It’s hard to believe that this year’s UCLA football fall training camp could generate as much buzz as last year’s – if not more.
In 2014, the Bruins garnered as much preseason hype as ever, entering the year ranked No. 7 in the AP poll – their highest preseason ranking since 1998. The team was so well documented that the Pac-12 Networks even had a weekly reality show called “The Drive” that chronicled the Bruins’ progression throughout the season.
This year, “The Drive” will no longer cover the UCLA football team, but here’s guessing that the Pac-12 Networks wishes it was.
The main storyline entering UCLA’s fall camp is widely regarded as the most intriguing narrative in football: a quarterback battle. It features the near-unanimous No. 1 quarterback recruit from 2015 – freshman Josh Rosen – and the son of a former UCLA coach and quarterback – redshirt junior Jerry Neuheisel. The winner of this competition will get to lead a team that enters the year ranked No. 14 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
Coach Jim Mora said that regardless of who wins the quarterback position, that player will not have nearly as much pressure as former UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley had when he won the job in 2012.
“With regards to the quarterback situation, I think the thing that gives me some measure of comfort is knowing that we have a pretty veteran group around that player,” Mora said at UCLA’s Pac-12 Media Day on July 30. “It’s very unlike Brett’s situation from three years ago where Brett had to kind of step in and do a lot.”
Outside of the well-documented UCLA quarterback situation, here are some other storylines to watch for during fall camp.
Will new leaders emerge?
OK, this storyline still has to do with the quarterback – kind of.
UCLA is a team that has more returning starters than any team in the Pac-12, with nine on offense and eight on defense. But the few players that the Bruins lost from last year’s team were big ones – particularly in the leadership department.
On offense, Hundley was the vocal leader, and had been for the past two seasons. Defensively, inside linebacker Eric Kendricks patrolled the middle so well that he won the Butkus Award for the nation’s top linebacker.
Now, with both those players gone, there’s a leadership void on both sides of the ball – and it will likely be filled during fall camp.
“I’m excited to see where we go,” Mora said. “Those are some big shoes to fill, but that’s college football.”
Controlling the sack game
Speaking of voids to fill, UCLA’s biggest void at the start of training camp last year was in the pass-rush game. The Bruins lost each of their top three sackers from 2013 and struggled mightily to account for those losses early in 2014.
Through the first six games, UCLA’s defense recorded just seven sacks. Meanwhile, the UCLA offensive line surrendered 25 sacks during that span.
Perhaps the Bruins’ O-line struggles early in the year can be attributed to the fact that they were blocking against that subpar pass rush in practice – particularly during fall training camp in San Bernardino.
After their early struggles, the Bruin pass blockers and pass rushers both picked up their games, improving UCLA’s sack differential. It will be interesting to see if that trend continues in fall camp, with UCLA returning four of its five offensive lineman but only two of its top five sackers.
The return of the team’s sack leader – junior outside linebacker Deon Hollins – should help.
“He’s got an amazing first step,” Mora said. “Sometimes, officials are getting ready to reach for their flag, because he looks like he’s getting off before the snap but (he) really is not.”
Controlling the off-field issues
UCLA made as much off-the-field noise as any college football team this summer.
First, there was the aftermath of Soso Jamabo’s arrest. He was one of the top running back recruits of 2015, but many wondered if he’d ever suit up in Bruin blue and gold after he evaded a police officer on his prom night in late April. After over two months of speculation, Jamabo was finally reported to be with the UCLA team on June 21.
The very next day, rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested on UCLA’s campus after an alleged quarrel with UCLA strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi. Diddy’s son, Justin Combs, is a redshirt junior defensive back on the team.
Now that the dust from those incidents has finally settled, the question is whether another incident will arise during fall camp. Will Jamabo or Combs have more off-field issues, or will the Bruins stay out of the public eye? Mora would love for the latter.
“I would like no one to ever rank us, no one to ever cover us, and I would like to never be on TV,” Mora said. “But that’s not gonna happen.”
Replacement needed at right guard
UCLA’s projected starter at right guard was supposed to be a returning starter – junior Scott Quessenberry.
But at Pac-12 Media Days last week, Mora announced that Quessenberry will be redshirting this season after undergoing surgery on both his shoulders this offseason.
It will be interesting to see who wins that starting right guard spot now that Quessenberry is out for the year.
Perhaps a former starter at right tackle – redshirt junior Simon Goines – will transition to guard. Redshirt sophomore guard Kenny Lacy and junior transfer guard Zach Bateman are also viable candidates for the position. Lacy started against Utah and Oregon last year and Bateman was a four-star junior college recruit before transferring to UCLA at the start of winter quarter.
Compiled by Matthew Joye, Bruin Sports senior staff.