FanPost

UCLA at Texas A&M: 5 Questions, 5 Weeks Before the Game

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

As the calendar turns to August and the talk of the NFL Draft and recruiting start to fade, all eyes turn once again to the football field. With training camp opening on the 8th, there are a lot of things to look at heading into game one. The Bruins will start on the road against SEC powerhouse Texas A&M (12:30 PST, CBS). Playing one of the week one power 5 vs power 5 games will thrust UCLA into the national spotlight right away.

Coming off of an underwhelming 8-5 campaign in 2015, UCLA looks to turn the next page on the Josh Rosen era. The Bruins started the season looking good getting out to a 4-0 start, including a big 56-30 victory over Arizona on national television. The fast start was not without cost. The injury bug struck early and often. The defense had been decimated by injuries and the offense wasn’t far behind.

Losing Myles Jack, Eddie Vanderdoes and Fabian Moreau for the season forced some of the younger Bruins to grow up faster than they had expected. While the future looked promising on the young defense, it was inconsistent at times. The other side of the ball was not immune from injury either with Mossi Johnson going down for the season and the receiving corps having to adjust to what seemed like weekly injuries. With true freshman Josh Rosen emerging as a future star, the offense was still able to put points up on the board.

Texas A&M is also entering 2016 coming off of an 8-5 season. Like the Bruins, they got off to a strong start at 5-0 and inconsistent play caused them to go 3-5 in their last eight games, including a loss to Louisville in the Music City Bowl. With offseason news of the Aggies picking up former Oklahoma quarterback Trevor Knight and a strong returning defense expectations are running high in College Station.

1. Does Josh Rosen continue to live up to expectations?

Rosen came into 2015 with high expectations right away. In training camp, he beat out Jerry Neuheisel for the starting job as a true freshman. Rosen showed Mora that he made the right choice. On his way to being a Freshman All-American and PAC-12 Conference Freshman Offensive Player of the Year, he passed for 3,349 yards and 20 TDs against 9 INTs with 2 rushing TDs.

Noel Mazzone treated Rosen like the true freshman he was. Rosen’s playbook grew a lot since high school. Mazzone was not going to overwhelm the freshman and did not run the whole playbook. Allowing the young quarterback to grow and learn with time was a smart way to bring him along. Now entering his second season, he will have to learn a new playbook with new Offensive Coordinator Kennedy Polamalu.

One of the best defensive backfields in the country last year resided in College Station. The stingy defense was ranked top five in the country against the pass. The loss of both starting corners should impact that ranking this year. One of the reasons the secondary gave up so few yards was the pass rush. Led by DE Myles Garrett the Aggies can rack up sacks. Garrett finished 2015 with an SEC leading 11.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss. Not to be outshined Daeshon Hall collected 7 sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss. The Bruins’ front line will have their hands full and Rosen might be seeing a lot of pressure.

2. How effective is the new UCLA receiving corps?

In the offseason, UCLA lost its two best receivers in Jordan Payton and Thomas Duarte. The two receivers accounted for 1,997 yards last year, 53% of the receiving yards for the team. They were favorite targets for the freshman quarterback and their absence will leave the door open for some young and talented receivers to step into the spotlight.

Redshirt Senior Ishmael Adams converted to receiver from cornerback during the winter and will bring good ball skills and great speed. Darren Andrews was third on the team with 443 yards and a touchdown last season and will be a big target for Rosen. Kenneth Walker looks to be a starter this year after finishing last year with 231 yards and a touchdown. Incoming Freshman Theo Howard will be looking for a starting position as well.

The Aggies secondary ranked fourth in the country last year, only giving up 166.3 yards per game. That great secondary was hit hard by the NFL draft with De’Vante Harris and Brandon Williams moving on. Amari Watts has shown improvement in each of his first two seasons and is expected to be the leader in the secondary this season, and after racking up 126 tackles last year with a pick. Junior Safety Justin Evans picked up 78 tackles last year and is a hard hitting force in the middle of the field. At corner, the Aggies will be young. With UCLA transfer Priest Willis, Nick Harvey and Deshawn Capers-Smith battling it out for the two starting positions.

