; Bolu Olorunfunmi
WR - Jordan Lasley; Theo Howard
WR - Darren Andrews; Demetric Felton
WR - Eldridge Massington; Alex Van Dyke
TE - Caleb Wilson; Jordan Wilson/Austin Roberts
LT - Kolton Miller; Jake Burton
LG - Andre James; Josh Wariboko
C - Scott Quessenberry; Markus Boyer
RG - Najee Toran; Paco Perez
RT - Kenny Lacy; Michael Alves
Defense
DE - Jacob Tuioti Mariner; Rick Wade
DT - Boss Tagaloa; Ainuu Taua
DT - Matt Dickerson; Nick Terry
DE - Jaelan Phillips, Keisean Lucier-South, (Phillips keeps seeing more and more first-team reps)
OLB - Breland Brandt; Mique Juarez
MLB - Kenny Young; Lokeni Toailoa
OLB - Josh Woods; Krys Barnes
CB - Nate Meadors; Keyon Riley
S - Adarius Pickett; Octo Spencer
S - Will Lockett; Jaleel Wadood
CB - Denzel Fisher; Colin Samuel
Nickel - Darnay Holmes
Special Teams
Kickoff specialist: J.J. Molson
Punter: Stefan Flintoft; Austin Kent
KR - Brandon Stephens; Jordan Lasley
PR - Damian Alloway; Jordan Lasley
Observations
-As stated above, this practice was a little bit different than any practice UCLA has had all spring. There were zero 1-on-1 reps and there wasn’t any 7-on-7 or 9-on-7 action either. Outside of the first 40 minutes – which really just serve as a warm-up – the entire practice was devoted to live, 11-on-11 action.
-Of the four quarterbacks who saw reps in 11-on-11s, early-enrollee freshman Austin Burton might have had the best performance. Burton led two scoring drives, with one being capped off with a well-placed pass to Jimmy Jaggers in the right corner of the end zone. Burton mishandled a snap on one play, but he did not throw an interception in his 15+ plays of action.
-As good as Josh Rosen was in Wednesday’s practice, he had a polar-opposite performance on Saturday. Over the first 40 minutes or so of 11-on-11 action, Rosen missed three or four wide-open receivers downfield, mostly on overthrows that went over the head of the intended receivers. After one of those overthrows, Rosen lost his cool a little bit and yelled out in frustration.
“Today went up and down (for Rosen),” Fisch said. “The second half of practice, I don’t think he missed a throw; the first half of practice, I don’t think he hit one.”
-Rosen picked it up in the second half of practice, leading a couple touchdown drives. But his consistency is definitely a question mark at this point in spring.
-For the first time all spring, penalties were an issue in Saturday’s practice. In approximately 85 snaps, there were at least eight penalties that we saw. There were four false starts (at least), but the defense was responsible for some penalties as well.
-Jaelan Phillips really flashed on Saturday, particularly in run defense. On back-to-back plays against the first-team offense, Phillips made tackles for loss against halfback-stretch run plays. On the first play, Phillips chased down Bolu Olorunfunmi from behind on a stretch play to the right, stopping the play for a short gain. Then, on the very next play, Phillips plugged up his run-lane gap on the left side, slamming Olorunfunmi down behind the line of scrimmage. It’s safe to assume at this point that Phillips will be more than just a situational pass rusher come fall.
-By and large, the secondary was probably the best-performing group at Saturday’s practice. Octavius Spencer surged through for a nice tipped-ball interception on a Devon Modster pass early in practice, and three our four other defenders could have had interceptions as well. Sure, the spotty quarterback play from Rosen and Modster probably made the secondary look a little better than they were, but for the most part it was blanket coverage throughout.
UCLA is back at it Monday at 4 p.m.
UCLA had yet another short-but-efficient practice on Saturday, with almost all of it being devoted to 11-on-11s. It was very similar to Thursday’s practice – which was just barely over two hours in length. The first 40 minutes of Saturday’s practice were devoted to the customary warm-ups and positional drills, but the final 1 hour and 20 minutes was all live, 11-on-11 action.
Over that final hour and 20 minutes, the Bruins were able to run more than 85 competitive plays, with some punt- and kickoff-return stuff mixed in between.
Afterward, offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch said that Saturday’s practice was basically “a game.”
“We had a little bit of everything going today – we had two-minute, we had four-minute, we had it all,” Fisch said. “So it was fun. It was all live, it was all tackling. Guys got a lot of great reps. I think we probably ran a lot of plays today. Going back in and watching them, I’ll have the exact number. But more is more. We’ll just try to keep getting better off of repetition.”
With all the plays that took place, and all the contact that was being made out on the field, there was one injury to report. First-team cornerback Denzel Fisher walked off at the end of practice with his right arm in a sling.
Here are some other news and notes from the practice:
News
-Dechaun Holiday was back out on the field on Saturday, albeit on the sideline with the trainers. He worked on the bike alongside Poasi Moala. The important development for Holiday is that he is no longer wearing an arm sling.
