UCLA’s fall camp has been kept pretty tight to the vest, but Bob Chesney did offer enough to paint a clearer picture of a few spots the Bruins are sorting out before Week 1.
The defensive interior looks like it could be a true rotation rather than a fixed group. Tyson Ford appears to be locked in there, but Chesney made it clear there are several others in the mix and that the staff is comfortable moving bodies through the position.
“I think Darold's [DeNgohe] done a great job. I think Ashton Sanders has done a great job.
I think Max Roy continues to do a good job. I think there's some other guys in there too.
I'm sure I'm forgetting someone, but there's guys in there, Amier [Washington]-does a great-there's a lot of guys in here that I think that we'll be able to move through and rotate through. And again, just like every position, you're going to need them all."
That kind of depth chart shuffle will matter quickly, with Sept. 5 against Cal approaching fast.
Another area Chesney has been hammering in practice is the red zone. He said the Bruins have spent a lot of time there lately and that the goal has been to finish drives instead of settling for empty trips.
“I thought that we got ourselves in the red zone a whole bunch down here and that's what we wanted to focus on. One of the other days we got in there and found ourselves right back out of it. So, we wanted to make sure today that we forced that to happen and complete drives, and I thought our guys did a good job."
That emphasis tracks with what UCLA did last season, when it ranked 90th among 136 FBS teams in red-zone touchdown percentage at 58.06%.
The backfield, though, may be where this offense really starts to show its shape. Chesney highlighted Anthony Woods and Wayne Knight as more than just runners, pointing to what they can do as pass-catchers and how they process the run game.
“They are viable receiving options out of the backfield,” Chesney said about both Anthony Woods and Wayne Knight.
“They see whatever the run scheme is very, very well. They're decisive to react.
Fast decisions get fast results. And I think they've done a really good job of those things.
And then in the end, like, they can run away from you, but they legitimately seek violence.”
“That's the thing to me that I've been most impressed with with those guys, is that when it's time to put their pads down, they ain't afraid to do it. And that bodes well for this offense."
With Sept. 5 nearly here, UCLA is still using camp to sort out personnel, sharpen execution in the red zone and lean into what could be a dangerous running back group.
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For Ford, the next step is less about proving talent than about keeping his body right long enough to show it. He stressed recovery and injury prevention as the keys to making it through the season healthy, a simple goal that has taken on outsized importance after so many setbacks. UCLA has added a veteran lineman with something to prove, and Fords college story still feels like it is waiting for a cleaner ending. [Read more 🡒]