The experienced Bruins defense dominated Friday’s spring game, and no one was at all surprised.
With the offense still adjusting to a new system, both offensive units struggled to move the ball. However, coach Karl Dorrell seemed to have expected the lopsided scrimmage.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Dorrell said. “And actually I feel pretty good comfort. Usually your defense dominates in the spring. If it was the other way around, I’d be concerned. But I’m not. I’m very pleased with where we’ve made our progress and the depth on our defense.”
Ben Olson, who was named the starting quarterback last week, led the first-team offense against the second-team defense and was the most effective of the quarterbacks.
He hit 7-16 passes for 92 yards and one touchdown, though most of that productivity was when the ball was placed inside the red zone.
For Olson, the offense was to blame for their own struggles ““ not the suffocating defense.
“I’m never going to admit that anybody stopped us,” Olson said. “We pretty much stopped ourselves, messing up here and there and not doing things right. We settled down and started doing things a little bit better, but at the beginning it got a little bit ugly there.”
“Ugly” was certainly the right word to describe the offense at the beginning of the scrimmage. The defensive line was in the backfield on almost every play and the running game struggled to gain anything.
“Offensively we got a lot of work to do,” Dorrell said. “We put in a lot of information this spring and we’re not quite in sync yet. It’ll get there.”
Defensive end Bruce Davis can relate to the offense’s struggles. Last season, with then-new defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker, it took time before the defense became a cohesive unit with the new schemes.
“Let’s face it ““ we have an NFL system with NFL coaches,” Davis said. “We’re just comfortable with our system and they’re not. That’s just plain and simple. They’re going to hit a lot of bumps in the road, especially against us. They’re going to have their hardships but it’s nothing they can’t work out.”
For the defense, making life miserable for the offense is just part of the job description.
“Honestly we expected to dominate our offense,” cornerback Rodney Van said. “That was our goal the whole spring ““ dominate the offense. … Anytime you bring in a new system, new terminology and things, it’s going to be rough on them, especially going up against the defense that gelled so quickly last year.”
QBS ON THE RUN: Partially due to a swarming front seven, and partially due to play calls, the Bruin quarterbacks were sent scrambling in the backfield for much of Friday’s scrimmage.
The defense recorded seven sacks, but the play of the game may have been third-string quarterback Osaar Rasshan’s 18-yard gain on third-and-eight. Flushed from the pocket, he rolled to his right then cut back across the field, making two players miss and drawing one of the biggest applauses of the night.
KICKERS GO 5-6: Kicker Kai Forbath connected on two of three field goals, missing one from short range, including a long of 27 yards. Jimmy Rotstein was 3-for-3 with a long of 34 yards.
MEDLOCK DRAFTED: Former UCLA kicker Justin Medlock was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs with the 23rd pick in the fifth round and the 160th pick overall. He was the first kicker taken in the draft.