UCLA Football 2024 Season Preview, Part 1: What Even Is This Team?

In Part 1, we take a look at the new coaching staff along with a rundown of personnel on both sides of the ball.

The Bruins will be hoping to see a lot of TJ Harden in the end zone this season. (Photo credit: uclabruins.com)

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And here. We. Go.

We’re less than two weeks away from the start of the 2024 season for UCLA Bruins football, a season that brings all sorts of changes to Westwood. For example:

• There’s a new head coach at UCLA this year, as Deshaun Foster will be taking over after previous head coach Chip Kelly ran away to Ohio State late in the offseason cycle.

• Along with the change at the top, UCLA has two new coordinators, with Eric Bieniemy taking over the offense while Ikaika Malloe got promoted to defensive coordinator. There’s also a handful of new coaches throughout the staff, primarily on offense.

• There are new faces on both sides of the ball as well, thanks to graduations and transfers. There are some faces you will remember (hey Ethan Garbers) but you’ll need to learn new guys throughout the team as well.

• UCLA is in the Big Ten now! There’s a whole new slate of opponents that the Bruins will need to get used to, and the Big Ten as a whole plays a very different brand of football compared to the one UCLA was comfortable with in the now-defunct Pac-12.

So buckle up as we try to make sense of what might be one of the most unknowable UCLA football seasons in history.

Coaching Staff

So yeah, in case you’ve been living under a rock since the LA Bowl, Chip Kelly is gone and Deshaun Foster is the new head coach.

I’m on the record as stating Deshaun Foster is pretty clearly a bridge coach at the moment, being asked to get UCLA to a more stable place after the utter program management disaster that was the Chip Kelly era, and that’s the curve by which he will be graded. Any wins this year would be a nice bonus, but any rational observer would look at the talent exodus that occurred this past season, combined with one last poor recruiting class from Kelly, and surmise that UCLA will take a significant step back. Foster was not given enough time to implement quick fixes, so I am asking people not to overreact to every loss this year. Those are retroactive Chip Kelly losses and will be treated as such.

Now, as for what I am looking for from Foster on the field….it’s hard to say. Foster does not have a track record as a head coach to look upon, let alone a previous stop as a coordinator. Given Foster's background, the best guess is that UCLA will continue to emphasize the run under Foster for the time being. That said, the hiring of Eric Bieniemy sits in stark contrast to that idea. Bieniemy made his name as the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs, and while it was widely understood that the offense was the brainchild of head coach Andy Reid, Bieniemy routinely earned praise from people in the Chiefs organization for his coaching talent. His past season with the Washington Commanders, however, stands as a stark contrast. Bieniemy did not have near the same caliber of player in Washington that he worked with in Kansas City - no one would mistake Sam Howell for Patrick Mahomes - but it was startling how disinterested Bieniemy seemed in adapting his offense to match his personnel. Washington had a decent rushing attack but instead chose to throw the ball an excessive amount, which was not ideal for a young quarterback and a suspect offensive line. Sam Howell regressed throughout the season, and players voiced frustration throughout the season. The Washington Post had the money quote in the aftermath of his firing, stating “Players, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal team dynamics, described Bieniemy as a hard-working coach who hamstrung his own efforts with poor communication, stubborn play-calling and a disregard for player feedback.” Bieniemy went from an in-demand coordinator who routinely interviewed for NFL head coaching jobs to out of the league in one season, which isn’t a good look.

Bieniemy will be looking to rehabilitate his career with UCLA, so the hope is that he has learned from his mistakes and becomes more flexible as a result. He will have a new offensive coaching staff to work with, which should hopefully allow for more growth. Jerry Neuheisel is the lone holdover from the previous staff, as the only man who may bleed Blue and Gold as strongly as the head coach moved from wide receivers to tight ends. Juan Castillo, a longtime NFL veteran coach, takes over the offensive line, which is the most intriguing move on the list. Eric Frazier comes in from the Tennessee Titans to coach wide receivers, while Marcus Thomas makes the return to Westwood (where he was previously an offensive analyst) after a stint with Navy. Ted White rounds out the new offensive staff as quarterbacks coach. It is interesting to note that a few of these names (Frazier, White) were not coaching this previous season, but given the timing of when the coaching staff was put together, this ultimately is not surprising, and I would expect Foster will take a harder look at the entirety of the coaching staff this next offseason.

