UCLA Football Fall Camp Practice Report: August 10

Additional special teams action and a notable position change highlighted the Bruins' Wednesday morning's session.

In a session that featured much of the same, there were a few changes of note that stood out Wednesday morning.

UCLA football ran a special teams-heavy fall camp practice at Wasserman Football Center, per usual, but this time, the team was in full pads. It marked the first time in five sessions that the Bruins reached that point, although the changes went beyond the level of contact and aesthetics.

Former three-star receiver DJ Justice is heading into his second year in Westwood, and he appears to have been moved to defensive back. With Jake Bobo and Titus Mokiao-Atimalala coming in from Duke and UCF, respectively, plus freshmen Braden Pegan and Jadyn Marshall arriving this summer, the receiver room had added enough reinforcements that Justice likely wouldn't have gotten much playing time there.

Justice looked solid as a receiver in the spring, but his ball skills and 6-foot frame seem to fit in at cornerback as well.

Getting a read on the current depth chart has been difficult through five practices, since the offense has been stashed away from the media on the south field and the defense hasn't done many walkthroughs.

The defensive backs did run drills in waves of four that seemed to tip off first stringers and beyond, though. Devin Kirkwood and Azizi Hearn look to be the starting cornerbacks, while Stephan Blaylock and Mo Osling III were the first safeties to run.

Oregon transfer Jaylin Davies and Evan Thomas were the second pair of corners, followed by Justice and Isaiah Newcombe with the threes and John Humphrey and Croix Stewart with the fours. William Nimmo Jr. and Kenny Churchwell III were the second safety pair, Clint Stephens and Alex Johnson were the third and Kamari Ramsey and Jelani Warren were the fourth.

Jax Harley, Joshua Swift and Kaleb Tuliau were a three-man leftover group that went last.

The Bruins appear to be working with nine corners – Kirkwood, Hearn, Davies, Thomas, Newcombe, Justice, Humphrey, Stewart and Harley. Stewart and Harley were both question marks coming in, at least in terms of where they would line up in the defensive backfield, and we seem to have an answer for the time being.

The morning kicked off with some rapid-fire field goal work, with two full units lining up on opposite hashes at different distances and staggering their attempts. Nicholas Barr-Mira was the first to go, hitting his opening attempt from 23 yards out, and it appeared to be all makes for everyone from then on out. Again, it was hard to tell from the opposite field, but every kick had plenty of distance and there weren't any notable shanks.

Barr-Mira was also the first-string punter, leading the first wave on a new drill that started with a punt out of the end zone. After releasing, the team lined up to punt from the 15, and then did the same from the 30.

Chase Barry was up next, running the same drill from the same three spots on the field, and then Barr-Mira stepped in again for the third round. Barr-Mira had more height, distance and precision to his punts, but Barry was serviceable in his own right.

Coach Chip Kelly said Saturday that he was considering using Barr-Mira as the starter at both kicker and punter, and it does appear he is the team's best bet at both spots. Once real a real game comes around, however, it remains to be seen if Kelly will commit to sending Barr-Mira out there in both roles.

The injured cohort over in the weight room has expanded a bit, going beyond just linebacker Ale Kaho, tight end Carsen Ryan and offensive tackle Josh Carlin. Running backs Deshun Murrell and Brian Kowall were seen in the area, not participating in drills Wednesday, and receiver Bradley Schlom was there as well.

There still hasn't been any sightings of tight end Mike Martinez or linebacker Damian Sellers.

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