It’s pushing 11 p.m. as a throng of UCLA football players linger to chat on one side of the team’s new on-campus practice fields. Some have peeled off their jersey tops, revealing backs slick with sweat from the toil of the first day of training camp.
For a good chunk of the team, these idle minutes constitute a midday break. Players enrolled in summer classes will head back to their dorms after the three-hour practice to study for final exams before returning to the Wasserman Football Center for meetings at 6:30 the following morning.
“This is a grind for these guys the next three days,” Bruins coach Jim Mora said not long before Monday turned into Tuesday.