UCLA put on a nice little get-together for Bruin fans at Drake Stadium on Saturday morning. There were probably only about 3,000-5,000 people in attendance, but there were some cool giveaways, the weather was perfect and the practice was a crisp two hours of watchable action. Here were my news and notes:
Notes
-The recruiting list was smaller than expected. No Najee Harris, Andrew Vorhees, Stephen Carr, Thomas Graham, Elijah Gates, Elijah Hicks, Deommodore Lenoir, etc. But the turnout was solid no less.
-Jim Mora named Takkarist McKinley the "MVP" of camp. Hard to disagree with that, especially after today. More on that later.
-Lots of 2016 signees out there. Spotted Paco Perez, Krys Barnes, Alex Akingbulu, Brandon Burton, Caleb Wilson, Devon Modster and Jake Burton. Big Texas transfer Jake Raulerson was also out there. Here's a photo for those wondering how he looks (that's Simon Goines on the right of the photo).
The final two-deep of the spring
QB - Josh Rosen, Mike Fafaul
FB - Cam Griffin, Ainuu Taua
RB - Soso Jamabo, Bolu Olorunfunmi
TE - Nate Iese, Austin Roberts
WR - Eldridge Massington, Ishmael Adams
WR - Kenny Walker, Theo Howard
LT - Conor McDermott, Andre James
LG - Najee Toran, Josh Wariboko
C - Scott Quessenberry, walk on
RG - Kenny Lacy, Poasi Moala
RT - Kolton Miller, walk on
CB - Randall Goforth, Denzel Fisher
CB - Nate Meadors, Octo Spencer
S - Jaleel Wadood, Adarius Pickett
S - Tahaan Goodman, Will Lockett
OLB - Cam Judge, Cam Judge
MLB - Kenny Young, Isaako Savaiinaea
OLB - Jayon Brown, Josh Woods
DE - Matt Dickerson, Deon Hollins
DT - Eli Ankou, Thomas Schwab
DT - Jacob Tuioti-Mariner, Nick Terry
DE - Takk McKinley, Rick Wade
Practice observations
*UCLA gave us prime real estate for the workout, which meant I was finally able to see all of practice. So here were my highlights from each individual portion of practice:
9-on-7
-McKinley dominated this drill. He had a big hit at the line of scrimmage on Bolu Olorunfunmi and later had a tackle for loss on Nate Starks. He was around the ball on every other play, usually doing the work against Conor McDermott.
-Jayon Brown continued to also be around the ball, logging a notable tackle for loss that I spotted.
-Everybody that defended Lokeni Toailoa in high school said he was a C-gap to C-gap player, and finally with our angle today, we were able to see that. He really does a nice job filling holes and stopping run plays at the line of scrimmage. Just an instinctual MLB when it comes to defending the run.
-Najee Toran had a really good block on Brown to spring Nate Starks for a nice gain.
-One of the funnier moments of practice was watching Cameron Judge trying to bring down Ainuu Taua after a handoff on the left side of the line. Judge looked like he was trying to tackle a Pepsi machine. It took three other defenders to finally slow the former DL down.
1-on-1s
-Nate Meadors had a great pass breakup on a deep ball to Cordell Broadus. He finished camp strong at CB.
-Austin Roberts exploded on a route to get by Dylan Luther, but dropped the perfect pass from Josh Rosen.
-Theo Howard looked really bad in this drill, running telegraphed routes that allowed DBs to eat him up. Randall Goforth, Jaleel Wadood and Denzel Fisher were all able to easily breakup passes on the young freshman today in this drill.
-Leni Toailoa had a really nice day defending Nate Iese. On two separate reps, he ran stride for stride with the big man, causing to incompletions.
-Denzel Fisher had a generally pretty down camp, but for some reason, every time he made a play, it was on Jordan Lasley. Today was no different. The two went at each other probably half a dozen times today, and Fisher owned him in all the reps. It actually looked like it gave Fisher confidence, as he logged a few more nice reps throughout the day on other wideouts after beating up Lasley.
-Will Lockett had a nice pass breakup on Stephen Johnson, continuing his great second half of camp.
-Alex Van Dyke had one of the highlight catches of the day, pinning a ball with his arm and his body to box out Marcus Rios for the TD.
-Over in LB-RB 1-on-1s, Mique Juarez had a really nice rep covering Cameron Griffin. It was probably his best day of practice overall, as he also had a pick on Josh Rosen in 7-on-7.
-Eldridge Massington recorded his third straight good practice. He had two TDs that I saw in these 1-on-1s, beating a walk-on and Denzel Fisher for scores in the redzone portion of the drill.
11-on-11s
-Randall Goforth had a really nice pass breakup on Massington to start the drill. Later, he ran stride for stride with Massington on a playaction deep ball to force an incompletion. He too had a nice final week of camp after a forgettable first couple weeks.
