Jim Mora feeling the heat as UCLA’s top two quarterbacks uncertain for Saturday vs. Arizona State
Jim Mora has witnessed far more demoralizing circumstances than an ailing quarterback and a team that’s one game below .500 with three games left in the season.
The UCLA coach recalled Monday the vitriol directed at his father during the struggles that preceded the elder Jim Mora guiding the New Orleans Saints to the first winning season in franchise history in 1987.
“Someone had taken a stuffed dummy with the name ‘Mora’ across it and a noose around its neck and [threw] it over the side of the Superdome,” he said. “You know, I’ve heard about everything directed at me or directed at my dad that you could imagine.”
There could be something new Saturday when the Bruins play Arizona State. Michael Peters, a UCLA fan, has created a GoFundMe page to finance multiple planes circling the Rose Bowl toting banners expressing frustration with the direction of the football team and athletic program.
The Bruins, 4-5 overall and 2-4 in Pac-12 play, must win two of their final three games to avoid a second consecutive losing season.
A reversal of fortune could start with the return of quarterback Josh Rosen. Mora said Rosen was progressing through concussion protocol after sitting out the Bruins’ game against Utah on Friday with injuries sustained the previous week against Washington and “hopefully he’s available for Saturday.”
Backup quarterback Devon Modster’s status is also uncertain. Modster sustained a non-displaced fracture in the thumb on his throwing hand in the third quarter against Utah, Mora said, after hitting a helmet on his follow-through after a pass. Modster tried to talk his way back into the game.
“He said, ‘Shoot it up, give me a pill, tape it up, whatever you have to do,’” Mora said. “‘I have to go in and play with my teammates.’ But the fact of the matter is that he could not squeeze a football. He could not throw a football.”
Mora said the hope was that the pain and swelling subsided to the point that Modster could grip a ball and begin throwing again. Third-string quarterback Matt Lynch replaced Modster and completed two of three passes for 11 yards and a touchdown.
Mora said he was trying to guide his players through the difficulties accompanying a two-game losing streak and widespread injuries on offense and defense.
“I’m charged right now with helping to develop some 17-to-21-year-olds,” Mora said, “and teaching them how to handle things like this and … being a consistent and positive leader and role model in their life.”
More injuries
Receiver Darren Andrews suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament against Utah and is out for the season, Mora said, and defensive lineman Ainuu Taua sustained a displaced kneecap and multiple torn ligaments.
Andrews’ injury will require surgery and Taua is facing at least three surgeries for an injury that could be career-ending.
Mora said doctors were running tests to rule out possible conditions that could have caused a recurrence of fluid buildup in the lungs of linebacker Krys Barnes, who had difficulty breathing during the game against the Utes.
Brandt retires citing concussions
Mora said a football staffer who sent a text to linebacker Breland Brandt saying Brandt “quit the team” when he medically retired after multiple concussions had been spoken to.
“A poor choice of words, and it’s been addressed,” Mora said.
Brandt posted the text exchange with the staffer on Twitter, adding in a separate tweet that he had suffered four concussions in three years. “Family, Dr’s, and I decide that it’s best to step away and pursue something else,” Brandt wrote, “and I’m labeled a quitter.”
Fan unrest
Peters, who has spearheaded the efforts to fly banners over the Rose Bowl, wants both Mora and Athletic Director Dan Guerrero removed from their posts. He said additional banners were scheduled to be flown over UCLA’s campus starting Nov. 13. Additionally, Peters said, a website would be launched calling for a boycott of the Bruins’ home game against California on Nov. 24; season ticket-holders to cancel purchases for 2018; and fans to sign a petition that would be sent to UCLA Chancellor Gene Block.
As of Monday afternoon, the GoFundMe site had raised more than $6,900 of the $15,000 requested to finance a mobile billboard and plane banners.
A UCLA spokesperson declined to comment.
Follow Ben Bolch on Twitter @latbbolch
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