Saturday was the first day of pads and it was the perfect day for live tackling. Mid-70s weather with pretty good vantage points on the field made for a nice afternoon. The notes from the day:
Recruits in attendance
It was the most active day so far for recruits. Here were the big names I spotted:
-Three-star DL Popo Aumavae
-Four-star OL Alijah Vera-Tucker
-Four-star OL Kanan Ray
-Three-star WR Jamire Calvin
-Three-star DB Rhedi Short
-2018 QB Brevin White
-Four-star DL Hunter Echols
2016 signees Brandon Burton, Marcus Moore, Caleb Wilson, Krys Barnes, Alex Akingbulu, Mike Alves and Devon Modster were all out there as well.
The Day Three two-deep
We finally got to see the debut of Tom Bradley's 3-4 defense. It looked like this in the two-deep:
OLB - Takk McKinley, Deon Hollins
DE - Matt Dickerson, Rick Wade
DT - Eli Ankou, Thomas Schwab
DE - Jacob Tuioti-Mariner, Nick Terry
OLB - Cam Judge, Mique Juarez
ILB - Kenny Young, Josh Woods
ILB - Jayon Brown, Isaako Savaiinaea
The base 4-3 and the secondary were the same as Thursday:
CB - Randall Goforth, Denzel Fisher
CB - Nate Meadors, Marcus Rios
S - Adarius Pickett, Tahaan Goodman
S - Jaleel Wadood, Octo Spencer
OLB - Cam Judge, Mique Juarez
MLB - Isaako Savaiinaea, Kenny Young
OLB - Jayon Brown, Josh Woods
DE - Matt Dickerson, Keisean Lucier-South
DT - Eli Ankou, Nick Terry
DT - Jacob Tuioti-Mariner, Thomas Schwab
DE - Takk McKinley, Rick Wade
On offense, there were a couple tweaks to the starting O-line, and Bolu seemed to get more reps than Nate Starks at RB, but for the most part it was similar to the rest of the week:
QB - Josh Rosen, Mike Fafaul
RB - Soso Jamabo, Bolu Olorunfunmi
WR - Eldridge Massington, Jordan Lasley
SLOT - Darren Andrews, Ish Adams
WR - Kenny Walker, Theo Howard
TE - Nate Iese, Austin Roberts
LT - Conor McDermott, Andre James
LG - Najee Toran, Josh Wariboko
C - Scott Quessenberry, Cristian Garcia
RG - Poasi Moala, Kenny Lacy
RT - Kolton Miller, Zach Bateman
Practice observations
-We were introduced to some playaction rollouts today, something fans have been clamoring for for a while now. They had mixed results, with the DE / OLB often staying home to blow up the play for a would-be sack.
-We got to see 9-on-7 with full tackling today, and it was physical. Probably the most physical I've seen a 9-on-7 under Jim Mora here. Bolu Olorunfunmi was the standout here, logging some big yards. Olorunfunmi had a great day in every drill, in fact, providing one of the highlights of the day where he ran over Octo Spencer at the goal-line for a score in 11-on-11. He hit Spencer so hard he actually had to leave practice with an injury. Mora said he should be fine.
-The other two running backs, Soso Jamabo and Nate Starks, had really nice days too, with Jamabo particularly impressive. He doesn't dance at the line of scrimmage anymore, as Mora noted in the postgame presser, and he finished one run today so hard that he blew up walk-on Dylan Luther for a goal-line touchdown. Starks, meanwhile, had several touchdowns in 9-on-7 as well.
-Takk McKinley was great in 9-on-7, and then he was great for the rest the day as well. In 9-on-7, he blue up plays chasing them down early from the backside. Later in 11-on-11s, I had him at least three would-be sacks, running around various tackles. In 1-on-1 pass rush, he blew up Kolton Miller several times (although to Miller's credit, he got McKinley once pretty good too).
-Kenny Walker returned to Earth today, dropping several passes and double catching others. He gets consistently open, but his hands clearly can't be relied on.
