McCloskey Injures Shoulder Again

UCLA senior center Mike McCloskey sat out last week’s overtime victory over Stanford because of a shoulder sprain, but he was expected to play Saturday at Arizona.

Those plans changed midway into Tuesday’s practice when McCloskey aggravated the injury and did not return. Coach Karl Dorrell said it was unlikely that the four-year starter would play against the Wildcats.

“If that’s the case, we have Robert Chai, who did a nice job for us last week, and backing him up is Aaron Meyer,” Dorrell said.

Chai, a junior, began practice Tuesday working with the second team at strong-side guard, but after McCloskey went down, he moved over to play center with the first team. He said it was not easy bouncing between each position, but it was something he had gotten used to after playing mostly center his first two seasons.

“Going into this season, I really concentrated on getting better at guard,” Chai said. “Because I’ve played center so much in the past, it’s easier for me to move back there, but I struggled a little bit today.

“I began studying our plays at guard and then I had to switch to center in the middle of practice.... Making the calls at center is definitely the hardest part of playing both positions. I just have to make sure I watch a lot of film so that I’m ready.”

When McCloskey initially suffered his injury in the first quarter against Oregon State, UCLA turned to freshman Meyer, who finished the game. But Dorrell said Chai was getting the call now because of his experience.

“He has a pretty good background at center, even though he’s played guard” for most of the season, Dorrell said. “Guard and center really go hand-to-hand, so it is really not that difficult for him to go back there.”

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Arizona Coach Mike Stoops on UCLA’s four fourth-quarter comebacks this season: “It tells you that if you get up at all [against UCLA], you better keep your foot on the gas,” Stoops said. “They are very smart in what they are attempting to do

“They can really force the issue when they want to ... when you look at how they outscore people in the fourth quarter, it is probably as lopsided a score as I’ve ever seen.”

UCLA has outscored opponents, 131-40, in the fourth quarter and overtime this season.

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Defensive end Justin Hickman, team leader with four sacks, played high school football in Phoenix and was a standout at Glendale Community College in Arizona. Hickman will have an extra incentive playing Arizona on Saturday because the Wildcats never recruited him.

“Not at all, high school or junior college,” said Hickman, whose father Donnie, played at USC and was drafted by the Rams in 1977. “Going home to play will be nice.”