Pleased Dorrell Cuts Camp Short

Coach Karl Dorrell surprised the Bruins with a trip to the Rose Bowl on Thursday, during which they took the field and played a simulated game, and after which they were told they could break training camp two days earlier than planned.

That’s how well practice has gone this summer, Dorrell said, adding that “small bones” such as the one he threw the team are important during the sometimes monotonous latter stages of camp.

“I told them, ‘The good news is that you broke camp. Well, the bad is, you still have 6 a.m. [weight training] and you still have two-a-days [today],’ ” Dorrell said. “But they said they’d take it.”

Media were not allowed at the Rose Bowl session. But Dorrell said things went much smoother than they did during a similar session last year, and that the difference between that team and this one, at this point, is like “night and day.”

“The mental part is really coming together and today was a great sign of that,” Dorrell said, when asked if his team was close to being ready for the Sept. 4 opener against Oklahoma State. “I was really encouraged. We’re very close to where we need to be.”

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Most of the media attention during training camp has been on the glamour players: quarterbacks, running backs, safeties and linebackers.

So punter Chris Kluwe was understandably surprised to be singled out for an interview this week. He was then reminded that he got almost as much playing time as those players did last season. His 91 punts set a school record and, “even though it’s fun to get out on the field like that,” he said, “you’ve got to hope it’s not that many times again.”

The Bruin coaching staff is hoping the same thing, but just in case they’ve been striving hard to improve on all “the little things” that hurt their special-teams play last season.

“Five of those games you can make a case where the game was either won or lost by us,” said Brian Schneider, in his second year as coach of the special teams. “Whether it was them running one back, missed opportunities or even penalties ... those really cost us last year.”

One game in particular, a 59-24 loss to top-ranked Oklahoma, stands out. The Bruins had opened a 10-7 first-quarter lead, but Kluwe punted to Antonio Perkins early in the second quarter and he ran it back 74 yards for a touchdown. He ran two others back for touchdowns of 84 yards and 65 yards. The last one was after receiving a punt that was supposed to have been kicked out of bounds.

Said Kluwe, who averaged 42.9 yards a punt last season, “I probably could have put a bit more hang time on those punts. It was a rough game.”

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Like Kluwe, kicker Justin Medlock has been trying to improve his mental approach. The sophomore made 14 of 19 field goals in 2003, including two 48-yarders. But some of the misses were costly.

“I had a lot of breakdowns at the end of the year,” he said. “I just have to keep my concentration.”

This week in practice Medlock came up just short on two field-goal attempts beyond 60 yards.