-Josh Rosen was absolutely unreal in 1-on-1s today. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it, and I've covered some NFL camps. He made one fade throw to Jordan Lasley over Will Lockett that was so pinpoint perfect, the receiver ran back to the huddle like a giddy school boy yelling, "Hey 3! Great throw!" The dropoff, meanwhile, to Mike Fafaul is just as staggering. You don't even have to look behind center to see who's throwing what anymore.
-Ishmael Adams was very good in 1-on-1s today, and receiver is probably going to be his permanent home. I thought he was by far better than Darren Andrews and Stephen Johnson, UCLA's top two slots. He was explosive in and out of his cuts and had at least two touchdowns that I saw in 1-on-1s.
-Octo Spencer had a solid day in 1-on-1s, and outside of getting bowled over by Olorunfunmi at the goal line, I thought he was good in 11-on-11s too. He's a very fluid runner and it helps him cover plenty of ground in both the pass defense and rush defense.
-There is nothing sexy about Austin Roberts' game, but he consistently got open today. Rosen found him often early in 11-on-11s and he got some separation in 1-on-1s.
-Deon Hollins had a sack in 11-on-11s early, blowing by Andre James. In his lone 1-on-1 rep on Zach Bateman, he beat him so bad that the tackle had to grab Hollins' facemask to stop him. Say what you want about his size, but his pass-rushing ability is lethal.
-J.J. Molson had his worst field goal kicking day of the week, going just 3-for-5 from around 35 yards and in. His two misses were knuckle balls, something we haven't seen from him yet. His kickoffs, though, were annihilated. He booted one that I swear landed a few yards out of the endzone from my vantage point.
-Stephen Johnson and Theo Howard worked as kick returners today.
-Watched all of the OL-DL 1-on-1s, here were my notables there: Andre James stonewalled Matt Dickerson twice; Nick Terry had a few good reps against Najee Toran and was once again good today in general; Kenny Lacy handled Jacob Tuioti-Mariner a few times; Keisean Lucier-South went 3-for-3 against Andre James; Poasi Moala was impressive beating Rick Wade twice (easily).
-I was really impressed with Matt Lynch in 11-on-11 to end the day today. The O-line is having serious issues in pass protection, yet his eyes never left downfield. He has pocket poise that you just can't teach. I like him more and more every day out here.
UCLA returns to the IM fields on Monday at 4:30 p.m.
Recruits in attendance
It was the most active day so far for recruits. Here were the big names I spotted:
-Three-star DL Popo Aumavae
-Four-star OL Alijah Vera-Tucker
-Four-star OL Kanan Ray
-Three-star WR Jamire Calvin
-Three-star DB Rhedi Short
-2018 QB Brevin White
-Four-star DL Hunter Echols
2016 signees Brandon Burton, Marcus Moore, Caleb Wilson, Krys Barnes, Alex Akingbulu, Mike Alves and Devon Modster were all out there as well.
The Day Three two-deep
We finally got to see the debut of Tom Bradley's 3-4 defense. It looked like this in the two-deep:
OLB - Takk McKinley, Deon Hollins
DE - Matt Dickerson, Rick Wade
DT - Eli Ankou, Thomas Schwab
DE - Jacob Tuioti-Mariner, Nick Terry
OLB - Cam Judge, Mique Juarez
ILB - Kenny Young, Josh Woods
ILB - Jayon Brown, Isaako Savaiinaea
The base 4-3 and the secondary were the same as Thursday:
CB - Randall Goforth, Denzel Fisher
CB - Nate Meadors, Marcus Rios
S - Adarius Pickett, Tahaan Goodman
S - Jaleel Wadood, Octo Spencer
OLB - Cam Judge, Mique Juarez
MLB - Isaako Savaiinaea, Kenny Young
OLB - Jayon Brown, Josh Woods
DE - Matt Dickerson, Keisean Lucier-South
DT - Eli Ankou, Nick Terry
DT - Jacob Tuioti-Mariner, Thomas Schwab
DE - Takk McKinley, Rick Wade
On offense, there were a couple tweaks to the starting O-line, and Bolu seemed to get more reps than Nate Starks at RB, but for the most part it was similar to the rest of the week:
QB - Josh Rosen, Mike Fafaul
RB - Soso Jamabo, Bolu Olorunfunmi
WR - Eldridge Massington, Jordan Lasley
SLOT - Darren Andrews, Ish Adams
WR - Kenny Walker, Theo Howard
TE - Nate Iese, Austin Roberts
LT - Conor McDermott, Andre James
LG - Najee Toran, Josh Wariboko
C - Scott Quessenberry, Cristian Garcia
RG - Poasi Moala, Kenny Lacy
RT - Kolton Miller, Zach Bateman
Practice observations
-We were introduced to some playaction rollouts today, something fans have been clamoring for for a while now. They had mixed results, with the DE / OLB often staying home to blow up the play for a would-be sack.
