The UCLA football team had their first Saturday practice since returning from spring break. With the team in full pads, they went full contact as well as worked on a lot of option play development.
The first of three weeks of the Spring Quarter portion of practice for the UCLA football team has ended and though there was not a lot of headlines, there were several notable bits of information coming out of the full pads/full-contact practice.
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I will get into practice notes shortly, but let us quickly recap what Bruin head coach Chip Kelly said before things kicked off at Spaulding Field.
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Chip Kelly talks before practice
It is now known that DE/LB Jaelan Phillips will be out for spring as he prepares for a second surgery on his injured wrist. Kelly said he did not expect him back at all during spring (even before learned about the second surgery) and said it is unknown if he will be ready by fall.
When asked about bringing in anymore QB grad trasfers after the transition of Washington grad transfer K.J. Carta-Samuels fell through, Kelly said that at this time, he does not have a grad transfer coming in.
When asked about QB Devon Modster, who has been taking the majority of the reps with the 1s, Kelly said he has “done a nice job, he is picking things up” and that he understands the transition from one system to another.
An interesting question sparked quite the answer from Kelly later in the media segment. When asked about offering scholarships to high recruits, he said, “we offer kids that we can recruit. Other schools offer anybody who played football. We offer kids that actually can get into this school and play for this school… I don’t know how you can offer a kid without looking at his transcript.”
— Edward Lewis (@Edward__Lewis) April 7, 2018
Day 7 notes
Overall, the most noticeable improvement was how much faster and efficient practice is run. Things were pretty quick before spring break, but now that the team knows what is expected of them, drills and plays are going even faster.
At the start of practice, there was a lot of focus on group walk-throughs and drills. For example, the quarterbacks were at midfield (close to Lot 8) passing balls back and forth to each other. In one stretch, two groups of two QBs were kneeling ten yards apart and tossing the ball around.
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The rest of practice, the QBs worked on a lot of option play fundamentals, as the QBs were practicing option pitches and shovel passes. This was put to heavy use when they worked with the offense. For the majority of practice, the quarterbacks were running triple-option plays. Hand offs up the middle, QB keepers and runs/pitches to the outside. For the most part, these plays ran smoothly, with ball carriers getting 2-5 yards, on average, but there was the occasional hole that opened up allowing 10+ yard runs.
On one play, Modster kept the ball and found a hole up the middle that went for a 35-yard touchdown run. Lynch had some trouble with a few pitches, but cleaned things up as practice progressed.
Part of the focus on the option (specifically triple-option) might have to do with former Navy OL coach Bryce McDonald joining Kelly’s administrative staff. Navy was known for efficiently running the triple-option and it worked to their advantage as they were second in the nation in running the ball last season with 351.4 rushing yards per game.
Either way, it was exciting to watch the run game take the next step in its evolution under Kelly. It is even better watching the runs properly executed more often than not.
Day 7 notes (cont.)
As for the running backs, Soso Jamabo and Bolu Olorunfunmi got a lot of reps and looked good running the ball, especially to thew outside. Pitches or passes out to the flats consistently went for positive yardage, especially with improved blocking from the offensive line.
Speaking of blocking, the offensive line is slowly starting to adapt to the requirements of Kelly’s offense. The line is not just working on fundamentals before and during contact, but are working on blocking after the snap, specifically opening holes down field and blocking defenders on the 2nd and 3rd level.
O-line working on 2nd/3rd level blocking. I like this a lot. pic.twitter.com/WeD6EALpJ6
— Mike Regalado 🏀🏈🎧 (@MikeRegaladoLA) April 7, 2018
Later in practice, the offense and defense were working on 7-v-7s, and the defensive backs and linebackers had the leg up. In this late practice segment, it was all passing as receivers had to get open, catch in traffic or try to get more yards after contact. The defense swarmed the passes, either knocking them down or disallowing any yards after contact, but the offense had their moments.
Freshman WR Kyle Phillips had a nice catch on the sideline that went for over 10 yards. Christian Pabico looked consistent when the ball was thrown to him and Theo Howard continues to look smooth in his route running and pass catching. There was a concerning moment mid-practice when Howard looked to have injured his leg running a route. He did not leave practice, but was a step behind a few moments after that route. He stretched every chance he could and stayed on the field.
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Overall, the offense looked as if they have picked up the pace, especially with Modster under center. The defense seemed to be ahead of the defense before spring break, but the offense is slowly catching up and will improve, especially if they start to get more comfortable with the triple-option.