Bruins focus on skill, leadership as first game nears

The last days before a game make for a vulnerable time for any coach.

This Saturday in particular, with the grand kickoff of the college football season, the masses will be exposed to a product that coaches have spent hours sculpting and drilling all offseason, in order to create something that they hope will be competitive when the first whistle blows.

After looking over his 2013 squad for the last two and a half weeks, coach Jim Mora said he vividly remembers that anxious feeling from a 1999 end-of-season matchup in his first season as the defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers.

Looking back, he recalled his exact thoughts in the days leading up to the December showdown with the Atlanta Falcons, a game which the 49ers won 27-6.

“I can remember times … just sitting in my office with the lights off going, ‘Oh, my gosh, what have I gotten myself into? I’m not ready. How are we going to play?’” Mora said. “I think that is just part of the deal.”

Regardless of how much progress he feels his product has made in August, for him, as with all coaches, the approaching gamecreates a feeling of simultaneous excitement and dread, signaling the start of the season less than a week away.

“I get anxious watching the young guys, the old guys and the in-between guys,” Mora said. “I get nervous, anxious, excited – all those things. I want it to be here quickly and I want it to be a year away at the same time.”

For the players, that same nervous energy creeps in, but is overwhelmed by the anticipation of seeing how far the work, from San Bernardino to Spaulding Field, will take them.

“Next week’s Saturday – that’s what we’ve been working for since the bowl game last year,” said senior defensive tackle Seali’i Epenesa. “This is payday, and everyone’s just excited to get back in the Rose Bowl and start up a new season.”

Along with position battles at running back, outside linebacker and even kickoff duties, this year’s fall camp brought plenty of speculation as to how the Bruins might fare in a 2013 Pac-12 conference that features five preseason AP Top 25 teams. Those projections created buzz surrounding a few of UCLA’s toughest tests this season, including distant October contests at Stanford and Oregon.

For players like redshirt sophomore Jake Brendel, though, 2013’s fall camp was an exercise in taking each day in stride, one he hopes will carry into a season with high expectations.

“I don’t look into the future more than, like, three days,” Brendel said. “I try to hone my craft a day at a time and make sure I don’t think about stuff in advance. Because if you think about stuff in advance, you’re not worried about what’s going on in the present.”

O Captain, UCLA’s Captains

Earlier this week, the Bruins found out the 2013 captains that would be leading them into the not-so-distant future.

While redshirt junior inside linebacker Eric Kendricks, 2012’s leading tackler, and redshirt sophomore quarterback Brett Hundley highlighted the group of expected captains, others, like redshirt senior inside linebacker Ryan Hofmeister and Brendel, took the announcement as a pleasant surprise.

Hofmeister, a junior college transfer who mainly served on special teams in 2012, saw increased time at inside linebacker in San Bernardino, with Kendricks out nursing an ankle injury, playing effectively and earning votes from teammates who have seen his full progression in his two-plus years at UCLA.

“It’s truly a great feeling and I never thought I’d be put in the mix with guys like A.B. (Anthony Barr) and E.K. (Kendricks),” Hofmeister said. “It’s something I didn’t really expect but it’s definitely a feeling that I need to step up and embrace that role, which I think I have been.”

Brendel, who enters just his second season as a starter on UCLA’s young offensive line, chalked the unexpected news up to his teammates’ observation of his week-to-week grit.

“I’m not really much of a talker, but I do lead by example, and that’s what I’m going to try to do,” Brendel said. “I think my teammates saw my leadership abilities and my toughness because last year I was playing through some stuff.”