Spaulding Roundup - The Quarterback and the Wide Receiver

Thursday's practice is the last one for this week, as the Bruins have Friday and Saturday off, before resuming practice on Sunday.  The coaches will take the opportunity to head off on the recruiting trail over the weekend.  Neuheisel sounded like he had a cold during today's post-practice comments.  Neat.  We're sick at the same time. 

A couple of quick takes from Neuheisel's comments:

• They practiced sliding, but hopefully nothing bad will happen to our QBs in the coming week.
• Brett Hundley looked good today in the 2 minute drill today. He thinks Hundley will play well if called upon.  Hundley will be excited about playing at Arizona, since his father went to school there.
  
• Neuheisel is hoping the win from Saturday will give the coaching staff some momentum into recruiting this weekend.
• Neuheisel also mentioned the "blogs are going crazy" about the scout teams, although I couldn't catch the full comment from the reporter.  The defense looked much better than the offense during the scout team scrimmage.  I was giddy that Jerry Rice Jr. caught a TD, and that Christoph Bono threw for a TD. Go Bay Area kids that are the offspring of former 49ers!
  

Nelson Rosario keeps hearing about the catches he doesn't make, and he knows people expect him to catch the ball every time it is thrown to him, since everyone remembers his spectacular catches.  I just expect wide receivers to catch the ball.  He received grief on all sides Saturday after Damante Horton intercepted a ball in front of him.

"They all got on me, told me that I shouldn't have let him get the ball," Rosario said. "I know I'm not supposed to let him catch the ball. I wasn't too worried about it."

But, he said, "I was mad."

Kevin Prince has his back though.

"I freakin' love Nelson," Prince said. "I thought I led him a little too much and he turned on the jets. Nelson is a laid-back guy. We don't see the jets too much. He's got them. He turned it on and made great catch."

As for Kevin Prince, Jon Gold's temp over at Inside UCLA caught up with Prince and asked him a few quick questions:

On playing hard but staying healthy, which is a major concern this week, with a true freshman backing him up:

"It doesn't really change my mindset toward the game but it definitely makes me more mindful of getting out of bounds and things like that," Prince said "But I'm not going to not hold the ball on reads, and I'm still going to run the ball and play the way I like to play.

On avoiding injury:

I learned pretty quickly you can't withstand much abuse on the college level. These guys are strong and fast and great athletes.

I think Utah is also learning that lesson in their first Pac-12 season.

On the art of playing it safe:

I'm not too good at it, but there's a little bit of art to it. More than anything it's trusting your instincts, knowing when to get down, feeling the pressure and just knowing when to avoid hits.

Injury wise, Albert Cid did not practice on Thursday, and was undergoing medical tests.  He had left Tuesday's practice with shortness of breath.  Hopefully it's nothing serious.

An interesting tidbit from practice is that Randall Carroll worked out with the defensive backs, even changing into a defense jersey.  Carroll is being prepared in case of extreme emergency, as we are thin in the secondary.

"There is a chance I could play in the dime package. So I’m just getting more work as the days go on and then next year hopefully it’ll expand to more playing full time on both sides."

Redshirt freshman Wade Yandall received many of the reps with the first team offensive line, and while he hasn't played in a game, he could be called upon soon to play.

Enjoy your weekend without a UCLA football game.  GO BRUINS.