Spring Practice Day 4 – A Look At The UCLA Offensive Line
So it was Day 4 of Spring Practice for Bruin football and today I focused on the UCLA Offensive Line. I did see the rest of the offense, which I will touch upon at the end or you can check out Go Joe Bruin writer Jake Liker‘s piece Notes From Monday’s Practice, for more in-depth coverage of the entire team. In this piece, we took a hard look at the big guys up front. The long, big, deep and experienced O-line.
When the offensive line was not pushing sleds and doing blocking drills against the defensive line players, they were on the field in 11-on-11 drills.
The first team offensive line consisted of:
First String Offensive Line
[table id=58 /]
Honestly, the very first thing that stood out is how big Simon Goines looks and how agile he is. No one was getting passed him. He was towering over the defensive lineman and staying with them laterally. If he continues to work at this level, not only will he get the starting job (which appears he has anyway), but he will be a fantastic addition on the right side of the line.
UCLA Bruins
Conor McDermott, Jake Brendel and Alex Redmond looked very good and a little bit stronger, but for the most part were impregnable. Brendelwas probably the best lineman out there. He looked very powerful and was the most aggressive lineman out there.
The interesting addition was Kenny Lacy who was handling himself very well on the left guard position. Too bad the Bruins cannot have six linemen on the field because Lacy has the talent to start, but currently he is filling in for the injured Caleb Benenoch.
The first line’s cohesiveness was amplified when they were the front line for Josh Rosen who looked spectacular when given time to work. His ease in the backfield was a direct result of the offensive line holding off the defense.
The second line was a little less effective. This unit, although good, was clearly the young less experienced line. They looked like this (with a few substitutions here and there):
Second String Offensive Line
[table id=57 /]
Young and talented, but need a bit more time to develop in the Bruin’s system. Poasi Moala and Zach Bateman seemed to be the best players on this line.
Other Offensive Notes
-QB Aaron Sharp was working out extensively with the wide receivers, though he was still wearing the gold QB jersey.
–Austin Roberts and Alex Van Dyke are big, intimidating receivers that are explosive. Expect to see them a lot in the fall.
–Josh Rosen, as noted above, was fantastic in the pocket when given time (due to the first-string offensive line). He even showed off his running skills as he was able to elude the defense on one particular play that was broken up.