Wednesday’s sound bites from UCLA practice

Quite a busy day on the blog. Stories on stories, as they say.

The bad news first: Linebacker Kenny Orjioke is out for the season. He’s the second defensive player to be ruled out for the season in the last three weeks, after Randall Goforth injured both shoulders in mid-September.

Also on the blog were stories about Ishmael Adams finally getting to return kickoffs, coaches being confident about Fabian Moreau returning to form, the defense running out of gas against Arizona State and the fact that UCLA is 20-0 under Jim Mora when leading at halftime.

Even with all the posts, there were some fine quotes from the day that didn’t make it into a story.

Offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone

On the jumbo package that features two defensive lineman, including Kenny Clark: “They all get excited when Kenny Clark gets to run a basic route. Who cares if we score? He was wide open. All the kids were pissed Brett didn’t throw it to him.”

On Brett Hundley hurdling a defender despite an elbow injury: “I closed my eyes. That was part of the thing with it, we weren’t going to put him out there unless we felt he was 100%. And that’s how Brett plays. We wouldn’t want him out there if he wasn’t playing that way.”

On this weekend: “Like I told the kids, we can’t win today’s game on yesterday’s home run. That’s history. Any of the plays that were made in the past have nothing to do with what’s coming up.”

On his offensive line: “Even through camp and the first couple weeks, every day was a different guy at guard and center and those type of things. I think finally these guys are starting to play next to each other and starting to gel a little bit ... it’s kind of like your girlfriend. You date her long enough, you get to know her good habits and her bad habits, right? I think it’s just them playing together.”

Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich

On playing Utah on Saturday: “Shoot, for a defense that’s as hungry as we are right now and is as eager as these guys are to prove to the world who they are and who they want to become, it’s a great challenge for us and the perfect team for us, it really is.”

Redshirt senior defensive back Anthony Jefferson

On rotating defensive backs through positions in the secondary last week against Arizona State: “I think it’s great because it’s hard for guys to key in watching film, because everyone is everywhere. It’s just us playing the right spot for the right week, and that was the right spot for me last week.”

On his interception last week: “What happened is what you’ve seen. What I saw, I don’t know what happened. I’m just as confused as you guys. I just made a good play on the ball, played his hands, saw his eyes get bug-eyed, so I kind of knew the ball was there and found a way to make a play.”

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