UCLA Football: True Freshmen Will Get Playing Time

The UCLA Football team once again restocked their roster with talent last signing day, which means that several true freshmen will see the field in 2016 as JIm Mora is not afraid to play youngsters.

UCLA Football Head Coach Jim Mora is not afraid to use true freshmen. His motto seems to be, “if you have the talent, you will play”.

Take Myles Jack for example. He had such an incredible skill set and made an immediate impact in practice, there was no way he wasn’t seeing the playing field in his first season. Like Jack, if there is a player that can immediately help out the UCLA football team, he’s going to see time on the field.

We could also get into a certain true freshman quarterback by the name of Josh Rosen, for another example, but I’m sure you already know about him.

UCLA Bruins /

UCLA Bruins

This year is no exception in terms of young talent. After the Bruins pulled in a Top 10 recruiting class, it was evident that there were several new guys that would see playing time sooner than later.

WR Theo Howard enrolled in the spring and made an immediate impact. His speed and cunning was especially noticeable as he was one of the more athletic receivers on the team.

Because of this we don’t just expect him to get playing time, but expect him to be heavily used and should be in the rotation more often than not.

LB Lokeni Toailoa has also been one of the more impressive youngsters in camp. He has picked up the Bruin’s defense quickly enough that he is part of the starting middle linebacker conversation, specifically stated by Mora.

LB Breland Brandt suffered an injury during spring practice but he has overcome that. This fall, Brandt has been playing well with be linebackers and could see time on the outside at some point this season.

QBs Devon Modster and Matt Lynch have been getting a lot of looks at the #2 spot during practice. It seems that senior Mike Fafaul could get the back up job, but he is being pushed by the two freshmen who both have had strong showings in fall camp.

Two of the more talked about freshmen are running backs and according to Offensive Coordinator Kennedy Polamalu, Jalen Starks and Brandon Stephens, are showing such good production that he would like to see a five running back rotation with Soso Jamabo, Nate Starks and Bolu Olorunfunmi. Needless to say, the running backs are deep.

And then there are the three Special Teams players who should all get the starting jobs as K Ka’Imi Fairbairn, P Matt Mengel and LS Christopher Longo have all graduated. K J.J. Molson, P Austin Kent and LS Johnny Den Bleyker will help the Bruins transition from their predecessors and continue with the success they brought

Because the team as a whole has bought in to what Mora and his staff are doing, there is more cohesiveness and willingness to learn, which has allowed knowledge to flow down to the freshmen and help them get acclimated to the system faster.

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Because of that, UCLA will not just have upper classmen and redshirts to choose from in their talent pool, but also fresh players that bring a certain style that only adds to the overall production of the team.