Welcome to a New World for UCLA Football
A lot of assorted thoughts for Early Signing Day.
I’ve been meaning to write this article for a few weeks now, but every time I do, something new comes up. Well, now seems as good a time as any to sit down and write this, especially with it being Early Signing Day today and having some big news to talk about.
I’m going to break this down into different sections, mostly so I can organize my thoughts as succinctly as possible.
Does Chip Kelly Finally Get It?
I think we’re finally reaching the point of the Chip Kelly Era where he understands how far his way of doing things will take him.
The central conceit of Chip Kelly’s UCLA tenure has been this: be deliberate in your recruiting, find diamond-in-the-rough prospects that the bigger teams are overlooking, and develop them over time. Then, use superior coaching to beat those bigger programs on the field. Moneyball, but for college football.
What we’ve seen to this point has proven the flaws in that plan. UCLA has struggled to bring in top-tier talent, but that has been by design. The problem is that UCLA has still struggled to beat teams with superior talent. To be sure, they have gotten close, and this year represented the first year where they were really able to beat a team at their talent level with superior coaching, but when they face an opponent with a clear talent advantage, the Bruins still came up woefully short. Even this year’s Southern Cal game bears that out, as UCLA was tantalizingly close to victory the entire time, but less due to their own play and more due to ineptitude on the part of the Trojans.
You can point to a lot of different issues like, for example, the defensive scheme and playcalling, as being part of the problem, but at the end of the day, this is where I’ve settled on the program under Kelly. At this point, I can’t question Kelly’s offensive acumen, but when push comes to shove he just hasn’t had the Jimmy’s and Joe’s that you need to beat a high-level team with X’s and O’s.
With this situation in mind, there has been a notable shift in strategy from Kelly’s program since the season ended. One of the biggest has been that UCLA is finally embracing the concept of a NIL collective to help in its recruiting efforts. Credit here can apparently go to basketball coach Mick Cronin, who was receptive to a collective in basketball and showed the rest of the UCLA administration that it could be implemented without all of the problems they were afraid of. The important part here is that Cronin is not using NIL as the sole way to recruit a player; rather, Cronin still recruits hard and then has UCLA’s collective to make sure they can offer a competitive NIL package, thus keeping a recruit in the fold when they might go somewhere else for money. Kelly apparently saw this success and finally gave the ok for a football version of this to go forward.
For those of you who are wondering or want to contribute, UCLA’s most-trustworthy NIL collective would be Men of Westwood. I know others like Caleb Wilson are looking to get something off the ground, but MoW has been the clearly-established choice for UCLA at this point.
NIL is only one part of the solution, however. The biggest part might have to do with a strategy change. Simply put: UCLA is actually making an effort now with higher-quality recruits. Obviously, one needs to look no further than the recent commitment of Dante Moore (who I’ll get to in a bit) but even beyond him UCLA is finally going out and meeting with high-end talent both in high school and in the transfer portal. Just consider high school recruiting, where UCLA is looking like a strong possibility for cornerback Roderick Pleasant and linebacker Leviticus Su’a, both four-stars. Or that UCLA is getting commitments from OL Spencer Holstege, a multi-year starter from Purdue, or having conversations with highly-regarded prospects like Oregon’s Byron Caldwell and Moliki Mataveo (who would ultimately choose to join up with UCLA yesterday). These were the kinds of things that needed to happen years ago, and are now taking place.
I’m not going to theorize on what has finally caused this shift in strategy. Maybe losing the way they did to Oregon and Southern Cal was the final straw. Maybe it was the Arizona loss, which showed that UCLA did not possess the same margin for error that those programs possess against inferior competition. Maybe it was the impending move to the B1G and the realization that UCLA will need to compete with Ohio State and Michigan, let alone Penn State, Michigan State, and Wisconsin. At the end of the day, the shift has finally begun. Let’s see what happens now.
Eyes Turn to the Defense
One of the bigger storylines this season was the status of UCLA defensive coordinator Bill McGovern. McGovern left the team with a health issue around the midway point of the season, and while he has returned to the team recently to help with bowl prep, there is a reported understanding that the health concern he has will prevent him from being the defensive coordinator next season.
I’m not sure how to really gauge McGovern’s abbreviated season at the helm of the UCLA defense. The defense certainly played better when he was calling plays, but they weren’t world-beaters by any stretch of the imagination. I think McGovern comes off looking better when comparing him to the playcalling of both former defensive coordinator Jerry Azzinaro and Clancy Pendergast, who took over midseason once McGovern went out, but that is a low bar, and the Oregon game featured a defensive gameplan that gave the Bruins no shot at winning. In either case, we wish him the best going forward.
