Like a guilty suspect fleeing from a crime scene, the UCLA football team threw away the pistol, concealing evidence of the offensive ineptitude of seasons past.
The Bruins have brought in a new offensive coordinator, Noel Mazzone, and with him a new offensive scheme. The new no-huddle, high-tempo spread offense has had its growing pains, but the team has made progress in learning it through the course of spring practice.
“There’s a lot of things to clean up that they’ve got to get to, but what I did like is I liked the tempo that they played at,” Mazzone said after the spring game on Saturday. “I thought they really tried to push the tempo today. The quarterbacks did a really nice job with the communication part. There’s no huddle so they have to tell 10 other guys what to do in a very short period of time ““ I thought they really handled that well.”
The new offense features the team’s playmakers at the running back position, such as redshirt freshman Steven Manfro and redshirt sophomore Jordon James, in the open field through quick passes from the quarterback. The strategy proved effective as both players’ shiftiness and lateral quickness made them difficult to tackle.
“We are really, really explosive and so big plays can come at any time,” said senior quarterback Richard Brehaut. “In the past, it’s been run, run, run to set up the pass and today it felt like pass, pass, pass to set up a little run and I’m all about that.”
With an entirely new playbook to learn and a new responsibility of calling plays at the line of scrimmage in the hurry-up offense, the quarterbacks will need to devote much of their time this summer to prepare for their imminent season.
And to better do so, Brehaut has decided to quit the baseball team to better focus on football. He has spent the past two football offseasons with the baseball team but has been steadfast in his commitment to football, not missing any spring practices because of baseball.
“I think that for me football has always been the priority,” Brehaut said. “I didn’t get to be with (strength and conditioning coach Sal) Alosi much in the wintertime, so I’m excited to get that weight program started and get on the right track there and develop that leadership role through this offseason.”
The quarterbacks’ acumen was tested greatly with the spread offense at the Rose Bowl and to test their knowledge even further, Mazzone had the quarterbacks call their own plays after the first drive of the second half.
“I think right now we sort of have a good grasp on (the offense), but once we get a coaching grasp on it, it’s lights out,” redshirt freshman Brett Hundley said.
While Hundley may believe Mazzone let him call plays to test astuteness, Mazzone had perhaps an ulterior motive all along.
“After the first drive of the second half, I let each guy call his own plays so then they wouldn’t bitch at me ““ they understand how hard it is when it’s third-and-eight to call a play or third-and-10. They’re like, “˜Oh coach, that’s harder than it looks, isn’t it?'” Mazzone said with a laugh.
Early bird
After Saturday’s spring game, freshman cornerback Marcus Rios was swarmed by dozens of fans both young and old clamoring for his autograph.
Six weeks ago, Rios was simply a high school student at Consumnes Oaks High in the Sacramento area.
Rios finished his high school requirements early to come to UCLA in time for spring ball, and judging by the ear-to-ear smile as he signed posters and T-shirts, he was pleased with his decision.
“This experience has been amazing,” Rios said. “I love it here at UCLA and nothing has been too hard so far, which has been great. I just love it.”
On the field, Rios had several pass breakups in the spring game including one where he nearly intercepted redshirt senior quarterback Kevin Prince in the back of the end zone.
“I feel like I played pretty well out there. I made some plays but I had a few mental errors as well. Overall I feel like I played pretty well.”