-Early-enrollee freshman QB Austin Burton saw more live 11-on-11 reps than he has at any practice all spring. He split the third-team opportunities with Matt Lynch, and actually outperformed Lynch for the day.
“Gave Austin (Burton) more of an opportunity today. He deserved it – he’s worked really hard,” Fisch said after practice.
-J.J. Molson worked as the starting kickoff specialist once again, but there was a new player back to receive his kicks: Brandon Stephens. Jordan Lasley took the second-team reps as kickoff-return man, followed by Darnay Holmes on the third team and Damian Alloway on the fourth team.
-The first-team punter on Saturday was Stefan Flintoft, and the first-team punt returner was Damian Alloway. Jordan Lasley and Darnay Holmes also went back to receive punts, although Holmes muffed one of the punts he was set to receive.
-After practice, Jedd Fisch clarified the comments that Matt Lynch made the other day about UCLA’s offense possibly resembling that of the Patriots and the Falcons. Fisch acknowledged that he has asked his QBs to look at some Patriots and Falcons film – but not for schematic purposes. Instead, Fisch wants his QBs to focus only on clips of Tom Brady and Matt Ryan, so they can examine Brady and Ryan’s footwork and fundamentals.
“I haven’t worked for the Patriots nor the Falcons, so no (UCLA’s offense won’t look like theirs),” Fisch said.
Day 11 Depth Chart
Offense
QB - Josh Rosen; Devon Modster
RB - Soso Jamabo; Bolu Olorunfunmi
WR - Jordan Lasley; Theo Howard
WR - Darren Andrews; Demetric Felton
WR - Eldridge Massington; Alex Van Dyke
TE - Caleb Wilson; Jordan Wilson/Austin Roberts
LT - Kolton Miller; Jake Burton
LG - Andre James; Josh Wariboko
C - Scott Quessenberry; Markus Boyer
RG - Najee Toran; Paco Perez
RT - Kenny Lacy; Michael Alves
Defense
DE - Jacob Tuioti Mariner; Rick Wade
DT - Boss Tagaloa; Ainuu Taua
DT - Matt Dickerson; Nick Terry
DE - Jaelan Phillips, Keisean Lucier-South, (Phillips keeps seeing more and more first-team reps)
OLB - Breland Brandt; Mique Juarez
MLB - Kenny Young; Lokeni Toailoa
OLB - Josh Woods; Krys Barnes
CB - Nate Meadors; Keyon Riley
S - Adarius Pickett; Octo Spencer
S - Will Lockett; Jaleel Wadood
CB - Denzel Fisher; Colin Samuel
Nickel - Darnay Holmes
Special Teams
Kickoff specialist: J.J. Molson
Punter: Stefan Flintoft; Austin Kent
KR - Brandon Stephens; Jordan Lasley
PR - Damian Alloway; Jordan Lasley
Observations
-As stated above, this practice was a little bit different than any practice UCLA has had all spring. There were zero 1-on-1 reps and there wasn’t any 7-on-7 or 9-on-7 action either. Outside of the first 40 minutes – which really just serve as a warm-up – the entire practice was devoted to live, 11-on-11 action.
-Of the four quarterbacks who saw reps in 11-on-11s, early-enrollee freshman Austin Burton might have had the best performance. Burton led two scoring drives, with one being capped off with a well-placed pass to Jimmy Jaggers in the right corner of the end zone. Burton mishandled a snap on one play, but he did not throw an interception in his 15+ plays of action.
-As good as Josh Rosen was in Wednesday’s practice, he had a polar-opposite performance on Saturday. Over the first 40 minutes or so of 11-on-11 action, Rosen missed three or four wide-open receivers downfield, mostly on overthrows that went over the head of the intended receivers. After one of those overthrows, Rosen lost his cool a little bit and yelled out in frustration.
“Today went up and down (for Rosen),” Fisch said. “The second half of practice, I don’t think he missed a throw; the first half of practice, I don’t think he hit one.”
-Rosen picked it up in the second half of practice, leading a couple touchdown drives. But his consistency is definitely a question mark at this point in spring.
-For the first time all spring, penalties were an issue in Saturday’s practice. In approximately 85 snaps, there were at least eight penalties that we saw. There were four false starts (at least), but the defense was responsible for some penalties as well.
-Jaelan Phillips really flashed on Saturday, particularly in run defense. On back-to-back plays against the first-team offense, Phillips made tackles for loss against halfback-stretch run plays. On the first play, Phillips chased down Bolu Olorunfunmi from behind on a stretch play to the right, stopping the play for a short gain. Then, on the very next play, Phillips plugged up his run-lane gap on the left side, slamming Olorunfunmi down behind the line of scrimmage. It’s safe to assume at this point that Phillips will be more than just a situational pass rusher come fall.
-By and large, the secondary was probably the best-performing group at Saturday’s practice. Octavius Spencer surged through for a nice tipped-ball interception on a Devon Modster pass early in practice, and three our four other defenders could have had interceptions as well. Sure, the spotty quarterback play from Rosen and Modster probably made the secondary look a little better than they were, but for the most part it was blanket coverage throughout.
UCLA is back at it Monday at 4 p.m.
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