UCLA Bruins Fall Practice: Walking Wounded Once Again

So the UCLA Bruins have had some unfortunate injury history when it comes to their football program. Last year was a pretty good season for them health-wise (most of the injuries came via the unfortunate UCLA-Arizona brawl), and they ended up in a tie for 15th in terms of most starts lost to injury.

Jim Mora hopes to bring in a new era, but the tradition of maimed Bruins lives on. From the tweets of Chris Foster of the Los Angeles Times (via Brian Floyd of SB Nation).

• Tight end John Young is out for the season, although Young has yet to see game action in his two seasons at Westwood.
• Linebacker Jeremy Castro has academic issues and was not present at the start of camp.
• Several O-linemen had to sit out the first practice, and another wide receiver had trouble acclimating to the heat in San Bernardino.
• Another true frosh hurt himself, although he's probably not likely start.
• There were fights, presumably to stop practice to avoid players from getting hurt.

Jim Mora touched on a few other players that are struggling with health issues.

This is a far cry from the years where UCLA quarterbacks just kept on dropping, and there will have to be a lot of acclimating to the somewhat harsh climate of San Bernardino (temperatures are expected to be in the 90-100 degree range most of training camp).

Still, the very thought of health issues associated with Bruins football has to make UCLA fans a little antsy.