UCLA Football Spring Practice Report: March 31
The Bruins have gotten their feet wet, and now they're settled in to grind for the next month out of the practice field.
In their second session of the spring ball schedule, UCLA football looked very similar Thursday to how they looked in the opening session Tuesday. Strength coach Keith Belton led an energetic warmup before some special teams drills and positional work – more of the same for the Bruins, this time on a windy, cloudy day in Southern California.
But with new coaches in six different lead roles, even the simple, early parts of practice looked different than they did last fall.
Outside linebackers coach Ikaika Malloe seemed to be taking charge in the opening special teams drill, as UCLA does not currently have a special teams coordinator. Tight ends coach Derek Sage held that position the past few seasons, but he left for the offensive coordinator job at Nevada in January.
Whether it was a drill that was exclusively done behind closed doors last year, or it was introduced by Malloe, the Bruins had a new structure to their first special teams period of the day. It wasn't anything special – just weaving between dummies and pursuing a punter – but it was interesting to start to pick up on the tendencies of the new faces on the staff.
Malloe especially stood out in several ways throughout practice, especially when he jumped up and bumped shoulders with edge rusher Choe Bryant-Strother in celebration between reps in 11-on-11s. Malloe had a reputation as an energetic coach at Washington, and he seems to have brought that energy with him down to Westwood.
The media also got to move around the fields at Wasserman Football Center a bit more Thursday, providing a more clear look at the quarterbacks and inside linebackers.
Ken Norton Jr. seems very physically involved in the inside linebacker drills, even a few decades removed from his playing days. Hawaii transfer Darius Muasau looks pretty short at the position, but he has plenty of muscle and is in line to take on a substantial role in 2022.
Damian Sellers also looks to be one of the leaders in the position group, after spending most of last season either injured or on the practice squad. Of course, Ale Kaho is out with an injury and JonJon Vaughns is with UCLA baseball for the spring, but it is a promising development for the former four-star recruit.
The quarterback group is still led by Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who looks like the same All-Pac-12 level player he was the past two seasons. The signal-caller who drew the most eyes was definitely Justyn Martin, the Inglewood High School (CA) product who set records and went viral before committing to UCLA.
Mechanically, Martin still probably has a long ways to go – and lucky for him, he is not in a position to get tossed straight into the fire with Thompson-Robinson and Ethan Garbers safely ahead of him on the depth chart. But Martin is the tallest in the position room with long strides, strong footwork and a virtual cannon attached to his shoulder.
Martin's delivery will need fine-tuning, but he found success in the net drills and 7-on-7s in just his second official practice in blue and gold.
Chase Griffin, meanwhile, tossed an interception to linebacker Jeremiah Trojan in team workouts while trying to throw outside the numbers.
The pressure was really getting to the quarterbacks in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11s, with a lot of the damage being done on the outside.
Credit to Gabriel and Grayson Murphy, plus Bryant-Strother and Carl Jones for being somewhat of a wrecking crew Thursday – even Bo Calvert created some disruption in limited time after sitting out the first few team rotations – but their success did raise questions about the Bruins' tackles.
Garrett DiGiorgio has been the No. 1 left tackle and Josh Carlin has been the No. 1 right tackle all week, and both were getting blown by on the regular by the rotation of defensive ends and outside linebackers. Carlin, especially, struggled to contain the Murphy twins, Jones and Calvert. DiGiorgio held his own on quite a few reps, but considering his lone start last year was at right tackle, it does bring his short term abilities as a left tackle into question.
Rutgers transfer Raiqwon O'Neal will arrive over the summer and provide a veteran, Power Five starter-level option to toss into the mix, but as it stands in the spring, defensive lineman-turned-right tackle Tyler Manoa looks like he can seriously contend for a starting or third tackle spot once he gets the conditioning and technique down.
Other highlights from Thursday included Shea Pitts – now moving to inside linebacker with the elimination of the striker position – and hybrid defensive back Mo Osling III combining for a forced fumble and recovery against running back Brian Kowall. Receiver DJ Justice also made an incredible one-handed grab on his back hip running a slant in drills, and he and UCF transfer Titus Mokiao-Atimalala both look like solid young pass catchers for the Bruins moving forward.
There were maybe a dozen recruits who were in attendance, most of which stayed clustered towards the middle of the field where it was hard to identify who was who. One recruit was getting some 1-on-1 treatment from a member of the UCLA staff, and they were wandering between fields and drills throughout the morning.
It was hard to get a great read on who it was, but it appeared to be class of 2023 running back recruit Roderick Robinson II, a San Diego prospect who visited USC last weekend and has UCLA pegged as one of his top nine semifinalists.
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