Spaulding Roundup: Guessing at Practice Developments and Depth Charts

There was similarly unexpected news with the depth chart on the defensive side, with Eric Kendricks listed at #2 behind Sean Westgate at the Will LB.  I really appreciate the great insight IE Angel has provided us lately, but we saw the results on the field Saturday, and I'm willing to take a young and raw and Kendricks and his more frequent mistakes over Westgate, who has a great heart and a high football IQ but who is physically outmatched too often.  And even if it costs us a bit now, Kendricks playing now is a great investment for the future.  

In another puzzling decision, Datone Jones, who had great success when he was moved inside to DT last Saturday, saw the new depth chart listing him back outside at DE where he was nearly invisible for the first 7 games of the year.  

Jones is moving back to the end because UCLA will need his speed to defend against Arizona State’s spread offense. But don’t be surprised if the 6-5, 275-pound Jones is back at tackle later this season.

"He looked more comfortable inside than he did outside," Tresey said. "He just seemed to have a knack for playing in that gap."

I can only assume Tresey has trouble recognizing success.  However, Tresey did seem to recognize the spark that redshirt freshman Aramide Olaniyan brought to the defense.

Tresey singled out linebacker/defensive end Aramide Olaniyan as a catalyst. The redshirt freshman saw the most extensive action of his career and brought constant energy, celebrate his teammates’ big plays throughout.

Olaniyan, of course is now listed at #3 in his previous LB spot, instead of anywhere at DE where he had such an effect. However, as starting DT Cassius Marsh earned himself a 2 game suspension at Arizona and will miss this weekend's game, the defense may be more likely to utilize some of the same rotations and substitution patterns that were so successful against the Bears.  Fortunately, Marsh made something good good come from his suspension so far.

Defensive tackle Cassius Marsh and Marvray were honored as UCLA’s "scouts of the week" for their effort in practice last week while serving suspensions.

"That group busted their tails and helped us win," Neuheisel said. "They participated in the victory by the way they practiced. These are tough pills to swallow to lose games. Hopefully the lesson’s been learned." UCLA receivers Shaq Evans, Taylor Embree, Randall Carroll and Marvray return this week from suspensions, while Marsh has to sit out one more game.

As Peter Yoon noted, the Bears converted only 2-12 third downs against the Bruins, by far a season best for the troubled defense.  Despite this, the Bruins 3rd down defense ranking only moved up from #118 to #117 (out of 120).  An improvement of 0.8% is not going to turn any self-respecting corner.  Also, the generosity by Cal's QB Zach Maynard is not likely to be repeated by ASU's QB Brock Osweiler, who is merely #16 in the country in passing yards this season. For reference, Andrew Luck is #18.  Hopefully Tevin McDonald will be randomly, aimlessly, wandering around lost in exactly the right place three times again this week. 

And speaking of Osweiler, that other BN favorite Chris Foster had his always encouraging and supportive words for U.C.L.A. yesterday in the LAT (dang...where did that link go? oh well.) when he recounted Osweiler's game against the Bruins last year.  Osweiler came off the bench to turn a 17-0 deficit into a 55-34 you of our Bruins.  That performance convinced Osweiler to quit sharing his time with the ASU basketball team and focus full time on football, and ASU has been winning ever since.  See? Who says U.C.L.A. isn't producing great quarterbacks?

On a final note, Jeff Locke sat out practice yesterday, but is expected to be ready to play by Saturday.

Well, that's about all I can glean from the smattering of reports last night.  It certainly isn't clear if the coaching staff learned any lessons from last Saturday, but I am hoping for the best while expecting the worst.  We'll keep things updated as the week goes along and look forward to Saturday at the Rose Bowl.