2013 UCLA Football Fall Camp: Mora’s Day 6 Comments – Concussion Issues, Bruins Work on “Situations” & Other Notes

Bruins are done with their sixth day of practice in San Bernardino.  Per Jim Mora's comments Bruins worked on situational awareness today as they worked on number of scenarios such as  redzones, short yardage, goal-line, two-minute, "may day" FG and  "hail maries". Mora described his guys as "locked in" and "concentrated" who "understood" the situations.  Watch his comments here.

The other main theme from today is unfortunately concussions. If you watch the video you will see Mora seemed to be a little miffed about it when talking about "bunch of guys" being out with "concussion like symptoms." The guys who missed practice today are Kevin McReynolds, Alex Redmond, John Lopez, Ben Wysocki. Mora mentioned that Ian Taubler was sent home. I think Mora also mentioned Malcolm's name in that mix as well which was news to me. And it looks like Foster confirmed the news that Malcolm sat out practice.

How worried should we about these concussions? Foster mentioned that Bruins were down to 10 OL. But as Mora emphasized that he and his staff "always err on the side of the caution."  We certainly appreciate that. Other injury notes:

• Kylie Fitts was out b/c of body cramps but Mora mentioned how he gained 8 lbs just from fluid intake.
• Unfortunately Johnny Johnson has a "tear" in his shoulder. Mora described it as same injury as Ismael Adams last year. He will most likely redshirt this year. Good luck to Johnson and hopefully another young DB will step up and play.

But now on to good news:

• Eddie Vanderdoes was out today but per Mora he was begging to get back in it. Hopefully he will get in the mix soon. Erick Kendricks is still "on track" to be back for Nevada.
• Mora likes what he sees in Craig Lee and thinks he has a "bright future" at UCLA. He talked about Lee being someone who is "serious about this craft" and has a "good burst." But Mora is not ready to commit to any PT for this season. Not surprisingly Mora thinks like most young backs Lee will need to work on pass protection to vie for PT. Still Mora is not counting out Lee.
• Mora mentioned he has some good backs ahead of Lee and said he currently feels "confident: about the abilities of Jordon James, Steven Manfro, Paul Perkins and Malcolm Jones. Damien Thigpen is still coming back from his injury.
• Mora described Keenan Graham as one of the "bright spots" in this camp. He seems to be happy with "front 7" and right now is thinking about how to "manage" the secondary.

Bruins will have a two-a-day tomorrow with AM practice starting around 8:30 and the evening one at 6.

GO BRUINS.