Jim Mora isn't ready to name Josh Rosen his starting quarterback, and he doesn't care who knows it.
The UCLA coach blasted his true freshman quarterback during practice Wednesday within earshot of reporters, then turned to the media and said: "Tell your readers that is why he has not been named the starter."
In an exchange that the Los Angeles Times found to be almost cinematic, Mora let Rosen know in no uncertain terms that he:
A) Needs to work on his game;
B) Couldn't finish a drill right; and ...
C) Is a long way from Bellflower St. John Bosco, where he was a five-star recruit last year.
So this is where we are in Bruinland: Rosen isn't ready to fill Brett Hundley's shoes just yet, and the guy who beat Texas last year, Jerry Neuheisel, is still everyone's underdog. Sounds like a heavy dose of star running back Paul Perkins could be on tap for the rest of the Pac-12 this season.
Here are six other things we learned around college football fall camps Wednesday:
2. Sidelined sophomore. Nebraska's De'Mornay Pierson-El will miss six to eight weeks with a foot injury, sidelining not only one of the nation's most prolific punt returners but also one of the coolest names in college football. The Cornhuskers offense will be the worse for it for sure, as Pierson-El averaged 17.5 yards per punt return last season, the most of any returning player in the country. It should amount to about half a season on the shelf for the sophomore. His season debut might come well-timed, however: Nebraska's Big Ten home opener comes against Wisconsin on Oct. 10.
3. Quotable. "This whole thing that quarterbacks don't talk trash and they're the good guys of the team? Hell no. They talk trash, too." -- Oklahoma LB Eric Striker. The outspoken pass rusher said QB Baker Mayfield is the best trash talker in the OU quarterback ranks.
4. Aiming high. If Mississippi State WR De'Runnya Wilson posts the kind of numbers he's looking for this fall, NFL scouts will be taking serious notice. The Bulldogs junior said 1,000 yards and 20 touchdown catches are his goals for the season, the latter of which would shatter the MSU school record, according to The Clarion-Ledger. Colorado State's Rashard Higgins led the nation last year with 17 -- Wilson would put himself squarely in the Biletnikoff Award conversation with 20.
5. Safety squeeze. LSU DB Jalen Mills is expected to be on the sideline with an injury when the Tigers take on the best quarterback in the SEC on Sept. 12 in Mississippi State's Dak Prescott. Make no mistake -- that's a big blow to the back end of a LSU defense that will be younger and thinner up front. Look for junior Rickey Jefferson to fill in for Mills.
6. Not sharing. Ohio State quarterbacks Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett can apparently live with losing the starting nod better than they could live with sharing it. That's easy enough to say in fall camp; we'll see how it sits midseason.
7. Behind the curtain. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is taking the Wolverines' fall camp so far underground, he didn't even surface for a routine interview with the Big Ten Network on Wednesday on its annual tour bus stop in Ann Arbor. And from the sound of BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart, Harbaugh's camp is all business inside the practice gates.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