-Jacob Tuioti-Mariner had a sack on Kenny Lacy.
-I thought this was by far Josh Rosen's best day in 11-on-11s. Yes, he threw two picks to Charles Dawson. The second one, he actually put a finger gun to his head for making such a poor read. But overall, when he was throwing on the run, he was special. I had him down for a good scramble completion to Iese, a nice floater for a TD to Iese later, and a really good scrambling touchdown throw to Kenny Walker. I also thought he moved really well in the pocket, avoiding pressure throughout the day. When the lights come on, he shines, and today was no different.
-Matt Dickerson had a sack on Kolton Miller.
-Deon Hollins was feast or famine when I watched him. When he gets his elite first step, he creates a massive amount of havoc. When he doesn't, he gets swallowed up. It was particularly noticeable when he was going against walk-on Cristian Garcia.
-McKinley had a sack on Kolton Miller.
-Soso Jamabo finished spring strong with a great day today. I had him down for two nice, hard runs at the goal line for TDs. He also had the highlight of the day, busting out for a 50-yard TD untouched where he outran DeChaun Holiday for the long score.
-Massington had the catch of the day in this drill, although refs said he was out of bounds. He jumped over Fisher for a long gain down the sideline. Jordan Payton and Demetrice Martin had a nice argument about whether he was in bounds.
-J.J. Molson crushed his three field goal attempts to end the early 11-on-11 period, hitting a 31-, a 42- and a 49-yarder with plenty of room to spare. He's good.
7-on-7s
-Rosen ripped a tremendous dime to Kenny Walker for a 50-yard gain down the right sideline to open up this drill. Walker made a great adjustment to make the catch. One of the prettiest plays of the day.
-Mike Fafaul also had one of the throws of the day in this drill, throwing a 40-yard laser to a walk-on over Octo Spencer. Spencer had a really tough day in every drill out here.
Some quick final spring thoughts
-Overall, this setup was far better than previous ones at the Rose Bowl. I still don't think anything tops the Home Depot Center Spring Game, though. If you truly want a great spring game product, I think you've got to go back to that. If you're just looking for a run-of-the-mill practice with added atmosphere, then this was perfect.
-It was a weird year for standouts. Usually there are about 10 guys who really got you excited about their play. Other than Jayon Brown and Takk McKinley, I'm not sure I saw that this year. You can make a case for the RBs or Ishmael Adams, but not a ton of MVPs in this year's camp.
Notes
-The recruiting list was smaller than expected. No Najee Harris, Andrew Vorhees, Stephen Carr, Thomas Graham, Elijah Gates, Elijah Hicks, Deommodore Lenoir, etc. But the turnout was solid no less.
-Jim Mora named Takkarist McKinley the "MVP" of camp. Hard to disagree with that, especially after today. More on that later.
-Lots of 2016 signees out there. Spotted Paco Perez, Krys Barnes, Alex Akingbulu, Brandon Burton, Caleb Wilson, Devon Modster and Jake Burton. Big Texas transfer Jake Raulerson was also out there. Here's a photo for those wondering how he looks (that's Simon Goines on the right of the photo).
The final two-deep of the spring
QB - Josh Rosen, Mike Fafaul
FB - Cam Griffin, Ainuu Taua
RB - Soso Jamabo, Bolu Olorunfunmi
TE - Nate Iese, Austin Roberts
WR - Eldridge Massington, Ishmael Adams
WR - Kenny Walker, Theo Howard
LT - Conor McDermott, Andre James
LG - Najee Toran, Josh Wariboko
C - Scott Quessenberry, walk on
RG - Kenny Lacy, Poasi Moala
RT - Kolton Miller, walk on
CB - Randall Goforth, Denzel Fisher
CB - Nate Meadors, Octo Spencer
S - Jaleel Wadood, Adarius Pickett
S - Tahaan Goodman, Will Lockett
OLB - Cam Judge, Cam Judge
MLB - Kenny Young, Isaako Savaiinaea
OLB - Jayon Brown, Josh Woods
DE - Matt Dickerson, Deon Hollins
DT - Eli Ankou, Thomas Schwab
DT - Jacob Tuioti-Mariner, Nick Terry
DE - Takk McKinley, Rick Wade
Practice observations
*UCLA gave us prime real estate for the workout, which meant I was finally able to see all of practice. So here were my highlights from each individual portion of practice:
9-on-7
-McKinley dominated this drill. He had a big hit at the line of scrimmage on Bolu Olorunfunmi and later had a tackle for loss on Nate Starks. He was around the ball on every other play, usually doing the work against Conor McDermott.
-Jayon Brown continued to also be around the ball, logging a notable tackle for loss that I spotted.
