As usual, we’ll get right to this week’s interviews and see what’s been getting said at this week’s UCLA football press conferences. I’m just going to share this week’s videos here all in the same place to make it easy for you to watch them if you haven’t already. The videos in this article are courtesy of UCLA Athletics on YouTube, unless noted otherwise.
Coach Bob Chesney
On Monday, Coach Chesney recapped last week’s win over SDSU and looked ahead to tonight’s Purdue game. One of the topics he addressed was Nico’s quarterback play. This is how he assessed Iamaleava’s play against the Aztecs:
Yeah, I don’t think he forced much. I think when we needed him the most, he showed up on that the the drive where we really needed him the most with Samaj in the in that second half there where what fourth quarter whatever it was like he put two balls in phenomenal places on time and Samaj made a excellent catch and in some really tight coverage. So those are the things that we need just all the time and I thought by the end of the game we started to hit our stride on that side. We just got to clean it up a little bit more and start a little faster.
I thought he did a good job getting RPOS’s out. I think that, you know, for us, we just got to kind of use the run game to set up the pass game like we were able to do in earlier and later in that game, but earlier in that first game as well. And then, um, you know, we just got to let it fly. We just got to let it fly ultimately and he’s got to feel confident in in what he’s seeing and we got to be on the same page. I will also say that like when you’re down four receivers or whatever we were down now the timing of things the location of things just gets a little bit little bit different and it takes a minute and I thought by the time we got to the fourth quarter things cleaned up you know quite a bit.
On Tuesday, Ben Bolch asked Coach Chesney if his staff does any self-scouting to prevent someone from tipping plays the way Dante Moore was found to be tipping Oregon’s plays based on the position of his feet.
Bolch also asked how the team will adjust for tonight’s late kickoff. Chesney replied:
No, not really. We had a similar one at Cal. So, we have our normal way we go through our game day. That’s all just they’re up, we’re walking through, we’re at breakfast, walkthroughs, meetings, then they have a little of what we call “optimal nap time,” right? Then, they have a window in which they could go get off their feet and relax and then get up and restart it all. Trying to keep it all really calm throughout that Saturday until they come back down for pregame meal. At that point, it’s go time!
Coordinators: Colin Hitschler & Dean Kennedy
This week, we’re going to go to defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler first for one simple reason: The defense had a monster game holding the Aztecs to just 10 points. So, he’s up first with us today.
As far as Purdue goes, Hitschler summed up the challenge Ryan Browne presents for the Bruin defense:
The obvious answer is the amount of takeaways he had last year and he hasn’t thrown one this year. He was a good quarterback last year. I think, obviously, they’ve enhanced their receiving group and they’ve they’ve gotten better weapons around him and you’re starting to see his potential kind of pay off with more open guys and his ability to find the open seam, not have to basically win the game by himself like he did at times last year, which put him in danger of throwing takeaways.
So, we’ve got to find a way to create some takeaways. They’ve done a great job this year of not…I don’t think they have one on the season.
Meanwhile, offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy admitted the team did not practice well last week. He said:
And that’s the other piece that we talked about from offensive standpoint is our Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday practice was not our standard last week, right? And if we want to be what we want to be, it has to be the standard. We have to treat that day, whatever it is day that we’re on, that’s the most important part of the week.
He was then asked about the progress the team has made this week. Kennedy explained:
Yeah, 100%.
I mean, it’s interesting because Tuesdays are base downs, Wednesdays are situations, and Thursdays are the day that put it all together.
You’re going to have mistakes on Wednesday when you’re talking about it new scheme, especially in the red zone, third down. They’re going to showcase different blitzes that we haven’t seen up to this point. They’re going to do different things in coverage. I think you talk about the stressing point of Thursday that you understand there’s going to be mistakes on Tuesday because it’s the first time on base down. Same thing with Wednesday. Thursday is a day where you can push it all together where you start to feel really good and you hit your Friday walkthroughs and you’re rolling. So tomorrow’s a huge day for us.
Players: Riley Robell & Scott Taylor
One of the things Riley Robell discussed was the very heavy rotation the Bruins have used on the offensive line. Robell explained:
That’s a really big punch Coach Smith likes to make. We have a lot of depth. Coach Smith’s a great coach. He coaches everybody. It’s something unique. Not a lot of programs get to see. He coaches from the youngest guy in the room all the way to the oldest guy in the room.
There’s people making strides every single day, getting better. And with him pushing that and pushing that rotation in practice every day, we’re able to grow as a unit. Everybody can find that cohesion together. We all work together and 10 people, 15 people, 20 people, whatever it takes.
We’ll be fresh and running the football as much as we can this year.
Linebacker Scott Taylor explained how Coach Hitschler has motivated the defense. Taylor explained:
Normally, “Get tougher!” is what coach Hitch will say. He’ll just run up and down the sidelines and say “Get tougher!” And basically, what that means is…it’s not about physical toughness in the sense of like I’m going to go put my helmet through somebody and run them over, but it’s having the resiliency to go out there every drive and know that we’re not going to let them get an inch and there’s no free lunch and, basically, that’s the message.
Bonus Videos
On this week’s Bruin Insider Show, Riley Robell sat down for an interview with Nick Koop.
Finally, we’ll conclude with last week’s “Bruin Tape,” a summary of last week’s game against SDSU.
Go Bruins!!!
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