Both teams look like they will be young going up against one another. The PAC-12 run and gun offense isn’t what the Aggies are used to going against. Though the receivers may not have a lot of experience, they have one of the best quarterbacks in the country throwing to them and this might give them the edge over the A&M secondary.

3. How do you stop Myles Garrett?

Garrett entered College Station as the second ranked prospect in 2014. Expectations were high and he did not disappoint. In two seasons he has sacked the opposing quarterback 22 times and has stopped the ball behind the line 32 times. He is expected to be even better this year and is thought by many to be the number one draft pick for the 2017 NFL Draft. His combination of speed and strength make it difficult to stop him.

Last year UCLA had a lot of experience on the offensive line, but after losing three starters the line will look a lot different in 2016, but will not be completely inexperienced. Senior Tackle Conor McDermott will lead a line consisting of Juniors Kenny Lacy, Scott Quessenberry, Jake Raulerson and Sophomore Kolton Miller. With the starters all seen playing time in the past, the backups do not have very many snaps under their belts.

Stopping Garrett will be difficult for any line. He has been breaking through the biggest SEC lines for the last two years. Garrett will see a number of double teams and running back checks leaving Hall singled up. Rosen will have to get rid of the ball quickly as Garrett may be close to him a lot. If the line is able to contain him, the passing game should open up.

4. How effective will Trevor Knight be in the A&M offense?

Knight gained a national name at Oklahoma for three years at quarterback. The senior transfer played in 24 games for the Sooners, passing for 3,424 yards and 25 TDs against 19 picks. Though his numbers don’t jump off the page, he was a Heisman hopeful in one of the biggest programs in the country. At Oklahoma he was used to throwing a lot and new Offensive Coordinator Noel Mazzone is no stranger to the passing game. The two of them teaming up on offense should not be difficult.

With Noel Mazzone coming from UCLA last year, the Bruins will be very familiar with his offense. The Bruins were no stranger to injuries in 2015 and allowed some younger guys to see the field and get experience. The secondary will be one of the strongest parts of the defense. With Moreau returning from injury and Randall Goforth and Jaleel Wadood coming back, the secondary will be very strong. The defense will not be giving up a lot in 2016.

5. Will the offseason distractions in College Station have any effect on the team?

A few years ago Kevin Sumlin was on top of the coaching world. In its first season in the SEC, A&M had an 11-2 record with wins over #1 Alabama and Oklahoma and QB Johnny Manziel would win the Heisman Trophy as a freshman. The following year Sumlin signed a six-year 30 million dollar deal. Since then, the Aggies have not lived up to the hype.

After Manziel left for his short NFL career, there has not been a lot of stability at quarterback. Kenny Hill looked to step into Manziels shoes, but faded as the year went on and has since transferred to TCU. Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray were big recruiting pickups for Sumlin and his staff. Both quarterbacks have since transferred to Houston and Oklahoma respectively. QB Tate Martell was the latest to defect when he de-committed. The revolving door has resulted in Trevor Knight’s transfer and being named starter in the spring.

After Martell’s decommit, wide receiver coach Aaron Moorehead tweeted out comments on loyalty that were not taken well. That tweet led to another de-commit and may have had some influence in recruits that had not yet made up their minds on A&M. Moorehead sent out an apology, but it is yet to be seen if the apology had any effect on other recruits.

In July, at a "chalk talk" event hosted for female Aggie fans coaches Jim Turner and Jeff Banks presented a power point that had some quotes that were seen as offensive and degrading to women. If Turner sounds familiar, he was the Dolphin’s O-Line coach during the Richie Incognito, Jonathan Martin bullying scandal. Turner and Banks were suspended for two weeks and ordered to complete 20 hours of community service.

Each program has issues during the offseason, be it players getting in trouble or de-commits, but this offseason has seemed to shed a bad light on the Aggie coaching staff. With a new quarterback leading the way, how will the players respond to these issues? They could rally together and play with a chip on their shoulder or they could crumble when the first thing goes wrong.

There is one thing that is certain; the PAC-12-SEC showdown will be entertaining. Both teams are going to be learning a lot about themselves and are going to be looking to get 2016 started off on the right foot.

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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