Now, assuming McGovern truly is done with the program, the question will be who Chip Kelly will look to as a replacement. UCLA could look to an internal promotion of course - Clancy Pendergast essentially took his name out of the running with his playcalling down the stretch, but Ken Norton Jr. is a respected coach with coordinator experience at the NFL level - but likely the Bruins will look outside of this current staff for a replacement. One early name that was floated is now off the board, as Zach Arnett was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach at Mississippi State following the tragic loss of Mike Leach. Another name floated is that of former Wisconsin interim and defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard. Wisconsin fired Paul Chryst back in October with the belief that it was clearing the way for Leonhard to take over the position full-time, but then shocked the college football world by poaching Luke Fickell from Cincinnati. Leonhard announced he would be leaving Wisconsin a few days after, and while scuttlebutt is that Leonhard could look to the NFL, it was reported that Chip Kelly has at the very least reached out to Leonhard to gauge interest.
What has been interesting is how quiet UCLA has been regarding this whole situation. No one has been able to confirm McGovern’s status for the bowl game, let alone for next season, and no one has really leaked any potential names as a replacement. My early assumption was that UCLA would look to have something wrapped up early to sell to potential transfers or recruits before Early Signing Day, but it looks more and more likely that they will wait until after the bowl game, with a potential search dragging into January if there are NFL targets.
Here is what I will say in this situation: UCLA is in desperate need of an established defensive coordinator. The defense has been the biggest issue for the Bruins under Kelly, with a host of underwhelming coaching options wasting what has turned into an excellent offensive attack. UCLA has mostly solved its assistant coaching on that side of the ball, but they are in desperate need of a proven defensive coordinator to really take the team to the next level. This is especially true given the impending Big Ten move, as UCLA will have the money required to pay good money for a good coach.
(Also, as a bit of a personal view, the first job of any new defensive coordinator has to be to figure out what to do with Brian Norwood. Yes, all the defensive coaches should not be kept if the new coach does not want to keep them, but Norwood was brought in with a specific job of helping Azzinaro fix his blitz packages, but he’s brought essentially nothing to the defense. Worse, UCLA’s pass defense has gotten progressively worse since his arrival, despite having the best access to talent among the defensive position groups. I don’t really know how he still has a job beyond the need to hire a defensive coordinator first, so we’ll see.)
A Day at SoFi
I’m interrupting my train of thought just for a minute.
I went to SoFi Stadium on Sunday to watch my beloved San Diego Los Angeles Chargers take on the Tennessee Titans, a thrilling/boring game that the Chargers ultimately won on a last-second field goal. Some general thoughts before I continue.
One of the best parts of this season has been watching former Bruin Joshua Kelley evolve from a guy who was in a fight just to make the roster into being the clear backup to Austin Ekeler. Kelley has gotten much stronger, has improved his vision, and showcased an ability to make the key block in pass protection, something that has been extremely helpful as the Chargers dealt with line injuries. He’s not a perfect player, but this version of Joshua Kelley can stick around in the NFL for a long time, and there’s no one who deserves that success more than Josh.
Justin Herbert is unreal. I watched him uncork two different throws in this game that I am still convinced were not real. On the first, he let loose a throw across his body that went 30 yards downfield and hit a streaking Keenan Allen along the backside of the Titans’ defense. On the second, which I’m sure everyone saw, Herbert rolled to his right, stiff-armed a defender, and then hit Mike Williams with an absolute bomb 35 yards down the field to set up the go-ahead field goal. Herbert has been unreal since taking over as the Chargers’ quarterback, and it only serves as a bigger indictment of Mario Cristobal at Oregon that they could not do bigger things with him there.
SoFi Stadium really is a marvel. The entire thing was built with the idea of focusing your entire experience on the action - there are screens all over the place to show you the game, the giant halo is full of information to enhance the experience, and I am convinced there is not a bad seat in the building (for football, any other event your mileage may vary). The NFL live experience is still very weird to me and I definitely prefer the college experience to it, but I walked away deciding that, at the very least, I wouldn’t mind UCLA playing a neutral-site game here once in a while, similar to what happened when they played Texas at AT&T Stadium almost a decade ago.
Ok, enough of that, back to UCLA.
B1G Time
Hey, did you know that UCLA is going to the Big Ten? Because if you listened to Jon Wilner or John Catanzano for the past six months, that statement might have been in doubt!
Last week, the UC Board of Regents finally stopped beating around the bush and gave formal approval to UCLA’s move to the Big Ten, ending months of baseless speculation on whether they would stop the move or not. In the end, the Board had no real option but to approve of the move, especially in light of the financials of the move. I assume at some point Gene Block and Martin Jarmond sat in front of the Board and calmly explained that $70+ million is a bigger number than $30 million, and that was that. The Board did try to throw one last wrench in the proceedings by recommending UCLA pay some kind of amount to UC Berkeley. Our former SB Nation colleague Matt Brown, who writes the excellent Extra Points newsletter, immediately termed it as “Calimony.” Frankly, if UC Berkeley wants to come to the Rose Bowl every year to pick up this payment like the second-tier school they are, that’s fine by me.
There are questions about what the Pac-12 does from here regarding a new media rights deal, or whether they expand or not, but honestly I just don’t care about that anymore. UCLA is officially Big Ten bound, with all the bonuses that entails. UCLA is going to have more money to operate with in all of their sports, and can now sell the increased exposure that the Big Ten will bring to recruits. But mostly I’m just happy this stupid story of will-they, won’t-they is finally over.
