Saturday practice wrap-up
Some final thoughts on UCLA's two-a-day workouts Saturday. The Bruins are scheduled to practice from 3 to 5 on Sunday at Spaulding Field:
Offensive play of the day: During 7-on-7 drills in the afternoon practice, Kevin Prince hit Logan Paulsen for a 15-yard touchdown pass in the right corner of the end zone where the fifth-year tight end made a leaping grab and managed to get one foot down before going out of bounds. No real highlights to report in 11-on-11 scrimmages, as the defense got the better of the offense more times than not.
Defensive play of the day: The best hit undoubtedly went to freshman Stan McKay on a run by tailback Johnathan Franklin, in which the defensive back leveled the redshirt freshman for a loss in the backfield. The top defensive effort went to sophomore Datone Jones, who was a handful for whoever he lined up against. The defensive end from Compton forced Kevin Prince out of the pocket, deflected passes and stuffed the run, and still had time to push around 490-pound tires after practice for extra reps on driving back offensive linemen.
Special teams play of the day: Blocked field goals by Kyle Bosworth and Brian Price bookended afternoon practice, forcing coach Rick Neuheisel to look closer at UCLA's protection of All-America kicking candidate Kai Forbath.
Unsung hero of the day: Although most of his reps were with the third string offense, freshman tailback Damien Thigpen ran well in both practices, demonstrating the ability to hit the hole hard and explode past the line of scrimmage.
Quote of the day: "(Offensive line) you've got to give him a chance to throw the ball," UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel after watching Kevin Prince get flushed out of the pocket on three consecutive plays during an afternoon scrimmage, forcing him to throw on the run or keep the ball himself.
Great, succinct wrap-up, Erik. You're doing a fabulous job.
very nice late night work, Erik, thanks for the info.
You're doing a great job Erik.
4 excellent posts. Thanks, Erik.
Erik, Fantastic set of articles. Great descriptive writing. Great ananlysis. Reads like a good Novel.But it is real ! Much appreciated.
Actually 8 excellent blog entries. My bad.
I was there and you covered everything.
great job eric, thanks for the effort!!
I'll echo what my fellow readers said - your coverage this weekend was outstanding.
Thanks!
It's well documented that Forbath's kicks are too flat and prone to get blocked. See bowl game against BYU a few years back. Can they tweak his kicks so that he gets a little more arc?
Erik,
awesome wrap up post. Can we see one of these at least once a week? That would be a great addition to the blog.
Great work today Erik!
In response to nycuclafan, if you ask the players and coaches, they will all tell you that the bowl game kick against BYU was not Forbath's fault. The coaches told them to expect BYU to call a time out, and BYU never called a time out. The line fell resulting in poor blocking for the kick.