Fall training camp gives players chance to showcase skills

For Brett Hundley, UCLA football has been an exercise in premature titles.

First, “The Savior” was given to the then-senior at Chandler High School, who flew home a week after his first spring game as a Bruin just so that he wouldn’t miss his senior prom.

But Hundley would do no saving his first year in Westwood, instead spending the season standing on the sidelines as a redshirt while the Bruins faltered to a 6-8 finish.

At fall camp in San Bernardino the following August, his teammates were all set to make Hundley “The Captain,” voting him into the role just two days after he was announced as the team’s starting quarterback.

But when all the votes were counted, it wasn’t hanging chads or improperly-bubbled Scantrons that held Hundley out of office. Rather, it was the gut of coach Jim Mora, who wanted to slow things down for his young, albeit respected, quarterback.

“I wasn’t worried that he couldn’t handle it, I just didn’t want to put it on him,” Mora said. “He was just named the starting quarterback, he was a redshirt freshman, he had never taken a snap in college football and nobody really knew for sure which way the season was going to go.”

That first snap resulted in a 72-yard touchdown run against Rice for Hundley, who steered the Bruin offense to its best finish, record-wise, since 2005.

On Wednesday, Hundley – who could earn his first official captain distinction – and the UCLA football team begin their second consecutive fall camp at Cal State San Bernardino, officially kicking off the team’s quest to earn a Pac-12 title that has proved elusive each of the last two seasons.

Much like it did for Hundley last season, this year’s fall camp provides many young players with the opportunity to prove themselves. Jobs are up for grabs all around the field, from the outside linebacker position opposite senior Anthony Barr to the secondary, where the most experienced returner, sophomore safety Randall Goforth, has just five starts under his belt.

“I have no clue who is going to play where in the secondary,” Mora said. “No clue. But that’s OK because someone’s going to present themselves.”

Leaving little hanging in the balance, however, is UCLA’s corps of linebackers, which only has a single starter left to add to a group that already includes three Butkus Award watch-list honorees in Barr, redshirt junior Eric Kendricks and senior Jordan Zumwalt.

Contenders for the job include returners like redshirt sophomore Aaron Wallace and sophomore Kenny Orjioke, but several newcomers, including Jayon Brown and Myles Jack, were able to grab the attention of their teammates during player-run summer workouts.

“We’ve got some outstanding players,” Barr said of the freshman linebackers. “Myles Jack is standing out right now. He’s ridiculously athletic, fast and his change of direction is unbelievable. (And) Jayon Brown from Long Beach Poly, he’s also a very explosive football player.”

 

Jobs on the Line

 

Defensive line coach Angus McClure breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday with the full clearance of blue chip defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes, while the opposite line’s coach, Adrian Klemm, is still holding his breath.

Seven freshmen – three tackles, three guards and a center, Scott Quessenberry – will fill the ranks of a squad that struggled to maintain enough healthy bodies toward the end of spring practice.

Mora has but a couple consistent O-line weapons at his disposal, namely redshirt sophomore center Jake Brendel and junior left guard Xavier Su’a-Filo, a 2012 All-Pac-12 First Team selection who Mora said can play guard or protect Hundley’s blind side at left tackle.

Su’a-Filo heads into camp the line’s most valuable asset, yet the junior said his hunger to compete for his spot, wherever its location, hasn’t been satisfied.

“I still have to go into camp competing for my spot and do that every single day so I know that I completely earned it,” Su’a-Filo said. “Wherever they put me, I’ll compete.”