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UCLA football: Coach Jim Mora gushes about Massington, Young

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Monday was high-praise night for UCLA.

Coach Jim Mora couldn’t contain himself when talking about two of the younger Bruins. Words like “Terrell Owens” and “NFL linebacker” easily slipped out.

Eldridge Massington, a redshirt freshman, continued his impressive play. During team drills, the 6-foot-3 receiver snagged a touchdown pass by going over Fabien Moreau, arguably the Bruins’ best cornerback.

“He attacks the ball,” Mora said. “That’s what good receivers do. They don’t let it come to them. They go attack the football. It’s the attitude that when the ball is in the air, ‘I’m going to go get it.’ Eldridge shows that all the time. ‘It’s my ball.’ That’s how T.O. used to be.”

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Mora stopped and clarified: “I’m not saying Eldridge is Terrell Owens. But Terrell had that ‘The ball is mine’ attitude. Eldridge has that.”

Meanwhile, linebacker Kenny Young was moved up to the first team. The freshman from Louisiana had another impressive practice, smothering ballcarriers and disrupting offensive linemen.

“He looked like an NFL linebacker,” Mora said. “Kenny has a presence to him. He doesn’t look like an 18-year-old freshman. He’s quite the man in there. We saw that when we recruited him. He was playing in an extremely competitive environment and was excelling. You take a guy like Kenny Young, move him to the first team and he has great practice. That’s what you’re looking for.”

Of course, Mora also tempered that, saying “our depth chart is fluid, ever evolving. Just because he was on the first team one day doesn’t mean he’ll be there the next.”

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