Defense starts taking shape under the new coordinator
LOS ANGELES » Linebacker Bo Calvert and defensive back Stephan Blaylock have experienced the highs and lows that have come on the road to helping Coach Chip Kelly turn UCLA back into a formidable team in the Pac12 Conference.
Both Calvert and Blaylock decided to take advantage of their fifth year of eligibility, provided by the NCAA in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, with the mindset of helping the Bruins reach the postseason.
The super seniors had their first practice of training camp Friday with new defensive coordinator Bill McGovern who was brought on following the resignation of Jerry Azzinaro, their coordinator for the past four seasons.
McGovern has worked as a linebackers coach for the Philadephia Eagles, New York Giants, and Chicago Bears during his career.
“He treats us like we are a professional program,” Calvert said. “(We're) able to come in and have guys be responsible for themselves. … With other, programs you have to coddle guys and worry about them but we don't have that here.”
Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson has noticed the defense coming into its own under McGovern.
“I think their overall message (from what I've interpreted) is to be `attacking,'” Thompson-Robinson said. “That's definitely what they've been doing every day. They're trying to get the ball from us, forcing us to carry it higher and forcing me to put the ball in better positions.”
Thompson-Robinson also mentioned that the defense will benefit from having more senior leadership on the field again from players like Calvert and Blaylock.
“I think when you set expectations for yourself, you raise your level of play physically and mentally,” Blaylock said at Pac-12 media day. “We want to be great and bring this program back to be something greater than it was before and we can do that by just being ourselves, playing ball, and not making any game bigger than what it is.”
Among those expectations are to become bowl eligible for a second straight year. The Bruins became bowl eligible last season for the first time since 2017 but were unable to play in their scheduled Holiday Bowl matchup against North Carolina State due to COVID-19 protocols within the UCLA program.
“It was tough for everyone,” Calvert said when reflecting on finding out the game was called off just hours before kickoff. “I'm looking forward to (starting the season) and getting to another bowl game. … I'm confident we will be able to do that.”
Roster surprises
UCLA officially released the football program's 2022 roster Thursday ahead of the start of fall camp. There were a few interesting takeaways upon its release.
Kazmeir Allen is listed as a receiver, after previously being listed as a running back in each of his first four seasons.
Allen has proven to be one of the Bruins' most versatile players and could still line up in the backfield this season. He was named to the Paul Hornung Award watch list in July. The award recognizes the most versatile athletes in football.
“Our job is to try to find out how many different ways we can get (Allen) the ball,” Kelly said at Pac-12 media day. “He obviously has game-breaking speed (and) has tremendous vision and instincts when he's running the ball.”
Allen was a difference maker in the Bruins' 62-33 victory over rival USC, producing 278 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns. Allen had three catches for 115 yards and two touchdowns and scored another on a 100yard kick return for a touchdown.
Linebacker Damian Sellers was not listed on the team's fall camp roster. He did participate with the team during spring practice but the reason for his absence was not made public.
As a true freshman, he started five of seven games at outside linebacker in 2020.
He did participate in the team's spring practices this offseason but the reason for his absences has not been made public.
Sellers started the 2021 season in a walking boot and missed the first four games of the season before playing the final eight games. He was the Bruins' highest-rated recruit in the 2020 class.