FanPost

UCLA Spring Football is Over, So What Did We Learn?

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Bumped: Great review of spring football and the path ahead for UCLA - BN eds.


This last Saturday saw UCLA host its Spring Showcase, the official last practice of the spring for the football team. The end of spring football has answered some of our offseason questions, but also left us with a few questions going forward. And some position battles remain to be won (although the most important one, quarterback, remains wonderfully filled). So where are we after spring practices? I'll try to answer here and see where we go from here.

Offense

The offensive line still has some issues - Let's start with the obvious: this really is a make-or-break year for Offensive Line Coach Adrian Klemm. Fans have been understandably wary of the coach's production, especially considering how much talent he has brought in over his 4 years at the school. Penalties and poor production have led to a lackluster showing from the line under Klemm, though you could very easily make the case that the line was much improved last year compared to this year. The shift to a new offense could also conceivably help, and a strong showing could have helped Klemm make the case that the previous 4 years of under-performance were more a byproduct of the offensive system than his coaching.

Which is why the performance of the offensive line during the spring has been so troubling from an outside perspective. Certainly there are some encouraging signs, such as the line taking it upon itself to enact punishments for false starts while learning the new cadences, to the point that by the Spring Showcase the only false start committed by the offense was by a wide receiver. Both returning offensive tackles (Connor McDermott and Kolton Miller) have been steadying forces at both ends of the line, and Andre James, our left tackle of the future, acquitted himself well in limited action with the first-string unit. And with the entire offense learning a new system while the defense only makes tweaks to their existing system, it's not surprising to see some growing pains here.

And yet the interior of the line has been a consistent problem all spring, really inhibiting the offense's growth over the practices. Scott Quessenberry has been fine at center, shaking off most of the rust from missing last year, but the two guard spots have really been a rotating door, with Najee Toran, Kenny Lacy, Poasi Moala, and even Andre James at one point taking a crack at holding one of those two spots. No one really took over the position, so suddenly UCLA finds it self in the unenviable position of hoping that incoming transfer Jake Raulerson can come in and grab the center spot, allowing Quessenberry to shift over to guard, where he has experience in the past, while the other spot gets won by someone in the fall. It's not optimal, and the lack of development in the interior has to be troubling going forward, but it is a way forward.

Running Backs thriving in the new system - UCLA is blessed with a stable of 3 running backs that could start at a majority of Pac 12 schools, and this doesn't even include incoming freshman Brandon Stephens. If anything, the running back who popped the least was Nate Starks, but that may have been more due to Starks being a known commodity at this point, as Starks still looked great. True sophmores Soso Jamabo and Bolu Olorunfunmi really shined during the spring for different reasons. Soso showed more decisiveness in his running, and spent the spring showing that he could still produce and thrive in a more power-oriented offense. Bolu, on the other end, showed off improved hands, and definitely is more suited for this style of offense. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the inclusion of tight ends (!) and fullbacks (!!) has definitely helped out here, but they're getting their own section so I'll leave them out for now.

As of right now, UCLA appears to be going with a running back by committee approach for now until one back really separates himself from the pack. If I had to make a prediction, I think Soso will find himself as the lead back come September 3 (hope to see you in College Station!), but Starks and Bolu will find a ton of usage.


New offensive additions a mixed bag, but promising - This is referring to the inclusion of fullbacks and tight ends into the base offense under Coach Polamalu, and that inclusion is a bit of a mixed bag. The fullbacks definitely proved to be a big boon to the offense, as fullbacks Cameron Griffin and Ainuu Taua had themselves a solid spring practice, and definitely showed themselves to be weapons in the offense moving forward. The tight ends, specifically Nate Iese and Austin Roberts, started out a bit slower, but by the time the Spring Showcase had arrived both players looked more comfortable with the new concepts they were being asked to learn. Iese has always been an underutilized weapon under Mazzone, so the hope is that the new offense will take advantage of his unique skillset.

Wide Receiver rotation becoming clearer - UCLA lost a solid group of wide receivers over the past year, with the combined loss of Jordan Payton, Thomas Duarte, and Devin Fuller removing 3 of the top 4 pass-catchers from UCLA's offense last year (to say nothing of the loss of Paul Perkins, who was 5th on the team last year in catches). So new Offensive Coordinator Kennedy Polamalu and Wide Receivers Coach Eric Yarber have their work cut out for them.

After spring, the wide receiver situation seems a bit more clearer. Darren Andrews looks pretty set at retaining the receiver spot he earned last season, as he had an uneventful spring and stayed healthy. Eldridge Massington really came on near the end of the practice sessions, which was important for the veteran wideout, and his large frame and blocking ability should see him on the field regardless. Kenny Walker had one hell of a spring practice session, showing off his elite speed and improved hands. The question for Walker still remains if those hands will still exist in a game. Early-enrollee and crown jewel of the 2016 receiver class Theo Howard averaged at least one highlight-reel catch a practice, and should feature prominently as UCLA's first true slot receiver under Mora. Finally, Alex Van Dyke really started to realize his potential, and should see a large increase in usage in the coming season. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Ishmael Adams, who switched to the offense this offseason and hasn't looked out of place. He should be in line for a good amount of usage this fall.

Meet the next UCLA Groza winner - Ok, that's putting the cart before the horse, but JJ Molson has all the tools necessary to continue the new tradition of UCLA kickers winning college football's top honor for a placekicker. It certainly helps that Molson didn't look out of place in his first spring practice, and at the point the only worry is that he doesn't have a similar outing to Kai'mi's first outing against Rice.

