by Ross Coleman - Contributing Editor
August 19, 2009 19:50
Yesterday, I was able to attend my first practice of fall camp and I am impressed with how quickly and how far this team has progressed from spring camp.
In the spring the quarterbacks where still trying to get a relationship with the recievers. The offensive line was still losing the battle with the defense. The recievers were still unable to gain separation. And the running game was going nowhere.
However, things have changed since March. Kevin Prince looked like he was getting ready to put his name among the greats at UCLA. His command of the offense was supurb. He showed the arm strength to make any throw. He showed some mobility. And he showed poise.
The reason why Prince was able to showcase his talent was due in large part to the offensive line providing the quarterback time to look through his progression. Although there were a few times when the pressure created a virtual sack, it was not every single play, like it was in spring ball.
The left side of the line, which is manned by the two freshmen Xavier Su'a-Filo and Stan Hasiak, did a great job of opening running lanes for the running backs. Christian Ramirez, who has been pegged as the starting running back, sat out practice with a hamstring problem. Sophomore Derrick Coleman took a majority of the reps with redshirt freshman Johnathan Franklin as his primary back up. I think these two young backs compliment each other very well. Coleman is the big back with a solid burst of speed and Franklin is the speed back capable of breaking the long run. They could end up being the UCLA version of Lendale White and Reggie Bush.
All fall we have heard little about Randall Carroll, aside from him having blazing speed. He has been fighting injuries and had sit out a few practices. Yesterday was his coming out party. During the 1-v-1 passing drill, Carroll showcased his route running ability and his pass catching ability. Most times that conrners covered the speedy Carroll, they were so afraid of getting beat deep that they would give up huge separation on the shorter routes. The best 1-v-1 battle came between Carroll and Alterraun Verner. Verner, to that point, was dominant in the 1-v-1 battles. Rarely do you see a mismatch in favor of the defense, but Verner was one. However, Carroll got a step on Verner during a deep corner and and beat Verner to the ball. Not only did he make a great catch but he also dragged Verner into the endzone.
I also must make mention of my new favorite Bruin, Ricky Marvray. This kid is going to be something special. He reminds me a lot of Wes Welker for the New England Patriots. He is not very tall and not very fast but he makes up for it with outstanding route running and pass catching abilities. The only ball that he missed was an overthrown ball that ended up in the hands of a small child spectator. Marvray waited patiently for the kid to throw back the ball and was very encouraging of the small boy. Any females in the crowd were won over immediatly.
While the offense appears to be making strides to being a productive unit of this football team. The defense was only doing some fine tuning. During one sequence the linebackers and defensive backs were working on their zone reads during crossing routes. Good communication between the players led to a solid drill. Later the linebackers where working on blitzes going arond defensive linemen. It was fasinating to see how professional looking the defense was. They are going to remain as one of the best defenses in the conference.
During the special teams portion of practice it is apparent that this is going to be the weakness of the team. The coverage team got beat time and time again by long returns. Sophomore Courtney Viney looked good returning kicks. Because of his small stature he was hard to locate by the coverage team and was able to get down field before people knew where he was. There also appeared to be a rather heated argument between redshirt freshman punter Jeff Locke who wanted to kick live and special teams coach Frank Ganz who was in favor of using the Juggs machine.
Durring the 11-v-11 drills the offense worked on screen plays. Some worked and some were thrown terrifingly into traffic. The hit of the day was supplied by sophomore Datone Jones, who looked bigger and faster. The offense ran a counter running play with Derrick Coleman. Jones took one step up field and then cut through a hole in the line and laid the wood to Coleman, knocking the 230 pound running back about three yards backwards and down. It was an impressive explosion and hopefully one that we will see for years to come.
Towards the end of practice, the teams ran 11-v-11 third down sitiational plays using the first down markers. The offense did a great job converting a majority of them. Sophomore Tony Dye did get a good hit on Chane Moline in the openfeild to prevent one first down, but it appeared Dye got the worse of the hit and came up a little woozy.
Practice ended with the team doing some extra running because of puncuality. Although it was unclear who was the guilty party, coach Rick Neuheisel made it clear that if this team is going to make any strides to being a great program, this was something that would not go unpunished and should never happen again.
Quicknotes: Reggie Stokes will have surgury to repair torn cartalige in his knee. He will miss at least half of the season... Josh Smith, the transfer from Colorado, will sign his scholarship papers this week and will begin practicing with the team once school starts... Track star Coleman Edmund will also start practicing with the team once school starts... Fall scrimmage is Saturday at Drake Stadium at 5:00 p.m.