LOS ANGELES - UCLA has spent its first two games showing plenty on the ground, piling up 6.55 yards per carry in wins over Cal and San Diego State. That part of the Bruins’ game has been established. What comes next is a different test, and it starts with Purdue running back Fame Ijeboi.
Ijeboi enters the matchup averaging 5.3 yards per carry and coming off a 114-yard effort in Purdue’s 38-36 double-overtime loss to Wake Forest last weekend. For UCLA coach Bob Chesney, this isn’t exactly a new name.
Chesney said he had targeted Ijeboi back when he was recruiting him during his previous stop at James Madison, before Ijeboi eventually went to Minnesota in 2024 and 2025 and later transferred to Purdue. Ijeboi, from Folcroft, Penn., attended William Penn Charter High School, the same school that produced UCLA defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler.
“He’s a Pennsylvania kid and we didn’t have a lot of film on him,” Chesney said. “He’s proven to the world the kind of player he is.”
What stands out to Chesney is how Ijeboi plays low and stays balanced through contact. That combination, he said, makes him hard to bring down.
“He has a wing feel to him where he’s low to the ground and his body balance is phenomenal,” Chesney said. “His leg drive on contact is unbelievable and you don’t see him usually get tackled a lot. You usually see him get moved towards the sideline and even then, he doesn’t step out of bounds.”
Chesney also pointed to Ijeboi’s mix of power and elusiveness, especially when the play gets tight inside.
“He’s always looking for a soft shoulder to find any crease where he can get his body away from the contact,” Chesney said. “He does an unbelievable job of putting his pads down when he has to and then slipping things the last second.
To be a smaller target like that in the middle of the line, our defensive line is going to have to get service to area contact because an arm tackle isn’t going to happen. He catches the ball in the backfield well.”
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