Crystal ball for the new offense? - It's hard to project how the offense is going to do in its first year under Coach Polamalu. Certainly over the entirety of spring practices, the defense consistently got he better of the offense, which was expected when one whole side of the ball was learning a new way of doing things. But it was comforting to see the offense grow and become more consistent as we got further along in practice. That said, performance in practice is different than performance in actual games. Polamalu has a pretty good head start with implementing his new offense thanks to all-world quarterback Josh Rosen and a strong stable of running backs, but there is still some room for worry.

That's where this crystal ball prediction comes into play. I think there will be some growing pains with the new offense over the year, less so than what we saw under Mazzone's offense, which was designed for quick and successful implementation. A pro-style offense, which despite Mora's insistence is what UCLA is now running, has more levels of complication involved, from new blocking schemes to different wide receiver patterns to new audibles, made more complicated when the offense is transitioning from a more spread-style offense. The offense certainly has the tools to succeed, but this year is definitely one that will require the defense to be strong throughout the year to account for any glitches in the offense. The offense won't put up the video game numbers we've become accustomed to in the past, but hopefully that will be replaced with more consistency and less short offensive series.

Defense

Position Battle: Middle Linebacker - Let's begin with the most intriguing position battle on the defensive side: the middle linebacker position. With the official move from a 3-4 base defense to a 4-3, UCLA saw some shifts in how the front 7 will be used. Bruins Nation favorite Deon Hollins made the switch to more of a full-time defensive end, which should help him going forward, but more interesting is that UCLA will only be trotting out 3 linebackers at a time. Jayon Brown locked down one of the outside linebacker positions during the previous season, and looked like a leader for most of spring practice. On the opposite side, Cameron Judge seems to have the starting SAM linebacker spot for now, though with Mique Juarez waiting in the wings, this feels like a situation similar to the one we saw when Myles Jack first burst onto the scene, to say nothing of Josh Woods, Breland Brandt, and Lokeni Toailoa.

That leaves middle linebacker, which right now is a battle between Kenny Young and Isaako Savaiinaea. After last season, many felt Savaiinaea had the inside track to grabbing that spot, but the two young men alternated first string reps throughout spring practice. The good news here is that both players had strong springs, but the bad news is that the battle is far from over. If I had to take a guess, I'd say Kenny Young gets the nod on September 3rd, but Savaiinaea should see plenty of reps going forward, and may overtake Young at some point during the season.

A refocused defensive line - I'm going to be honest here: the defensive line massively underperformed last season. While we may complain about a copious amount of uncalled holds, the undeniable truth is that the front seven had issues once Eddie Vanderdoes went down with an injury in the first game of the season. Part of that may be due to injuries forcing a much more conservative gameplan from Defensive Coordinator Tom Bradley, who found himself inserting players into larger roles earlier than expected. A lack of blitzes, stunts, and movement on the line ended up hurting the defensive line over the course of the year.

Fortunately, the defensive line seems to agree, as they've had a much stronger spring performance than their previous season would suggest. Takkarist McKinley had himself an incredibly strong spring, earning MVP honors from Mora. Deon Hollins, who missed a few practices due to a class schedule (because unlike other schools, UCLA does believe in the student part of student-athletes, and Hollins is a classic example) in addition to a more permanent switch to defensive end, also made waves, looking more like the disruptive Hollins we're used to seeing. Keisean Lucier-South also had himself a solid spring practice, and looks like a big contributor going forward. Inside, everyone looked bigger, stronger, and much more confident in their abilities, which bodes well once the group welcomes Eddie Vanderdoes back in the fall. In particular, JC transfer Nick Terry looked like an instant impact player, which would make him the second big instant-impact JC transfer Coach Angus McClure has plucked for the line after McKinley.


Defensive Secondary: A lot of questions - It's hard to really gauge where the secondary is at right now. UCLA spent the spring without Fabian Moreau and Marcus Rios, who sat out spring due to injuries, which really affected the cornerback rotation. In addition, with Mora's new-found focus on more physical football, Randall Goforth switched over to cornerback, and struggled a bit as he adjusted to the new position. Jaleel Wadood feels like the only player with a solid hold on his starting position at this point.

The good news here is that this is only spring practice. Moreau and Rios will be back in the fall, and Moreau especially should be able to grab one of the starting cornerback spots. Tahaan Goodman had a really good spring and seems to have the inside track on one of the safety spots, with Adarius Pickett providing good backup there. And by the fall the cornerback position should have enough healthy bodies to finally figure out a solid rotation, especially considering that UCLA led the Pac 12 in passing defense last year despite the rash of injuries forcing second-string guys into major playing time.

Strategy? - This is the big question for the defense going forward into the fall, and not one that was going to realistically be answered during the spring practice session. The most we were going to definitively learn was how serious UCLA was going to be about the "physical" brand of football Mora wanted following the season, and the switch to a 4-3 base defense at least tells us that Mora would like to beat you up with as many big bodies as possible on defense.

But then again, last fall we saw people raving about all of the new blitz packages Tom Bradley was implementing in San Bernadino, only to endure a regular season that, defensively, was incredibly similar to the year prior. So, while I believe Tom Bradley is a good defensive coach and has the tools necessary to fix the issues from last season, I'm definitely a bit more cautious about being bullish on the defense. Consider it an exercise in "fool me once". UCLA was again seen practicing stunts, blitzes, and applying pressure in the backfield, but all of that practice is useless if it isn't implemented in real game situations. So the onus is on Mora, Bradley, and the rest of the defensive coaching staff to up its collective game and become the strong unit that we know it is capable of being.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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