The UCLA football team has officially started spring practice with new head coach Chip Kelly and the first seasion already answered a lot of questions.
Depsite the recent cold weather in Los Angeles, I half expected to be freezing upon arriving at Lot 8 to watch UCLA football’s first spring practice of the Chip Kelly era. This year, practice starts a month early and thanks to the brilliant strategy by UCLA, it will span seven weeks. You could say things are Bruin with this culture change.
RELATED: UCLA Football Spring Practice Previews- QBs, RBs, WRs, TEs, OLs, DLs, LBs, DBs, ST
It was a gorgeous sunny morning in Westwood. The sun shined down on Spaulding Field as several players were already out, waiting for the clock to strike 7:15 a.m., the official start time of practice. There was also a few fans that were starting to trickle over to the standing room only edge of Lot 8 that over looked Spaulding Field. There was even a small tailgate. The excitement was in the air.
Spring Ball is here! #GoBruins https://t.co/3lFEY3YXQG
— UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) March 6, 2018
Minutes before the start of practice, the team lined up on the far field, as if to take a team photo, but no, it was simply to get the team together and organized. Yells and cheers slowly erupted as the coaches were giving out a lot of inaudible instructions to the players. And then 7:15 hit. Spring practice has officially begun.
The players lineup up at the endzone closesest to the new Wasserman Center, the jewel of UCLA football, as into glowed in the morning sun. For the next ten minutes there would be stretching, trotting, back peddling and sprinting as the players got ready for practice.
Jersey color assignments are as follows:
- White – Offense
- Blue – Defense
- Quarterbacks – Red
- Non-contact – Yellow