Case in point: the defensive coaching staff is mostly the same as last year, with Ikaika Malloe stepping up as the new defensive coordinator after D’Anton Lynn was poached by Southern Cal. The only other change from last year is Tony Washington Jr. being brought in as the new defensive line and outside linebackers coach, but that move was done before Kelly’s departure, so it seems pretty clear that Foster is going hands-off with the defense this year. That’s probably for the best; even with the departure of Lynn, this coaching staff has had the defense moving in a positive direction for two years now, and Malloe acquitted himself well in the bowl game.

Offensive Personnel

While there are a lot of moving parts on this roster, one constant is the presence of Ethan Garbers, who is returning as the clear starting quarterback after years of competing for the job. Garbers is not an exceptional quarterback by any stretch but he did prove to be a serviceable, safe option when he was healthy last year, and the coaching staff will likely rely on his steady hand through the inaugural Big Ten season. Should he go down with an injury, the likely #2 at the moment is Justyn Martin, who has seemingly had the light come on this offseason, but he is also extremely untested (to be fair, you could say this about every other quarterback UCLA has on the roster).

Garbers will, at least. have some familiarity in the backfield. While Carson Steele is gone, the Bruins welcome back TJ Harden as the lead running back. Harden was pretty clearly the most effective running back for the Bruins last year, and his return is helpful for a team that likely wants to run as early and often as possible. That said, Deshaun Foster liked to rotate running backs when he was the position coach, and I imagine UCLA will keep to that strategy this year. That’s why bringing in Jalen Berger from Michigan State stands out to me, as he’s a former top-end recruit with experience in the conference, and he has the ability to make an impact as a rotational back. Keegan Jones is still lingering as a change-of-pace back after switching back to the position last year, and Anthony Adkins looks likely to switch to fullback with the new offense.

At wide receiver, Garbers will again have some familiar targets. J. Michael Sturdivant and Logan Loya both return and will likely start at outside receiver and in the slot, respectively. Sturdivant will hopefully have a better season with some more consistent quarterback play, and Loya turned into a reliable safety valve last year. The third receiver spot will likely start in the hands of Titus Mokiao-Atimalala, who sat out all of last year but has quickly reminded people of his talent this offseason. I would also count on seeing plenty of Notre Dame transfer Rico Flores as a fourth option, especially if Mokiao-Atimalala is unable to translate his practice success to the field. You should expect to see some of Ezavier Staples and Brandon Pagan as rotational pieces and true freshman Kwazi Gilmer may get some run as the season progresses. At tight end, Hudson Habermehl tore his ACL in the spring and will be out for the season, so the job will completely fall to Moliki Matavao this year. Matavao was fairly productive last year but will be asked to be a bigger piece of the offense this year. The Bruins brought in Bryce Pierre from ASU this offseason, and they need him to grab that backup tight end spot.

This finally brings us to the offensive line, which was pretty bad last year and will need to show massive improvement for the Bruins to make any sort of noise. The coaching staff seemingly recognized that fact and brought in a host of options throughout the depth chart. Three starters from last year’s line will still be around this year: right tackle Garrett DiGiorgio, left guard Spencer Holstege, and former right guard Josh Carlin, who will be moving to center. Carlin’s move in particular helps out, as he was a little too undersized for guard but is the right size for center, and has shown the ability to snap consistently in preseason practices. Holstege and DiGiorgio weren’t very consistent last year but the hope is that better coaching can get them to that level.

At the all-important left tackle spot, the Bruins are importing Reuben Unije from Houston (technically from Louisville, where he initially transferred to this offseason before switching to UCLA), and Unije has reportedly been UCLA’s best offensive lineman in practices, which is a good sign. The last starting spot of right guard should go to UNLV transfer Alani Makihele, who was solid for the Rebels last year and should provide some stability on that side of the line. The Bruins also brought in a few depth pieces in Michael Carmody, a Notre Dame transfer with an injury history but the ability to play tackle and guard, and Oluwafunto Akinshilo, who has some guard experience but did not break into the rotation at Iowa State.

No matter who ultimately plays, this group has to perform. UCLA’s offense suffered massively last year due to subpar line play, and if the Bruins cannot get even average play from the offensive line, it will be a long season.

