Kevin Prince appears capable of playing in the opener

Fresh from a weekend of rest, UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince looked Monday as if he would be capable of playing against Kansas State by Saturday.

Prince, whose training camp has been disrupted by a small tear in a back muscle, split time with Richard Brehaut running the first-team offense. Both were erratic with throws, but Prince had more velocity than he has had since before being injured Aug.10.

“This is what we’ve been working up, this is what the goal was — to rest the weekend, take the Friday scrimmage off, hoping that I could do a little more today,” Prince said. “We did.”

Prince, who learned of the tear last week, received platelet-rich plasma injections Thursday to help with the healing process.

“Essentially, they take your blood, spin it, literally spin it, and remove the platelets from blood to help the healing,” Prince said. “They then inject them right into the [injured] area.”

The results were satisfactory to Prince, who said he felt “tightness” but no sharp pain during Monday’s practice. He threw the ball downfield for the first time in six days, though his accuracy was a bit off.

Said Prince: “I’m not worried about that. I knew where to go with the ball. Now it’s a matter of putting it on [the receivers].”

Prince said the next hurdle would be how he feels in the next day or two.

“I felt like I could have done more throwing today, but [offensive coordinator Norm] Chow wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to aggravate it,” Prince said. “Tomorrow, if I come out here and throw without any pain I should be all right.”

Coach Rick Neuheisel wouldn’t name a starting quarterback, saying, “We’ll see as the week goes how we’ll go about playing the game, but I think both quarterbacks will be ready to rumble.”

Neuheisel and Chow said last week that if Prince was healthy and practicing, he would start.

Quick hits

Linebacker Patrick Larimore spent the entire practice with the first-team defense, though Neuheisel said that was not an indication that Larimore won the job from Steve Sloan. Still, Neuheisel said, “We think Pat Larimore is a budding big-time player.” … Kicker Kai Forbath (groin) did not kick Monday, but Neuheisel said he would Wednesday, adding, “Kai assures us that he’ll be ready” for Saturday’s opener.

chris.foster@latimes.com