-We got to see 9-on-7 with full tackling today, and it was physical. Probably the most physical I've seen a 9-on-7 under Jim Mora here. Bolu Olorunfunmi was the standout here, logging some big yards. Olorunfunmi had a great day in every drill, in fact, providing one of the highlights of the day where he ran over Octo Spencer at the goal-line for a score in 11-on-11. He hit Spencer so hard he actually had to leave practice with an injury. Mora said he should be fine.
-The other two running backs, Soso Jamabo and Nate Starks, had really nice days too, with Jamabo particularly impressive. He doesn't dance at the line of scrimmage anymore, as Mora noted in the postgame presser, and he finished one run today so hard that he blew up walk-on Dylan Luther for a goal-line touchdown. Starks, meanwhile, had several touchdowns in 9-on-7 as well.
-Takk McKinley was great in 9-on-7, and then he was great for the rest the day as well. In 9-on-7, he blue up plays chasing them down early from the backside. Later in 11-on-11s, I had him at least three would-be sacks, running around various tackles. In 1-on-1 pass rush, he blew up Kolton Miller several times (although to Miller's credit, he got McKinley once pretty good too).
-Kenny Walker returned to Earth today, dropping several passes and double catching others. He gets consistently open, but his hands clearly can't be relied on.
-Josh Rosen was absolutely unreal in 1-on-1s today. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it, and I've covered some NFL camps. He made one fade throw to Jordan Lasley over Will Lockett that was so pinpoint perfect, the receiver ran back to the huddle like a giddy school boy yelling, "Hey 3! Great throw!" The dropoff, meanwhile, to Mike Fafaul is just as staggering. You don't even have to look behind center to see who's throwing what anymore.
-Ishmael Adams was very good in 1-on-1s today, and receiver is probably going to be his permanent home. I thought he was by far better than Darren Andrews and Stephen Johnson, UCLA's top two slots. He was explosive in and out of his cuts and had at least two touchdowns that I saw in 1-on-1s.
-Octo Spencer had a solid day in 1-on-1s, and outside of getting bowled over by Olorunfunmi at the goal line, I thought he was good in 11-on-11s too. He's a very fluid runner and it helps him cover plenty of ground in both the pass defense and rush defense.
-There is nothing sexy about Austin Roberts' game, but he consistently got open today. Rosen found him often early in 11-on-11s and he got some separation in 1-on-1s.
-Deon Hollins had a sack in 11-on-11s early, blowing by Andre James. In his lone 1-on-1 rep on Zach Bateman, he beat him so bad that the tackle had to grab Hollins' facemask to stop him. Say what you want about his size, but his pass-rushing ability is lethal.
-J.J. Molson had his worst field goal kicking day of the week, going just 3-for-5 from around 35 yards and in. His two misses were knuckle balls, something we haven't seen from him yet. His kickoffs, though, were annihilated. He booted one that I swear landed a few yards out of the endzone from my vantage point.
-Stephen Johnson and Theo Howard worked as kick returners today.
-Watched all of the OL-DL 1-on-1s, here were my notables there: Andre James stonewalled Matt Dickerson twice; Nick Terry had a few good reps against Najee Toran and was once again good today in general; Kenny Lacy handled Jacob Tuioti-Mariner a few times; Keisean Lucier-South went 3-for-3 against Andre James; Poasi Moala was impressive beating Rick Wade twice (easily).
-I was really impressed with Matt Lynch in 11-on-11 to end the day today. The O-line is having serious issues in pass protection, yet his eyes never left downfield. He has pocket poise that you just can't teach. I like him more and more every day out here.
UCLA returns to the IM fields on Monday at 4:30 p.m.
