/ STAFF WRITER
LOS ANGELES – Just to make it clear, UCLA coach Jim Mora wasn’t yelling about the minus-1-yard punt by freshman Austin Kent on Saturday against Washington State.
It did upset him, but when TV cameras caught Mora lighting into Kent, the coach wasn’t yelling because of the punt, he said. Mora was yelling because Kent didn’t make an effort to knock the ball out as it bounced back toward the UCLA end zone.
It’s the curse of a freshman – the way flashes of brilliance mix with moments of disaster. Kent had both in the same game: a punt that went minus-1 yard and another that went 61 yards to pin WSU at its own 2-yard line.