-Everybody that defended Lokeni Toailoa in high school said he was a C-gap to C-gap player, and finally with our angle today, we were able to see that. He really does a nice job filling holes and stopping run plays at the line of scrimmage. Just an instinctual MLB when it comes to defending the run.
-Najee Toran had a really good block on Brown to spring Nate Starks for a nice gain.
-One of the funnier moments of practice was watching Cameron Judge trying to bring down Ainuu Taua after a handoff on the left side of the line. Judge looked like he was trying to tackle a Pepsi machine. It took three other defenders to finally slow the former DL down.
1-on-1s
-Nate Meadors had a great pass breakup on a deep ball to Cordell Broadus. He finished camp strong at CB.
-Austin Roberts exploded on a route to get by Dylan Luther, but dropped the perfect pass from Josh Rosen.
-Theo Howard looked really bad in this drill, running telegraphed routes that allowed DBs to eat him up. Randall Goforth, Jaleel Wadood and Denzel Fisher were all able to easily breakup passes on the young freshman today in this drill.
-Leni Toailoa had a really nice day defending Nate Iese. On two separate reps, he ran stride for stride with the big man, causing to incompletions.
-Denzel Fisher had a generally pretty down camp, but for some reason, every time he made a play, it was on Jordan Lasley. Today was no different. The two went at each other probably half a dozen times today, and Fisher owned him in all the reps. It actually looked like it gave Fisher confidence, as he logged a few more nice reps throughout the day on other wideouts after beating up Lasley.
-Will Lockett had a nice pass breakup on Stephen Johnson, continuing his great second half of camp.
-Alex Van Dyke had one of the highlight catches of the day, pinning a ball with his arm and his body to box out Marcus Rios for the TD.
-Over in LB-RB 1-on-1s, Mique Juarez had a really nice rep covering Cameron Griffin. It was probably his best day of practice overall, as he also had a pick on Josh Rosen in 7-on-7.
-Eldridge Massington recorded his third straight good practice. He had two TDs that I saw in these 1-on-1s, beating a walk-on and Denzel Fisher for scores in the redzone portion of the drill.
11-on-11s
-Randall Goforth had a really nice pass breakup on Massington to start the drill. Later, he ran stride for stride with Massington on a playaction deep ball to force an incompletion. He too had a nice final week of camp after a forgettable first couple weeks.
-Jacob Tuioti-Mariner had a sack on Kenny Lacy.
-I thought this was by far Josh Rosen's best day in 11-on-11s. Yes, he threw two picks to Charles Dawson. The second one, he actually put a finger gun to his head for making such a poor read. But overall, when he was throwing on the run, he was special. I had him down for a good scramble completion to Iese, a nice floater for a TD to Iese later, and a really good scrambling touchdown throw to Kenny Walker. I also thought he moved really well in the pocket, avoiding pressure throughout the day. When the lights come on, he shines, and today was no different.
-Matt Dickerson had a sack on Kolton Miller.
-Deon Hollins was feast or famine when I watched him. When he gets his elite first step, he creates a massive amount of havoc. When he doesn't, he gets swallowed up. It was particularly noticeable when he was going against walk-on Cristian Garcia.
-McKinley had a sack on Kolton Miller.
-Soso Jamabo finished spring strong with a great day today. I had him down for two nice, hard runs at the goal line for TDs. He also had the highlight of the day, busting out for a 50-yard TD untouched where he outran DeChaun Holiday for the long score.
-Massington had the catch of the day in this drill, although refs said he was out of bounds. He jumped over Fisher for a long gain down the sideline. Jordan Payton and Demetrice Martin had a nice argument about whether he was in bounds.
-J.J. Molson crushed his three field goal attempts to end the early 11-on-11 period, hitting a 31-, a 42- and a 49-yarder with plenty of room to spare. He's good.
7-on-7s
-Rosen ripped a tremendous dime to Kenny Walker for a 50-yard gain down the right sideline to open up this drill. Walker made a great adjustment to make the catch. One of the prettiest plays of the day.
-Mike Fafaul also had one of the throws of the day in this drill, throwing a 40-yard laser to a walk-on over Octo Spencer. Spencer had a really tough day in every drill out here.
Some quick final spring thoughts
-Overall, this setup was far better than previous ones at the Rose Bowl. I still don't think anything tops the Home Depot Center Spring Game, though. If you truly want a great spring game product, I think you've got to go back to that. If you're just looking for a run-of-the-mill practice with added atmosphere, then this was perfect.
-It was a weird year for standouts. Usually there are about 10 guys who really got you excited about their play. Other than Jayon Brown and Takk McKinley, I'm not sure I saw that this year. You can make a case for the RBs or Ishmael Adams, but not a ton of MVPs in this year's camp.
