UCLA Football Practice Report: August 6
Dorian Thompson-Robinson missed his third straight practice, highlighting some of the holes this year's Bruin team may have.
There were spotty throws and drops galore Friday at UCLA football's latest practice, as both the quarterback and receiver groups have already been thinned out just one week into fall camp. Thompson-Robinson and Parker McQuarrie have been out since Monday, while wideout Chase Cota was joined on the workout bike by Logan Loya.
Former walk-on Ethan Fernea also moved from receiver to running back back in spring ball, meaning many of the Bruins' top outside targets are missing from the current depth chart. Kyle Philips, Matt Sykes and tight end Greg Dulcich are all still healthy and playing like themselves from what we've seen so far, but the inexperience of the rest of the pass-catchers isn't helping the backup quarterbacks look all that great at the moment.
The No. 2 quarterback job is still up for grabs – the current battle is technically for the No. 1 spot with Thompson-Robinson out though. Washington transfer Ethan Garbers and rising redshirt sophomore Chase Griffin are the two favorites, and there has been a new development in their head-to-head bout Friday.
Garbers looked like the superior thrower since he arrived in April and that hadn't changed when fall camp started July 30. Friday morning, however, Garbers was routinely overthrowing receivers and missing them in the back corner of the end zone.
Garbers missed four of five passes at one point, hardly something coach Chip Kelly is looking for from the guy who could very easily be taking game snaps this fall.
Griffin still looks like the same guy he's been for the past year or so, making the short and simple throws with relative ease despite a lack of top-tier arm strength. But if Garbers continues to play like he did in the early part of practice Friday, Griffin just has to prove he still has good command of the offense and the backup gig could be his.
Both Garbers and Griffin have been seen taking snaps from starting center Sam Marrazzo, so it seems as if there haven't been any decisions made so far.
The rest of practice, or at least the opening 20 minutes or so open to the media, was mostly the same as it has been the past few days. Some coverage drills and special teams opened things up, and then the defense split up for sled and pad work before reconvening for some walkthroughs with defensive coordinator Jerry Azzinaro.
Depth is definitely on UCLA's side on defense, as well as most of the offense. The issue is that the receiving corps' bodies don't boast as much on-field production as the tight ends, running back and offensive line – sure, Cota and Loya didn't look very seriously injured, but with them gone, the Bruins don't have a reliable No. 2 or 3 receiver with a lot of experience.
We'll keep an eye on Sykes, Texas A&M transfer Kam Brown and true freshmen Keontez Lewis and DJ Justice to see if anyone is ready to fill that void at practice in the coming days. Whoever steps in as the No. 1 quarterback will need as many skill position standouts as possible moving forward.
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