Bruins Try to Prepare for Wet Conditions

Buckets of water on the sideline were the best UCLA could do to prepare for Hurricane Fran.

An early-week forecast of clear skies and warm weather for Saturday night in Knoxville, Tenn., has been altered, with rain reported Thursday and today and possible thundershowers for the Bruins’ game at Tennessee. So on Thursday, “We practiced wet-ball drills,” Bruin Coach Bob Toledo said.

The drills involved balls soaked in water before they were snapped in kicking drills. With the sun overhead in Westwood, that was about the best they could do.

Another potential problem could be shoes. UCLA backs and receivers wear shoes with changeable cleats, so that longer cleats for a muddy natural turf at Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium could be used. But linemen wear a shoe with a molded cleat that cannot be changed, and that could be a problem.

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Freshman walk-on Mark Verti of Bishop Amat High will get playing time with special teams and on goal-line plays as an extra fullback. “He’s shown he can catch the ball, and some of our other fullbacks have been having trouble doing that,” said Toledo, who also said Deatra Clinton, another walk-on from Bishop Amat would travel to Tennessee. Linebacker Rumogi Huma will be the third Bishop Amat player with the Bruins in Knoxville.