UCLA kicked off its first day of spring practice Tuesday. Here's the breakdown:
CHIP KELLY'S PRE-PRACTICE PRESSER
-Nothing really of note in here. Kelly just telling us he's not sure what to expect from a group of guys he hasn't really seen play football yet.
THE PRACTICE FORMAT
-If you were hoping for some massive, drastic difference between the way Kelly runs practices and the way Jim Mora runs practices, you'll be disappointed. The practices were almost identical, though Kelly's workouts (at least today's) run about 45 minutes shorter than Mora's. The workout featured similar tempo to Mora's and pretty much the exact same format: Dynamic warmup, special teams, individual position drills, pat-and-go passing drills, 7-on-7s, 1-on-1s and 11-on-11s.
INJURIES
-UCLA had a host of guys in yellow non-contact jerseys -- so many that I couldn't jot down all the numbers before a majority of them retired to the locker room after initial stretch. The numbers I caught in yellow today: Jaelan Phillips (who injured his wrist in an accident on his scooter), Lokeni Toailoa, Michael Alves, Jax Wacaser, Josh Woods, Keyon Riley and Caleb Wilson. Some, like Phillips and Riley, did more than others, like Alves, Wacaser and Wilson, who went to the locker room almost immediately after practice started.
NOTABLY ABSENT
*Not sure if these players are injured or have left the team. Or, since we didn't get a spring roster today, were perhaps hiding in another number. Nonetheless, these were the scholarship guys we expected to see today that we did not:
-OL Stephan Zabie
-LB DeChaun Holiday
-RB Jalen Starks
-CB Colin Samuel
-CB Denzel Fisher
-S Octo Spencer
-S Will Lockett
-LB Leni Toailoa
-DL Ainuu Taua (reportedly transferred to Nevada)
-OL Paco Perez
POSITION CHANGES/NOTES
-Boss Tagaloa has moved from D-line to center, mixing in first-team reps there with Zach Sweeney.
-Moses Robinson-Carr has moved from tight end to defensive end.
-Jay Shaw has moved from cornerback to safety.
-Alex Akingbulu has moved from tackle to guard, working with the first team at RG.
-Quentin Lake remained at safety.
-Brandon Burton remained at linebacker.
-Marcus Moore remained at defensive end and not outside linebacker.
-Mique Juarez remained at inside linebacker.
-Stephen Johnson remained at wide receiver.
-Demetric Felton remained at wide receiver.
-Keisean Lucier-South, Jaelan Phillips, Odua Isibor and Rahyme Johnson all moved to 3-4 OLB, as expected.
DEPTH CHART NOTES
*UCLA didn't look to have anything set on the depth chart at LB or WR, rotating guys constantly, but the rest of the units' two-deep appeared to look like this:
QB -- Devon Modser; Matt Lynch
RB -- Soso Jamabo; Bolu Olorunfunmi
TE -- Jordan Wilson; Devin Asiasi
LT -- Andre James; Bryan Weitzman
LG -- Josh Wariboko; Clayton Demski
C -- Zach Sweeney/Boss Tagaloa
RG -- Alex Akingbulu; Sean Seawards
RT -- Jake Burton; Zach Cochrun
CB -- Darnay Holmes; Mo Osling
S -- Adarius Pickett; Ryan Parks
S -- Quentin Lake; Jay Shaw
CB -- Nate Meadors; Elijah Gates
DE -- Rick Wade; Marcus Moore
DT -- Chigozie Nnoruka; Martin Andrus
DE -- Osa Odidhizuwa; Moses Robinson-Carr
X's AND O's
-UCLA's offense looked like the Chip Kelly offense we've all seen before. Every snap featured a read-option look, with the QB sticking the ball in the belly of the halfback on every play that I watched.
-UCLA's defense looked like a true 3-4 defense.
OBSERVATIONS
*Practice was just shorts, T-shirts and helmets, going about half-speed and complete with two-hand touch. So there weren't too many performance notes. But here's my notebook:
-Kenny Clark and Jayon Brown stopped by.
-Adarius Pickett, Kyle Philips, Jay Shaw and Damian Alloway worked as punt returners.
-Mique Juarez looks like he's slimmed down once again. Still not quite at his high school weight, but he's closer than he's ever been in his time at UCLA.
-Felton showed off some nice hands in drills, making his case to stay at WR.
-In OL-DL 1-on-1s, the defense won just about every rep I saw. There is not much at all to like about the current O-line, especially with Alves sitting out. Tagaloa held his own at center in the reps I watched, though.
-Elijah Gates and Quentin Lake had interceptions off Matt Lynch in various drills. Theo Howard had a diving tip catch that wowed the small crowd in attendance.
-Dana Bible is the QBs coach in name, but he sure looked like the OC out there today, running a lot of the offensive drills while Kelly oversaw everything.