Defensive Personnel

The offense is a case where there are a lot of returning starters but a need to figure out some major issues to make it function properly. The defense is more a case of trying to figure out how to replace a load of production that has moved on from the program. There are new starters at multiple levels of this defense, and it is going to be fascinating watching this coaching staff try to rebuild what has been an excellent unit the past few seasons.

There are some clear bright spots, starting with the defensive tackles. Jay Toia flirted with the transfer portal but ultimately chose to return to UCLA (thanks in part to the Bruins putting together a competitive NIL package). Toia is the best player on this roster and has the potential to play himself into the first round of the NFL draft this year, so expect opposing offenses to scheme around him as much as possible. It helps that his defensive tackle partner, Keanu Williams, was also very good last year, which makes it harder for opposing defenses to focus solely on stopping Toia. Gary Smith may or may not play this year after breaking his ankle, and the Bruins brought in Drew Tuazama from South Carolina to offer some playable depth, but this is not a very deep unit.

Linebacker will also be a strength of the team due to its quality depth. I’ve long lamented the lack of attention this unit was given in recruiting by the end of the Mora regime and the beginning of the Kelly era, but the unit right now is incredibly deep and has a ton of playable bodies. You can reasonably assume that Kain Medrano and Oluwafemi Oladejo will get the starting nods given how strong they played last year, but Ale Kaho is back healthy this year, which gives the Bruins three top-tier options (the Bruins tend to run a 4-2-5 defense, so only two linebackers are usually on the field at a time). There’s a lot of good depth behind them as well; Joseph Vaughn transferred in from Yale and looks extremely playable, Jalen Woods has improved a ton and should make an impact, and JonJon Vaughns might get to play this year after getting held out for weird reasons throughout last year.

That quality of depth might help solve one of the question marks on the team: defensive end. It was always going to be an impossible task to try and replace a first-round talent like Laiatu Latu, let alone the Murphy twins opposite him, but UCLA does not have much depth or quality at the end spots going into this season. Jacob Busic will likely start at one spot, but he is coming off an injury and topped out at six sacks in his last full season playing at Navy. Devin Aupiu seems to be in line for the other spot, and he’s a converted defensive tackle. The Bruins brought in a couple of transfers this offseason but given the major jump up in quality of play these guys will be experiencing (Cherif Seye is coming from an HBCU, while Luke Schuermann is making the jump from Division III) it is hard to expect major contributions from them. This is where that linebacker depth comes in handy; Oladejo spent a considerable portion of the spring working with the defensive ends, and if he can play as more of a rush linebacker, that might help solve some of the defensive end issues while not impacting the linebacker play.

The secondary should be a mixed bag. At corner, the Bruins can rely on Jaylin Davies to continue his solid play at one of the spots, but have a decision to make at the other. Can Devin Kirkwood recapture some of the magic of 2022, or will incoming transfer Kaylin Moore unseat him? And can the Bruins get solid production from further down the depth chart (particularly from Jadyn Marshall, the converted wideout who has the most intriguing skillset of the bunch). The Bruins are replacing the entirety of the backend, with Kenny Churchwell and Alex Johnson running out of eligibility while Kamari Ramsey was lured across town. UCLA has imported a whole new set of starters to replace them, with Bryan Addison and Ramon Henderson transferring in from Oregon and Notre Dame respectively to man the safety spots, while Georgia Tech transfer K.J. Wallace looks poised to man the nickel spot. The depth behind these three is almost non-existent, and the team will need one of Croix Stewart or Clint Stephens to step up and fill in that third safety spot.

Special Teams

Yeah, I have no clue here. Mateen Bhaghani transferred in from UC Berkeley this past offseason, so you have to assume he’ll get first crack at field goals, but punter has been more of an open competition. Brody Richter transferred in from Northern Arizona, but he’s been locked in a battle with walk-on Chase Barry, with neither looking particularly great and running away with the competition. There are at least intriguing options at returner; Keegan Jones will likely get the first crack at kickoff returns again, and Logan Loya will similarly get the first go at punt returner, with Mokiao-Atimalala and Sturdivant waiting in the wings.

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That’s all for Part 1 of the 2024 Season Preview. In Part 2, we’ll talk about expectations and do a quick rundown of the schedule.

Go Bruins!

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