Spaulding Report: UCLA Football Starts Prepping For Texas A&M

Today, we have a Running Very Late Edition of the Spaulding Report.

UCLA held one of its longest practices this season yesterday as they continued the transition from training camp to game prep.

After practice, Jayon Brown spoke with the media about multiple topics. He seemed happy to finally be preparing for a game. He said, "The season’s here! Everybody’s excited!" He added, "I can’t wait to see how we do as a team."

As far as what area the defense has most improved, he discussed stopping the run. "I believe our running game has elevated a lot," Brown said. "Stopping the run should be good. Hopefully, we can display that next Saturday."

He’s not concerned with any of the preseason rankings. Brown said, "Everybody’s 0-0. We’re not focused on that. We’re focused on A&M."

Brown also discussed the work that Trevor Moawad has done with the team. "He’s changed the thought process and...how we act around each other," said Brown. "He’s got us on the right path and it’s up to us to continue down the right path and hold each other accountable."

Meanwhile, Eddie Vanderdoes sounds like he’s ready for the season. Vanderdoes said:

I’m finding my groove with my technique. My confidence I feel is back. My pass rush is getting better.

As far as the A&M game goes and facing former UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone, Vanderdoes said, "I love Coach Mazzone. We had a great relationship....He’s really savvy when it comes to changing up stuff for certain games, certain schemes and certain players."

Eddie joked about missing out on playing offense for Mazzone, saying "I should send him a text to find out who’s the new Panda." That’s a reference to the fact that Mazzone used to call Vanderdoes "Kung Fu Panda" He added, "Now, I know to go if it’s third one of the goal line or short and I see a big guy, I’m just going to yell, ‘Panda! Panda! Panda!’ and I know who the ball’s going to."

Earlier today, orlandobruin covered much of what Coach Mora discussed in his excellent Bruin Bites. But, there was one item he didn’t mention.

On Monday, a new Twitter account showed up from Jim Mora. Because it’s Twitter it wasn’t initially clear whether the account belonged to Mora or was a fake. When he was asked about it yesterday, he confirmed that he had the account created because "it’s time to do something to promote UCLA football a little bit."

Here’s the first tweet from the new account:

Thanks to Ed Lewis of the Bruin Sports Report for yesterday’s post-practice videos. First up is Jayon Brown.

Next up is Eddie Vanderdoes.

While orlandobruin already shared the video of Coach Mora in his Bruin Bites, for the sake of completeness, I’m also including it here.

Thanks again to Ed Lewis for sharing these videos.

Today’s practice is slated for this afternoon.

Go Bruins.