UCLA Football To Hold Fan Appreciation Day This Afternoon

The UCLA Bruin football team will conduct two practices today for the first time this season. Although both the 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. practices are open to the public, the 3:30 p.m. practice is "Westwood Fan Appreciation Day." Both practices will be held on the intramural field.

The IM field opens at 3 p.m. for Westwood Fan Appreciation Day. After practice, the players will be available for autographs. According to the official site, fans can purchase discounted tickets for the UNLV game and can "take a closer look at the future home of Bruin Football, the Wasserman Football Center." One can also purchase new UCLA swag. Cool.

As discussed by Niyra in his excellent report after yesterday's first practice in pads, the team is doing some exciting things on offense. As Nirya pointed out (I am paraphrasing), "a QB rollout throw to a fullback for a long TD run after the catch?!?!?"

IMO, those words are akin to a dead language at UCLA. Was Tommy Maddox under center? Exciting times indeed.

(As an aside, Nirya's report is really good. You should check it out. It will get you geeked up for this season. And the guy has only been a front pager for less than a week. Well done, Nirya!)

Further, Head Coach Jim L. Mora has waxed effusive about how great the practices have been this week, even going to far as to say that, aside from the last 20 minutes, Wednesday's practice was "by far" the best practice he had ever experienced as Head Coach at UCLA "on both sides of the ball." Sounds good to me.

If you plan to head to Westwood for either practice, remember that there is no seating or shade. So plan accordingly and bring your own chairs and/or blankets. And don't forget the hats and sunscreen!

Today is the last day in Westwood to see the Bruins practice. After concluding Westwood Fan Appreciation Day, the Bruins will then head to San Bernardino for a week of practice in the Inland Empire, starting Monday. After that, when the Bruins return to UCLA, practices will be closed to the public.

This is your open thread for today's practices. If you are heading out to Westwood, please do not hesitate to share your observations and thoughts in this thread. Or you could write up any extended thoughts or observations later on as a Fanpost. Yeah, that'd be great. You can also tweet pictures to us at @BruinNation.

Enjoy the day Bruins!