Bruins used silver screens as precaution
UCLA football coach Chip Kelly decided to take extra precautions to prevent any advantage that could have worked in Arizona’s favor during the Pac-12 South division football game in Tucson on Saturday night.
UCLA put up silver screens to shield play calls from the press box.
“We are always just trying to protect what we do on the offensive side of the ball,” said Kelly about the screens. “It depends on who we are playing, what we are doing and the intelligence we have in terms of how they operate.”
It was the first time Kelly had used the screens during his tenure at UCLA.
When Jedd Fisch was hired as offensive coordinator at UCLA by Jim Mora in 2017, Fisch brought Jimmie Dougherty over from Michigan with him to serve as wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator.
Mora was fired during the 2017 season and Fisch took over as interim head coach. After Kelly was hired as coach, Dougherty was retained as the Bruins’ receivers coach.
He left the program in 2020 to reunite with Fisch in Arizona and become the assistant coach, passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Dougherty worked in the press box during the game on Saturday and his familiarity with the Bruins’ offense may have led to Kelly’s extra precaution.
Kelly told reporters to “figure it out” when asked if the press box factored into the decision to use the screens.
Most football stadiums would traditionally have the press box face the visiting team’s sideline, but the Arizona Stadium press box faces the Wildcats’ sideline.
“... Because of that (and) we had a coach on our staff that was on the UCLA staff,” Arizona coach Jedd Fisch said. “I think there was probably
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some thought process there that we would know their signals and be able to communicate it.
“We didn’t and we weren’t, but that’s why the silver screens were there. It was so you couldn’t see down, I think.”
Weekly honors
UCLA kicker Nicholas Barr-Mira was voted the Pac-12 conference special teams player of the week.
Barr-Mira made successful field goals of 23 and 43 yards and made all four of his extra point attempts against the Wildcats.
The kicker joins punt returner Kyle Philips as the second Bruin to win the honor this season.
Walking on
Quarterback JP Zamora, of Chiawana High in Washington, announced on Twitter that he has verbally committed to the Bruins as a preferred walk-on. The Bruins will travel to Washington this week to play the Huskies.
The 6-foot-5 player is ranked as the No. 54 quarterback and a 3-star prospect, according to the 247sports composite rankings, for the 2022 recruiting class.
He previously committed to Utah on Nov. 23, 2020 before decommitting on May 6, 2021.
UCLA has had recent success with walk-ons, including tight end Greg Dulcich and running back Ethan Fernea. Both players would go on to earn scholarships from the football program.
Duck date
The Bruins will host Oregon at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, Oct. 23 at 12:30 p.m., the university announced on its athletic department’s Twitter account.
The Pac-12 game will be broadcast on either ABC or ESPN. The network designates which channel it will officially air the game on after the Oct. 16 games are played.
Injury report
UCLA defensive back Mo Osling III was a limited participant at Monday’s practice. He was seen on a stationary bike and doing individual work off to the side. He did not play in the last two games for UCLA.
Fernea is back in uniform participating in special teams and seen catching a pass during receiver drills with a club wrapped around his right hand and wrist. Last week, Fernea told reporters that he had successful surgery.