UCLA Football Practice Report: November 22

The final week of regular season preparation got underway for the Bruins on Monday.

(Jared Tay/All Bruins)

For the final time this fall, the Bruins are going through a regular week of workouts.

UCLA football (7-4, 5-3 Pac-12) opened its final stretch of regular season practices Monday morning, with a home matchup against Cal (4-6, 3-4) coming up on Saturday. And with that, these are some of the final injury and personnel updates we're going to get in 2021, with the opening 30 minutes of practice again open to the media.

Running back Christian Grubb, receiver Colson Yankoff, center Sam Marrazzo, linebacker Koby Fitzgerald, defensive lineman Sitiveni Havili-Kaufusi were once again hanging around in the weight room not participating in drills. Running back Brittain Brown, who missed Saturday's game, was working out on the side with defensive lineman Quintin Somerville, who has yet to play this season.

Linebacker Ale Kaho was also in the back area, and he did not join in on any drills in at least the first six periods.

Quarterback Chase Griffin was a full participant, throwing the ball around in warmups before working on handoffs and deep balls later on. He had been in uniform at practice the past few weeks, but hadn't participated throwing the ball since before the Oregon game in mid-October.

Elsewhere on the offensive side of the field, there was an interesting changeup with the rest of the quarterbacks.

Parker McQuarrie and Kajiya Hollawayne were not throwing with the rest of their position mates during the deep ball or short throw drills, and they were not part of the rotation in the snap and handoff drill either. They usually wear scout team jerseys representing opposing receivers, so it's possible they were hidden somewhere on the field, but at the very least, they were not throwing for the first time all season.

The quarterbacks who were throwing – Griffin, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Ethan Garbers and Chase Artopoeus – looked good, outside of one or two underthrown balls by Griffin down the sideline. With all the bodies in the way on the sideline, it's hard to tell who threw what, but there were a few good grabs that we picked out.

Tight end Hudson Habermehl caught an over-the-shoulder pass in stride on the right sideline. The ball was slightly overthrown, though, so Habermehl had to get his fingers on it and track it down to the ground before bobbling it back up all while managing not to trip.

Running back Ethan Fernea got the next highlight reel catch, again tipping the ball to himself before hitting the ground. Fernea, who scored his first touchdown of the year against USC on Saturday, has been a top special teamer in practice and in games in 2021 while wearing a club around his since-surgically-repaired broken wrist. Fernea also ran with striker Martell Irby as the first pairing in a special teams pursuit drill run by assistant head coach Brian Norwood.

Linebacker Jordan Genmark Heath is following in Fernea's footsteps in terms of injury-related apparel, as he was seen wearing a smaller club on his right hand. Genmark Heath, along with the rest of the defense, was seen doing a good amount of up-downs early on Monday.

Even after a win, it turns out the Bruins are not immune to the accountability and discipline they've faced in practice all year long.

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