UCLA Football Practice Report: September 8
The Bruins opened practice with a somewhat corny, if not self-aware, song choice following their upset win over then-No. 16 LSU on Saturday.
"Don't Stop Believin''" by Journey.
The rest of the soundtrack during No. 16 UCLA football's (2-0) Wednesday training session returned to the normal DMX and OutKast tracks that usually play over the loudspeakers at Wasserman Football Center. The Bruins earned their first AP top 25 ranking in nearly four years Tuesday, and as they enter their third game still without a loss, fans, players and talking heads are insisting upon this team having plenty left in the tank.
In the midst of a bye week, UCLA won't have a chance to prove itself again Saturday, so the believing is going to have to come from the practice field until the Fresno State game Sept. 18. Coach Chip Kelly insisted on calling it an "improvement week" rather than a bye week after the LSU win, and he did the same with the press Wednesday morning.
The actual practice itself was pretty light Wednesday, even taking into account there were no pads. Once again, special teams was first on the docket, and receivers coach Jerry Neuheisel and offensive coordinator Justin Frye ran point on the blocking drills taking place in front of the media.
The Bruins then lined up in punt formation to practice some live-speed drills on that front. Receiver Kyle Philips was the first to haul one in, and he was joined by receiver Logan Loya, receiver Kazmeir Allen, running back Keegan Jones and receiver Kam Brown.
Brown muffed one as he was backpedaling towards the left sideline, letting it bounce right off his chest in the direction of the pursuing coverage. Two games into his UCLA career, the Texas A&M transfer has yet to record a catch, kick return or punt return.
When the team split up into positional drills, we got a pretty decent look at the receivers, running backs and tight ends running routes on the goal line. It was difficult to see which quarterback was throwing which pass, but some of the plays on the receiving end stood out.
The top play we saw Wednesday goes to Jones, who made a great one-handed grab on a goal line fade into the back-left corner of the end zone. Jones has just one catch in 11 career games with the Bruins and has yet to tally one through two appearances this fall, but he certainly has the ball skills and hands to be a receiving option coming out of the backfield moving forward if need be.
The quarterbacks were split up just as they had been over the past two weeks, with Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Ethan Garbers and Chase Griffin wearing their normal blue jerseys and Chase Artopoeus, Parker McQuarrie and Kajiya Hollawayne suiting up for the scout team in Fresno State red.
Artopoeus was wearing No. 9 to pose as the Bulldogs' starter, Jake Kaener, who is also exactly 6-foot-1, 195 pounds. McQuarrie sported No. 2 and Hollawayne No. 9, both of which belong to Fresno State receivers.
On the defensive side of the field, the starting linebackers and defensive backs practiced simple goal line coverage schemes. Cornerback Obi Eboh and safety Stephan Blaylock had a miscommunication and left a scout team running back wide open on the left side, and they broke down what went wrong between snaps.
The number of players who were not on the field – at least the ones we could see in the weight room area – has dropped significantly as of Wednesday morning. Running back Christian Grubb was still rehabbing his torn achilles, and a player in a No. 3 red scout team jersey was working with trainers on the side, but that's everyone who was held out. There are likely others who were injured and just didn't appear outside the facility, but this could represent a significant shift in how the team handles dinged up players.
Once again participating in practice was center Sam Marrazzo, who missed each of UCLA's first two games recovering from an injury he sustained at the tail end of last season. After spending the past few weeks working with the 3s in non-contact snap pairings, Marrazzo actually snapped the ball to Thompson-Robinson on Wednesday, which marks the first time we've seen that happen since fall camp opened over a month ago.
Kelly told reporters before practice he was excited for the trajectory Marrazzo was heading on, but did not offer any concrete updates on his status for next week.
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