UCLA practices again on Thursday at 7:15 a.m.
CHIP KELLY'S PRE-PRACTICE PRESSER
-Nothing really of note in here. Kelly just telling us he's not sure what to expect from a group of guys he hasn't really seen play football yet.
THE PRACTICE FORMAT
-If you were hoping for some massive, drastic difference between the way Kelly runs practices and the way Jim Mora runs practices, you'll be disappointed. The practices were almost identical, though Kelly's workouts (at least today's) run about 45 minutes shorter than Mora's. The workout featured similar tempo to Mora's and pretty much the exact same format: Dynamic warmup, special teams, individual position drills, pat-and-go passing drills, 7-on-7s, 1-on-1s and 11-on-11s.
INJURIES
-UCLA had a host of guys in yellow non-contact jerseys -- so many that I couldn't jot down all the numbers before a majority of them retired to the locker room after initial stretch. The numbers I caught in yellow today: Jaelan Phillips (who injured his wrist in an accident on his scooter), Lokeni Toailoa, Michael Alves, Jax Wacaser, Josh Woods, Keyon Riley and Caleb Wilson. Some, like Phillips and Riley, did more than others, like Alves, Wacaser and Wilson, who went to the locker room almost immediately after practice started.
NOTABLY ABSENT
*Not sure if these players are injured or have left the team. Or, since we didn't get a spring roster today, were perhaps hiding in another number. Nonetheless, these were the scholarship guys we expected to see today that we did not:
-OL Stephan Zabie
-LB DeChaun Holiday
-RB Jalen Starks
-CB Colin Samuel
-CB Denzel Fisher
-S Octo Spencer
-S Will Lockett
-LB Leni Toailoa
-DL Ainuu Taua (reportedly transferred to Nevada)
-OL Paco Perez
POSITION CHANGES/NOTES
-Boss Tagaloa has moved from D-line to center, mixing in first-team reps there with Zach Sweeney.
-Moses Robinson-Carr has moved from tight end to defensive end.
-Jay Shaw has moved from cornerback to safety.
-Alex Akingbulu has moved from tackle to guard, working with the first team at RG.
-Quentin Lake remained at safety.
-Brandon Burton remained at linebacker.
-Marcus Moore remained at defensive end and not outside linebacker.
-Mique Juarez remained at inside linebacker.
-Stephen Johnson remained at wide receiver.
-Demetric Felton remained at wide receiver.
-Keisean Lucier-South, Jaelan Phillips, Odua Isibor and Rahyme Johnson all moved to 3-4 OLB, as expected.
DEPTH CHART NOTES
*UCLA didn't look to have anything set on the depth chart at LB or WR, rotating guys constantly, but the rest of the units' two-deep appeared to look like this:
QB -- Devon Modser; Matt Lynch
RB -- Soso Jamabo; Bolu Olorunfunmi
TE -- Jordan Wilson; Devin Asiasi
LT -- Andre James; Bryan Weitzman
LG -- Josh Wariboko; Clayton Demski
C -- Zach Sweeney/Boss Tagaloa
RG -- Alex Akingbulu; Sean Seawards
RT -- Jake Burton; Zach Cochrun
CB -- Darnay Holmes; Mo Osling
S -- Adarius Pickett; Ryan Parks
S -- Quentin Lake; Jay Shaw
CB -- Nate Meadors; Elijah Gates
DE -- Rick Wade; Marcus Moore
DT -- Chigozie Nnoruka; Martin Andrus
DE -- Osa Odidhizuwa; Moses Robinson-Carr
X's AND O's
-UCLA's offense looked like the Chip Kelly offense we've all seen before. Every snap featured a read-option look, with the QB sticking the ball in the belly of the halfback on every play that I watched.
-UCLA's defense looked like a true 3-4 defense.
OBSERVATIONS
*Practice was just shorts, T-shirts and helmets, going about half-speed and complete with two-hand touch. So there weren't too many performance notes. But here's my notebook:
-Kenny Clark and Jayon Brown stopped by.
-Adarius Pickett, Kyle Philips, Jay Shaw and Damian Alloway worked as punt returners.
-Mique Juarez looks like he's slimmed down once again. Still not quite at his high school weight, but he's closer than he's ever been in his time at UCLA.
-Felton showed off some nice hands in drills, making his case to stay at WR.
-In OL-DL 1-on-1s, the defense won just about every rep I saw. There is not much at all to like about the current O-line, especially with Alves sitting out. Tagaloa held his own at center in the reps I watched, though.
-Elijah Gates and Quentin Lake had interceptions off Matt Lynch in various drills. Theo Howard had a diving tip catch that wowed the small crowd in attendance.
-Dana Bible is the QBs coach in name, but he sure looked like the OC out there today, running a lot of the offensive drills while Kelly oversaw everything.
UCLA practices again on Thursday at 7:15 a.m.
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