Alex Van Dyke couldn’t quite pull in the deep pass from Devon Modster during a recent practice, falling to the artificial turf as the ball slipped through his hands. Van Dyke lingered on the ground for a moment, studying his outstretched fingers as if to ask, How could you do that to me?
It would be easy for doubt to catch on among UCLA’s receivers. They continually dropped passes last season and in the spring game, when seven catchable balls hit the ground. There was even a presumably unintended reminder of the issue last month at the Pac-12 Conference’s media days when caterers topped the blue UCLA-themed doughnuts with crumbled Butterfinger candies.