Spaulding Roundup: Quarterbacks Recovering, Kickers Improving And Ballers At Practice

Wednesday saw the Bruins in extended action on the practice field with another two-a-day session, and looking pretty good by most accounts. Nestor already covered Kevin Prince's fine day in a separate post this morning; let's hope this gives Kevin a confidence boost going into these final couple of practices. While Kevin's play was recovering from a bit of a slump, a couple of other Bruin QB's are close to seeing the field after recovering from injuries. As N noted in the morning post, Richard Brehaut may be able to participate in Saturday's Fall scrimmage. He is no longer wearing a walking boot feels much better and may practice today, depending on the wishes of the coaches. Also, Brett Hundley has been cleared to participate in drills today, but don't expect him to participate in contact drills or scrimmages.

An all-too evident issue through these practices has been the kicking game, with neither the expected kicker, Kip Smith or walk-on Joe Roberts able to get a footing on the job. With Fall practices coming to a close, Smith put together a promising session yesterday, making 3 out of 4 attempts, including a couple of long kicks that bode well for restoring his confidence, and allowing him to stay calm and do his job.

"Going through spring ball I had ups and downs, and it was just really messing with my mind, like, 'I was great yesterday? What happened?'" Smith said. "You have to have a quick memory. If you make one, hey, it's good, but if you miss one, you have to know what you did, but you can't let it affect you. That's the thing with this camp - I've been putting too much pressure on myself: 'Gotta make this. Gotta make this. I have to.'"

... I was putting too much pressure on myself - Kai made every single one of these when I was here, so I have to do that. When I miss one, everyone's like, 'What the heck is going on? This has never happened.' But I was talking to Justin on Friday, and he was saying when he came in as a freshman, he missed his first field goal. Kai missed his first two. Everyone doesn't just come in and be great immediately.

In his recap, Gold noted that Joseph Fauria looks to be establishing himself as a primary target in the Bruin offense, while Randall Carroll and Nelson Rosario both had strong practices. After a day practicing with the second team, Chris ward was back with the starters on Wednesday, seeing the one-day drop as "a wake-up call".

In injury news - what UCLA update would be complete without this - Alex Mascarenas suffered a concussion during the afternoon session. Safe to say that with the Concussion protocol in place, he will miss the remaining days of practices and the scrimmage. Jordan Zumwalt has recovered from his concussion and returned to practice, though wearing a no-contact jersey. Cassius Marsh also was able to participate in practice yesterday afternoon.

Closing with a group of basketball players that have not taken AI to heart. Baron Davis, Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook were at Wednesday morning's practice, and were joined by Keyshawn Johnson and Puff Daddy.

The Bruins will be back on the practice field this afternoon, 3-5:15PM at Spaulding Field. Here's a video of Glenn Love talking with Jon Gold to keep you going uptil then.