UCLA football head coach Karl Dorrell chose Larry Kerr as his
new defensive coordinator on Friday. Kerr, 49, has been serving for
the last 10 years as defensive coordinator at Colorado State.
“I am truly excited to be at UCLA,” Kerr said.
“It’s a tremendous honor to work with Coach
Dorrell.”
Kerr is the fourth assistant coach that Dorrell has hired since
taking over for Bob Toledo. He replaces Phil Snow, who has taken a
position at Washington as co-defensive coordinator.
Kerr said Dorrell had contacted him about the job the previous
week. He was not interviewed in person, but he is no stranger to
working with Dorrell.
The pair coached together at Northern Arizona from 1990-1991
along with newly hired UCLA offensive coordinator Steve Axman. Kerr
served as defensive coordinator while Dorrell was offensive
coordinator and Axman was head coach for the Lumberjacks.
Kerr is also no stranger to UCLA. He served as inside
linebackers and special teams coordinator under Terry Donahue in
1989.
At Colorado State, he ran the Mountain West Conference’s
fourth-ranked defense this season. The Rams won the conference and
lost in the Liberty Bowl.
For what it’s worth, UCLA put up 30 points against
Kerr’s defense in the Bruins’ season-opening win over
Colorado State this year.
“My system is very similar to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
defense,” Kerr said. “Expect a combination of pressure
and solid fundamentals.”
Kerr turned down an offer to become linebackers coach for the
Cleveland Browns, where Dave Campo recently took over as defensive
coordinator.
“I weighed the alternatives and decided that working with
Karl Dorrell was what excited me the most.”
Texas secondary coach Duane Akina and North Texas defensive
coordinator Gary DeLoach were also interviewed for the
position.
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An NFL scout told the San Francisco Chronicle last week that the
draft stock of senior cornerback Ricky Manning Jr. is on the rise.
Manning proceeded to make the scout look smart by intercepting
Miami’s Ken Dorsey in Saturday’s East-West Shrine Game
in San Francisco.
Offensive tackle Mike Saffer and punter Nate Fikse also played
for the West team, which lost 20-17.
With contributions from Jeff Eisenberg, Daily Bruin Senior
Staff.