Niusulu to Be Sidelined Because of Knee Surgery

UCLA’s inexperienced defensive line got a lot greener Tuesday when the Bruins learned they would be without junior C.J. Niusulu for a few games because of a left knee injury.

Niusulu, who had arthroscopic surgery on the same knee during the spring, will have surgery today for damaged cartilage. Niusulu could be sidelined from three weeks to two months.

Losing Niusulu is a tough blow for the Bruins. He’s UCLA’s most experienced defensive lineman with 29 career tackles, including seven stops for losses. Now UCLA will have to rely on such players as freshman Kenneth Lombard, redshirt freshman Noah Sutherland and sophomore Robert Garcia.

“We have bodies to line up and the only issue is that they are going to be young bodies,” Coach Karl Dorrell said.

Not the all news for the Bruins was bad. Defensive ends Kyle Morgan and Brigham Harwell, each of whom had arthroscopic knee surgery early in camp, practiced in full pads for the second consecutive day without any setbacks.

“They aren’t showing any symptoms of any type of injury,” defensive line coach Don Johnson said. “But we want to pace them. We’ll give them some plays and when they come to the sideline asking for oxygen, then we’ll know to slow them down some.”

For defensive coordinator Larry Kerr, UCLA’s rash of injuries, including to inside linebackers Justin London and Tim Warfield, adds to the challenge for Saturday’s season opener against Oklahoma State at the Rose Bowl.

“Even though some of the front-line guys are out, we’re not really going to change much,” Kerr said.

“Through camp, the backup guys were getting in work and we played a lot of kids, sometimes through necessity. You always have to have the next guy ready to go and now we’re going to need them.”

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Nnamdi Ohaeri, who played defensive back his first two seasons and throughout camp, said that he asked to be moved to running back. Ohaeri rushed for 2,155 yards and 24 touchdowns as a senior at San Bernardino Aquinas High....Senior running back Manuel White and junior linebacker Spencer Havner were selected team captains....There will be free shuttle buses available in the Parsons Engineering parking lot in downtown Pasadena starting four hours before Saturday’s kickoff at the Rose Bowl and up to one hour after the game. Parking at the Parsons lot is $6.