The Moore of it All
I can’t avoid the biggest elephant in the room any longer. It was the final impetus for me writing this, after all.
On Monday, the rumor was finally made official when five-star quarterback Dante Moore out of Martin Luther King High in Detroit, Michigan announced that he was backing off his commitment to Oregon and would instead sign with UCLA. Moore is the 11th-best high school prospect in the country according to 247Sports’ Composite Rankings, while they themselves have him as the third-best prospect in the country. Just looking at 247Sports’ historical rankings, Moore is the third-best prospect UCLA has ever brought in since they started keeping track, only being bested by Jaelan Phillips and Eddie Vanderdoes.
Sometimes, it pays to be in the right place in the right time, and that’s seemingly what happened in this situation. Moore committed to Oregon back in July, but had seemingly always had an eye on UCLA, commenting that the Bruins were an intriguing team to him during this past spring. Still, Moore did not appear to be anything more than a long shot for the Bruins for a host of factors, including a lack of NIL apparatus and UCLA putting up middling results. But then Oregon’s offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham left to take the head coaching job at Arizona State, and Moore’s eye began to wander. At this point, UCLA came calling, armed with an NIL collective that, while not at the heavy dollar amounts of some of the biggest programs, still was able to put up a competitive offer that allowed UCLA’s coaching staff to have a legitimate shot and getting the flip. UCLA pulled off some cloak-and-dagger stuff to get Moore on campus for an official visit a few weekends ago, and that seemed to be the final tipping point. By last Saturday, word had gotten around that the flip was about to happen and, on Monday, the announcement was made.
To say Dante Moore’s commitment is the biggest in UCLA history might be a bit of hyperbole, but that statement is not off by much. It’s not just the fact that Moore is one of the highest-rated recruits UCLA has ever brought in, but it has to do with the moment in time that Moore is committing. UCLA getting Moore’s commitment is an announcement to the rest of the college football world that Chip Kelly’s program is finally ready to start playing with the big boys off the field after years in the wilderness. Not to belabor the point again, but the primary failing of the Chip Kelly era has not been one of on-field strategy but of off-field talent acquisition. Simply put, it is hard to imagine the Chip Kelly of 2018 going after a player of Moore’s caliber. Heck, it’s hard to imagine Kelly going after Moore at the beginning of this season.
But, clearly, things have changed. Moore’s commitment isn’t just big for what he will bring to the quarterback position at UCLA, but for what he means for the future of Chip Kelly at UCLA. Kelly needed something like this to reinstill confidence in the program. Yes, the team will be playing in the Sun Bowl looking to win a 10th game for just the 10th time in school history, and the first time since Jim Mora was able to do so twice in 2013 and 2014, but if you were to take the temperature of the UCLA fanbase at the end of the season, then you might land on apathy as the strongest emotion anyone felt. No, seriously - I went back to the UC Berkeley postgame just to make sure, and the common refrain was that Chip Kelly was going to be on the hot seat going into next season, and those feelings weren’t unwarranted.
Moore’s commitment won’t change things by itself. The Bruins still need to close strong on the recruiting trail, and there are some coaching positions that need to be ironed out, but it does provide the hope for next season that was lacking. Dante Moore is the type of player UCLA can sell to the fanbase and he’s someone that can give Kelly’s program a breath of fresh air.
Wait…Is Moore Any Good?
Oh yeah, he’s real good.
I could have chosen a ton of various highlights of Moore picking apart the competition up in Michigan, but I don’t think anything gets the pure talent that Moore possesses better than this film. Moore absolutely lit up the Elite 11 camp this past year, taking home some MVP accolades, and you can see why. Moore’s mechanics are on-point, and he hits throws to all levels of the field. He can throw some absolute ropes when necessary, but also possesses a touch on deeper passes that gives his receivers a chance. And, as is seemingly important in Chip Kelly’s offense, Moore is mobile both inside and out of the pocket. UCLA might play it cautious the first year just to make sure he holds up, but I would not be surprised if Moore becomes a major part of the run game going forward.
As good as that is, UCLA is also doing a great job to set Moore up for success. They’re bringing in two other quarterbacks this class in Kent State transfer Colin Schlee and incoming freshman Luke Duncan. In Schlee, UCLA is giving Moore a veteran quarterback to learn the college game from and push him early in his career, and in Duncan, Moore gets a compatriot who is going to grow with him and be ready to take over when he moves on. Unfortunately left out of this equation are two other quarterbacks currently on the roster in Ethan Garbers and Justyn Martin, and I would not be surprised to see at least one of them transfer out, but that’s the unfortunate cost of doing business when you bring in a prospect of Moore’s caliber.
For the first time in a good while, UCLA fans have something to celebrate on a National Signing Day. Enjoy the moment.
Go Bruins!
Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.
The term Calimony is absolutely brilliant. Should be immediately added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Merry Christmas, Mighty Bruins!