Editor’s note: A player’s year refers to his NCAA eligibility for next season. So a player who is a freshman in school this spring is called a sophomore because he will be a sophomore when the NCAA football regular season starts in fall.
Now that UCLA football’s spring practice season is officially over, it’s time to look back and see how each position group performed overall. These are our grades for the Bruin defense and special teams.
Part I, which looked at the offense, can be found here.
Defensive line: A+
This position group was by far the best of spring camp. Day after day, the D-line gave the O-line fits – even without the help of standout senior defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes, who is still nursing a knee injury from last year.
The biggest indicator of the D-line’s success perhaps occurred when coach Jim Mora listed off his top five defensive standouts of the spring. Three of the five players Mora mentioned were defensive linemen.
Mora called senior defensive end Takkarist McKinley the MVP of spring camp. The 6-foot-3, 255-pound rush end thrived in the new 4-3 concepts installed this spring. Whereas McKinley used to be mired on the inside positions of the line in the 3-4 schemes, he was able to move further outside in the 4-3 and optimize his most lethal trait – his speed.
“I mean, he was a 10.6 100-meter guy in high school, and he’s still got that speed,” Mora said of McKinley. “So I think he can be very, very dangerous, and I’m excited to watch him this fall.”
It appeared that the new 4-down fronts installed into UCLA’s defense optimized a lot of players’ talents, not just McKinley’s. Junior Matt Dickerson emerged at the other defensive end spot opposite McKinley, using his power a bit more often to break through the B-gap at the line of scrimmage. Dickerson frequently had his way against redshirt sophomore Kolton Miller, UCLA’s starting right tackle, in one-on-one drills as well.
Aside from Dickerson and McKinley, senior Eli Ankou appeared to be a more-than-competent replacement for senior Kenny Clark at nose tackle, and junior Jacob Tuioti-Mariner stood out to Mora at the 3-technique position. By fall, however, Tuioti-Mariner will likely return to a platoon role as Vanderdoes returns from injury.
A couple notes on the reserve defensive linemen: Sophomore defensive ends Rick Wade and Keisean Lucier-South both had standout camps and appear to be earning some playing time with the first-team defense come fall. Redshirt junior Nick Terry also showed some toughness and physicality playing at the 3-technique during spring camp.
Linebackers: B+
This group really felt the toll of injuries during the spring. Early-enrollee freshmen linebackers Mique Juarez and Breland Brandt both missed significant time with head and neck injuries, making an already thin linebacker group even thinner.
With the lack of depth, senior “Sam” linebacker Jayon Brown had to be out there about 80 percent of the time during 11-on-11s.
“I would bet anything he had more reps than anybody by far in our camp,” said defensive coordinator Tom Bradley. “I think we charted about 1,297 plays going into (Spring Showcase), and I know Jayon had a good piece of those … because we didn’t have the opportunity to substitute as much as we wanted.”
There were times when it appeared that fatigue may have gotten the better of Brown, such as when he got thrown out of practice on April 7 for a targeting penalty that left a wide receiver motionless on the ground. Brown bounced back strongly from the transgression, though, finishing camp as one of Mora’s top five defensive standouts. He was all over the field, looking like the clear leader of the UCLA defense.
The middle linebacker position in the 4-3 defense is still up for grabs at this point, with senior Isaako Savaiinaea and junior Kenny Young sharing first-team reps all spring. Both looked decent, but once again struggled at times defending the run. UCLA’s trio of starting tailbacks – sophomores Soso Jamabo and Bolu Olorunfunmi and junior Nate Starks – often had their way running the ball during camp.
Over at the “Will” linebacker position, senior Cameron Judge got most of the first-team reps.
Overall, it’s hard to tell much from the linebackers because of all the injuries that occurred over the course of camp. UCLA’s running backs put up some gaudy rushes, but it’s hard to tell just how much is the linebackers’ fault at this point.
Cornerbacks: B
This group was hampered by injuries this spring, as five former starters missed time with various injuries.
One of those former starters missing was then-redshirt senior cornerback Fabian Moreau, who’s still recovering from the lisfranc injury he sustained last fall. In addition, redshirt junior corner John Johnson missed the entirety of spring camp after suffering a shoulder injury in the Foster Farms Bowl at the end of last season.
Redshirt senior Marcus Rios, sophomore Nate Meadors and redshirt senior Randall Goforth were also off-and-on the practice field nursing injuries throughout spring.
The injuries to the defensive backs group forced a couple positional changes to fill the voids. Junior safety Jaleel Wadood played a little bit of corner for the first time in his Bruin career, and looked pretty competent there. Also, sophomore Stephen Johnson flipped from receiver to cornerback at times, but looked like a work in progress, according to Mora.
Of the cornerbacks who played consistently during fall camp, sophomore Will Lockett and senior Charles Dawson looked to be the main standouts. Dawson made two interceptions in the Spring Showcase, picking off Rosen once on a streak and once on a deep-in route on the left side of the field.
“Charles earned a scholarship last year as a walk-on, and he’s a young man that really does deserve a look,” Mora said after the Spring Showcase. “When a guy makes plays at the rate he makes plays, you’re an idiot if you don’t give him a look. We’ve got to continue to give him a look.”
One of the cornerbacks who played less consistently during camp, but showed flashes, was redshirt sophomore Denzel Fisher. Fisher saw increased playing time with the first-team defense in wake of the injuries, but struggled a bit with defending double-move routes. He improved over the course of spring, however, and made three or four very solid pass deflections in the Spring Showcase.
Safeties: B-
UCLA’s safeties didn’t really stand out during spring camp, which may be a good thing. Redshirt sophomore Adarius Pickett saw a huge jump in playing time, as Goforth – formerly a starter at safety – moved almost exclusively to corner for spring ball.
In addition, with Wadood moving around and playing some corner as well, senior Tahaan Goodman saw a good amount of playing time with the first-team defense. Goodman has always been a big-time tackler, but has struggled with coverage in the past. He looked better in that regard during spring camp.
In an interesting move, cornerback DeChaun Holiday was moved to safety during spring camp. The sophomore looked pretty raw at that position, getting beat several times. The former four-star recruit definitely has an upside, though, with his imposing 6-foot-2, 220-pound frame.
Kickers: B
The starting kicker battle is J.J. Molson’s to lose, as the scholarship freshman is battling with a walk-on sophomore – Andrew Strauch. Still, though, there was quite a bit of healthy competition between the two throughout camp, with each trading off kicks at the end of practice.
In the end, Molson surged ahead of Strauch in the bell lap of spring practice. Over the final week of practice, Molson made 14 of his 15 attempts. He also showed poise when kicking in front of his biggest audience yet at the Spring Showcase on Saturday at Drake Stadium. During that event, Molson made all three of his kicks – one from about 30 yards and two from over 40 yards.
The punting situation – which was problematic for UCLA last year – was hard to evaluate during spring camp. The punters rarely work in game-like situations with the rest of the team, as the offense and defense occupy the field for almost all of practice.