UCLA Football: Mique Juarez Returns as the Bruins Begin in San Bernardino

The UCLA Football team got some good news today as freshman linebacker Mique Juarez never left, according to Head Coach Jim Mora. Go Joe Bruin also brings you some notes from the San Bernardino as the Bruins commence fall camp in the desert.

Just before the second session of of UCLA Football‘s first day of fall camp at Cal State San Bernardino, Bruins fans got some relieving news.

Related Story: Tom Bradley Talks About the Defense

Head Coach Jim Mora called in to the Petros and Money Show on AM570 Los Angeles to talk about fall camp so far and one of the questions that was asked of him was what is the situation with former 5-star linebacker Mique Juarez.

News hit last Friday when Juarez was not at practice. Concerns grew when he missed a second straight day on Saturday. This morning, Juarez was still not with the team but questions of his absence was put to bed this afternoon.

Mora told radio show hosts

Petros Papadakis

and

Matt Smith

, “He never left the team”.

Bruin Report Online had confirmed his presence at practice today, but it was mostly spent on the sidelines as Juarez never actually practiced.

Other than his presence, there was nothing else uttered about Juarez. Bruin Report Online has video of LB Coach Scott White talking about his crew, but not a word about the freshman defenseman.

Next: Observations From The Evening Session

Observations From San Bernardino

I was able to head out to San Bernardino for the second part of UCLA Football’s first day at Cal State San Bernardino.

Related Story: UCLAs Secondary Looks To Stay Primary

-After about a half an hour of drills, the Bruins met on the north field for some short yardage plays. For the first few plays, the offensive line was opening holes for the running backs. Soso Jamabo and Bolu Olorunfunmi had a few runs where they broke the line of scrimmage. At one point, freshman RB Brandon Stephens was stopped up the middle but spun out to the left edge for a few extra yards.

UCLA Bruins

-The defensive line then picked up their progress after about eight plays. Against the 2s, DE Rick Wade was able to consistently push past OL Cristian Garcia. A few plays later, LB Jayon Brown had broken through on the left side to to tackle the ball carrier for about a five yard loss. At the completion of his play he did a little jig to celebrate.

-I was looking forward to checking out the quarterbacks and what surprised me was all the talent they had. In comparison to last season, there was more consistency with the backups. In 2015, it was very noticeable when Josh Rosen was not in there. Today we could see that Mike Fafaul, Devon Modster and Matt Lynch had closed the gap in that aspect. All four looked solid early on and were hitting most of their targets (though Fafaul struggled a bit with some in accurate passes later in practice).

-As for Rosen, he looked as accurate and as strong-armed as ever. What was impressive was the way he moved in and around the pocket. Whenever the defense would break through, Rosen was able to escape trouble.

-When the O and D-lines went at it in a line drill later in practice, a few players on both sides stood out. Kolton Miller, who stills looks like he can pack on a few pounds, was able to stop several defensive lineman, standing them up and disallowing them to swim past him. Transfer DL Nick Terry had a few good breaks through the line. If he can get past the initial block, he has the speed to get at a QB or RB in the backfield.

Next: Projecting the Secondary Depth Chart

Go Bruins!