Tuesday’s UCLA sound bites from practice

This blog is a little short today, which means that most of the interesting quotes from the day landed in stories.

Most of those quotes came from offensive line coach Adrian Klemm, who put his unit on blast Tuesday. Klemm was not very pleased, and the quotes in that story are gold.

On a more serious note, running back Steven Manfro was carted off the field after practice with a torn ACL.

Here are some quotes from Tuesday’s practice. Happy Hump day.

Head Coach Jim Mora

On the penalty that negated a punt return for a touchdown: “We had a special teams touchdown called back on a rule that is in place for the safety of the player, but it didn’t really affect the return.”

On Kenny Clark: “He was a dominant force and had a great game. A lot of times, that was fighting off a double.… I think he’s a dominant force inside and is just getting better.”

On the difference in sophomore linebacker Myles Jack’s play from last year to this year: ”Nothing. He was more disciplined. He didn’t just come in and ply off of instincts, because he understands the defense better. But he ran around and made a lot of plays, just like he did last year, just with a little more precision.”

On freshman guard NaJee Toran’s first game: “You saw NaJee in the summer do a really nice job. I think sometimes it’s hard to measure a guy in that first game when he struggles. He’s been seeing the same things over and over in the spring and through the summer. Then you get out there for your first game and it’s all brand new to you.… He’ll grow from that, big time, I think.”

Sophomore linebacker Deon Hollins

On how much more comfortable he was on Saturday compared to last year: “A ton more. I remember my first game, I was messing up on all the calls and things like that. I was just like, whoa. I was pretty swamped. But this game, I felt like I could just play my technique and calm down. I had a good talk with my dad before the game, I prayed, I talked to my mom right after that, so I felt pretty good.”

For more Bruin observations, follow Everett Cook on Twitter @everettcook