Jaelan Phillips and Darnay Holmes should be getting ready for their high school proms.
Instead, the two UCLA early enrollees are taking reps with the Bruins’ first-team defense in spring practice.
“I don’t know if either one of them can get dates, but they should be getting ready to go to the prom, and they’re out here with us,” said defensive coordinator Tom Bradley.
It’s representative of the youth movement that has swept a UCLA defense looking to recover from the departures of leaders like Takkarist McKinley, Eddie Vanderdoes and Jayon Brown.
Junior linebacker Josh Woods, the starter on the weak side, is still only 19 years old, but he’s now something of an elder statesman on the defense. Sophomore defensive tackle Boss Tagaloa is anchoring the defensive line on the interior, and Phillips and Holmes are competing for first-team action as freshmen.
Redshirt sophomore Dechaun Holiday, who switched from defensive back to linebacker just last year, is seeing first-team looks at the strong-side spot where Woods played last season.
And the right cornerback position is up for grabs after Johnny Johnson left the program this past week, with one of the competitors, senior Mossi Johnson, having switched from wide receiver this offseason.
“Obviously, there’s a couple spots that are wide open,” Bradley said. “But there’s some great competition. We want competition.”
Bradley said losing McKinley, in particular, will impact the type of defense the Bruins play. A likely first-round pick, McKinley posted 10 sacks and 18 tackles for loss last season, the type of numbers that will be hard to replace with just one player.
“We’ll be a little bit more multidimensional in our scheme this year than last, because we had a guy like Takk who could do so many different things that we were just able to set him up,” Bradley said. “It’s going to be more of a team defense.”
Even with the new faces across the board, the defense has beaten the offense repeatedly in 11-on-11 drills. Part of that can be attributed to the ongoing installation of offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch’s tactics, but encouraging play from the defense has been a factor as well.
“For a head coach, anytime you walk over here after practice, you can be positive or negative, depending on what side of the ball you were watching,” coach Jim Mora said on Monday. “So I was fired up about the defense today.”
Woods, who said he gained a lot of strength in his legs during the offseason, has looked explosive this spring and could be a potential playmaker for the Bruins this fall. On one play during 11-on-11 action Wednesday, he burst over from the weak side to snuff out a pass play for a short gain, prompting linebackers coach Scott White to start screaming, “There you go, Josh!”
Phillips and Holmes have been more than deserving of their first-team reps, too, with both Tagaloa and Woods praising the two early enrollees during Wednesday’s media session.
“I’m really impressed with Jaelan Phillips. … I can’t tell he’s a freshman,” Woods said. “Also, Darnay Holmes, he’s making strides playing with the ones. With him too, there’s no drop-off. Both of them are ready to go with the ones anytime.”