One month ago on Tuesday, junior quarterback Richard Brehaut was hobbling off the Rose Bowl field after fracturing his left leg during the Bruins’ 28-25 win over Washington State.
Tuesday, Brehaut was still hobbling, but he was sporting shoulder pads and cleats for the first time since the game, returning to practice with the team.
Brehaut was listed as questionable on UCLA’s latest injury report but coach Rick Neuheisel said Tuesday that Brehaut would “probably not” play against Utah on Saturday.
“It feels fine,” Brehaut said of the hairline fracture in his fibula. “It’s not too sore right now. It wasn’t bothering me too much.”
He practiced in a limited capacity but was begging Neuheisel to give him more reps.
Being that he doesn’t have the history with injuries that fellow quarterback Kevin Prince has, Brehaut said the recovery process has been a new experience for him.
“It’s surprising that it’s only been a month and I’m already out here moving around and doing stuff,” Brehaut said. “But at the same time, if I could have it my way, I would have been doing this last week.”
Brehaut said his mobility is limited but he feels he’s 80 percent healthy.
He will see how his leg feels today as he works to try to increase his role in practice.
According to some of his targets, he looked like the same quarterback who threw for more than 200 yards in a narrow loss to Houston to open the season.
“He looked good,” senior wide receiver Taylor Embree said. “He was out there firing. He made some passes where I was like, “˜Alright. It looks like you’ve been out here this whole time.'”
Hester reprimanded
Redshirt junior cornerback Aaron Hester was reprimanded by the Pac-12 Conference for comments he made about the officiating in UCLA’s 29-28 win over Arizona State on Saturday.
“Mr. Hester’s remarks were a clear violation of the Pac-12’s comprehensive restrictions on public comments on officiating, and he is appropriately being reprimanded,” Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said.
Hester was flagged for defensive pass interference during Arizona State’s last drive that set up a potential game winning field goal.
He told the Orange County Register that the call was “terrible” and added that referees “have something out for him.”
Neuheisel and Hester released apologetic statements regarding the reprimand on Tuesday.
“I should have been focused on enjoying our big win and not commenting on the officials,” Hester said in the statement.
“I have made it clear to him that there is no place for comments like that in our program,” Neuheisel added.
Marsh returns
Sophomore defensive tackle Cassius Marsh is available this week after serving a two-game suspension for his role in the brawl between UCLA and Arizona during the game on Oct. 20.