UCLA Football: Another defender is lost for the season, Soso injured

UCLA football freshman DB Kenny Churchwell announced on Twitter that he suffered a season-ending injury. It has also been announced that RB Soso Jamabo is injured. We also look at other developments with the Bruins in fall camp.

With the numerous amount of players that have already left the UCLA football program since Chip Kelly took over, injuries are one thing the Bruins can do without. Unfortunately, they are part of the game and the Bruins suffered another major one on Thursday.

Freshman safety Kenny Churchwell announced on Twitter that he tore his ACL in practice and will be out for the season. This is another big blow to the defense after it was announced that two other defensive players will not participate with the program this year.

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Two weeks ago, Chip Kelly informed the media that Octavius Spencer is no longer with the program and no longer in school. This past weekend, Bruins fans found out that senior linebacker Josh Woods will miss the season due to an undisclosed knee injury. The Woods injury is a big one as he was expected to start. This comes after missing significant time in 2017 due to a shoulder injury.

With Churchwell, the Bruins lose out on a very quick, athletic individual. He was not expected to start, but he had been taking reps with the second team defense. Luckily, the Bruins are deep in the secondary. They can’t exactly say that for their linebacking corps.

Several reporters have noticed the absence of RB Soso Jamabo from practice. In his media briefing on Friday, Kelly said that Jamabo is injured and is “day-to-day”. He was present at practice on Friday but did not wear a yellow/no-contact jersey nor did he participate. Kelly also added that the same thing goes for DL Marcus Moore and LB Je’Vari Anderson who were not at practice.

Is The Defense Getting Run Down?

Yesterday, Thuc Nhi Nguyen of the L.A. Daily News wrote a piece detailing a point in practice where the defense looked fatigued and paused. Defensive coordinator Jerry Azzinaro was having none of it and “made sure it would be the final time they stopped for the entire practice.”

Though fatigue might be expected, especially at the fast pace UCLA practices are run, it is something the coaches want their players to work through. The point of running practice at a certain tempo is so that the players get used to it because that is the way the Bruins are going to play once the season starts.

Nguyen got a quote from linebacker Krys Barnes saying, “We came out kind of slow today in the beginning. Coach Azz wasn’t having it.” As a result, Azzinaro had players run up and down the field. Barnes added that this “woke up” the defense.

Quarterback Decision Coming?

The Quarterback Battle Royale has been a tight one during fall camp. We still do not know if any one of the five candidates has stood out in practice, but that is due to the lack of information the media is receiving and Chip Kelly is giving out.

But with kickoff eight days away, a decision has to come soon and Ben Bolch of the L.A. Times received a statement about the process from the Bruins’ head coach, “We’ve still got a couple of more opportunities here today and tomorrow to go through everything. Then we’ll sit down as a staff on Sunday and go through everybody, so we haven’t talked about anybody here, there or anywhere at any position right now.”

Though the coaching staff might pick their starter on Sunday, those that are closely watching UCLA fromthe outside might not get that information until right before kickoff on Saturday, September 1.

Injury Report

Players in yellow/non-contact jerseys: LB Lokeni Toailoa, DB Colin Samuel, OLB Elijah Wade

Players no longer in yellow jerseys: DT Otito Ogbonnia, LB Bo Calvert