UCLA Football Practice Report: November 24

One last look at the personnel and progress the Bruins are making heading into their game against Cal.

(Jared Tay/All Bruins)

With the Bruins unable to make the Pac-12 Championship Game and unaware of where they'll be playing their bowl game, the regular schedule of practices is coming to a close.

UCLA football (7-4, 5-3 Pac-12) held its final practice open to the media prior to welcoming Cal (4-6, 3-4) to the Rose Bowl over the weekend. The Wednesday session was the last up-close look anyone will get of the Bruins behind the scenes for at least the next 10 days, as Thursday and Friday's practices are closed and next week will be set aside for conditioning with no scheduled media viewing windows until the bowl destination is determined Dec. 5.

As such, these were the final moments the media had to get a read of who's going to be available on the gridiron moving forward.

Running back Brittain Brown was in full pads and uniform, but again did not participate in drills. He spent the duration of the first six periods on the sidelines, stretching and doing simple workouts alongside defensive lineman Quintin Somerville and linebacker Kobey Fitzgerald.

Quarterback Kajiya Hollawayne was also in the workout area as well, which was seen as a possibility when he wasn't throwing with the rest of the signal-callers on Monday. Parker McQuarrie, wearing a scout team jersey, was in the injured cohort too, leaving Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Ethan Garbers, Chase Griffin and Chase Artopoeus as the quarterbacks who were doing work Wednesday. None of them were wearing scout jerseys, but coach Chip Kelly confirmed Artopoeus was still working as the scout team starter.

Linebacker Ale Kaho was seen deep in the weight room, missing practice for the third time this week. JonJon Vaughns stepped in next to Kain Medrano as part of the inside linebacker pairing for the second team defense later on, and first-stringer Jordan Genmark Heath shed the mini club he had on his right hand on Monday.

In special teams work, the starters were returning Wednesday. Receiver Kazmeir Allen had a couple of good returns, and special teams coordinator Derek Sage shouted out striker Martell Irby on several occasions for doing a good job calling out paths and blocking on the back lines.

The past few weeks, or months, of practices have been all about the routine and how the Bruins have been very steady and consistent in terms of what they're doing on a day-to-day basis. One new thing popped up at practice Wednesday, however, as three fully-dressed Marines were present, watching from the sidelines.

Marine Corps Operations Officer Jourdan Looney took a few moments to speak with the media, and he said he got the invite to practice from offensive analyst Marcus Thomas, who he was fraternity brothers with at the U.S. Naval Academy. Looney said there was a player on the team who was interested in joining the Corps after their football career, so they showed up with a recruiting officer to make the connection.

UCLA has several other coaches on the staff with ties to the Naval Academy, including assistant head coach Brian Norwood and chief of staff Bryce McDonald.

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