Offensive Coordinator Jedd Fisch, center, gives instructions to Jordan Wilson (87) and Caleb Wilson (81) during UCLA football practice at Spaulding Field on campus Friday, August 04, 2017, Westwood, Calif. (Photo by Steve McCrank, Daily Breeze/SCNG)

The defense couldn’t line up correctly during walk-throughs. The offense got kicked off the field, then got called back onto the field to get kicked off again because they didn’t do it right the first time. When mixing football and finals, the result can be less than stellar.

“It’s been a stressful week,” head coach Jim Mora said. “You’re a freshman, you’re coming into college, it’s finals weeks, you got papers due, they were finishing up their finals today. Three days of football practice, very limited sleep, you get out of here at 10;15, 10:30, they’re back in meetings eight hours later, so you could see that it caught up to the young guys. But they pushed through it.”

Despite the inconsistent practice, Mora has been encouraged by the team’s progress in the first three days of practice and credited some of it to the team’s 25 player-run practices.

Video interview with Mora

Photo gallery from practice

My notes/observations from the day:

• Time: 2.5 hours
• Attire: Softshell shoulder pads and shorts
• Friday did not feature one of the finer practices. The No. 2 defense struggled to get lined up correctly during walk-throughs. The No. 1 offense got kicked off the field during a team period for not getting lined up fast enough and when they didn’t leave the field fast enough, Mora made them come back and kicked them off again. The same thing happened on an Austin Burton-led drive. Friday’s practice ended with Mora angrily yelling at the team in the post practice huddle and kicking players off the field when it looked like they were doing some extra conditioning. I couldn’t hear what he was yelling about, but he didn’t seem pleased.
• Another strong day from the defensive line. Sacks/tackles for loss galore from Jacob Tuioti-Mariner, Rick Wade, Matt Dickerson, Osa Odighizuwa and Nick Terry.
• Josh Rosen was solid. He had a few nice touchdown passes in one-on-ones and had a beautiful 50-yard touchdown pass to Darren Andrews in a team period. It was a slow-developing play, but Andrews split the safeties up the middle of the field and Rosen rewarded the receiver with a perfect pass for the score. It was Rosen’s second straight day with a nice touchdown pass to Andrews. The quarterback also missed a few throws badly, including one intended for Eldridge Massington. After the pass sailed well wide of the receiver, Rosen slapped the sides of his helmet in frustration.
  • Despite a growing connection with Andrews, Rosen missed the receiver a few times in seven-on-sevens. At least twice, he threw a pass behind Andrews.
• Matt Lynch had a nice 30-yard touchdown pass to Damian Alloway during a team period. It was a tight window and Alloway did a good job to make a tough catch with Keyon Riley in coverage.
• Devon Modster threw touchdowns to Jordan Wilson and Christian Pabico in seven-on-seven.
• Josh Woods caught my eye a few times with impressive pass breakups. He was late to practice, likely for academic commitments with finals week, but he was good in coverage during team periods and seven-on-seven. He had a near interception against Rosen in seven-on-seven and broke up another pass intended for Brandon Stephens.
• Theo Howard had back-to-back catches with the No. 1 offense in a two-minute drill team period. The first one went for about 5 yards. On the second one, Howard made a strong catch with Nate Meadors in tight coverage. Meadors was so impressed by the play that he made sure to get Howard’s attention afterwards and give him a thumbs up.
• Meadors was limited Thursday, but seemed to be full speed Friday. He missed the first drive of the first team period, but jumped back into his starting corner spot after that.
  • When Meadors was down, Darnay Holmes slipped in at corner and Octavius Spencer moved in to nickel. Denzel Fisher held on to the other starting spot.
    • Fisher recorded a nice pass breakup during a team period against Alex Van Dyke on a would-be touchdown pass from Rosen.
    • Holmes picked off Burton in seven-on-seven on a pass intended for Howard.
• Stefan Flintoft seemed to be the winner of Thursday’s punting competition. He had four punts all of about 45 yards or longer. His longest was about 57. Also, this is without any type of roll — it was 57 yards in the air. Austin Kent didn’t have a great day. He shanked a short 35-yard, then had a few more that went about 40 to 45 yards.
• Injury note: Soso Jamabo was held out of practice with a tight back.
• Jalen Starks was also absent due to a family emergency
• J.J. Molson was a perfect 4-for-4 on field goals.