Young Players Step Up to Show Their Talents

Before Coach Karl Dorrell gave his UCLA football team the weekend off, he gave the Bruins’ young players nearly 30 minutes of scrimmage time to end Thursday’s afternoon practice.

Led by former Crenshaw High standouts Chinonso Anyanwu and Reggie Carter, UCLA’s defense -- made up mostly of freshmen expected to redshirt this season and walk-ons -- dominated.

“The defense kind of beat up on the offense a little bit,” said Dorrell, whose 3-0 Bruins do not play again until their Pacific 10 Conference opener against Washington at the Rose Bowl on Oct. 1.

“A couple times, the offense made some plays, but you can see that we recruited a lot of young defensive talent and that showed today. So our future is very, very strong on that side of the ball.”

Quarterback Osaar Rasshan, a freshman from Pomona Garey High, spent most of the scrimmage scrambling, but he did have his moments. Rasshan completed two touchdown passes, highlighted by a touchdown catch from freshman Jamil Turner.

“Osaar is pretty talented but he can’t carry the offense,” Dorrell said.

*

Senior linebacker Justin London on UCLA’s defensive line: “They are undersized, which is their biggest disadvantage, but they overcome that with a lot of effort and heart.... Guys outweigh them by a lot, but they’ve been holding their own. They may not have been getting a lot of tackles, but they’ve been getting the job done as far as keeping people off the second level of the defense. We’re allowed to run around and make plays.” ... UCLA will return to practice Monday.