UCLA Football: Questions Arise About New Offensive Coordinator Jedd Fisch

With the UCLA Football team hiring Jedd Fisch as their new offensive coordinator, questions arise as to how he fits into the program and what coaches he will use.

The UCLA Football team will make the hiring of Jedd Fisch official later today. As he becomes the third Bruin offensive coordinator in the last three years, he will look to make the UCLA offense his own and try to bring them back to greatness.

But questions arise about how he will do that.

First off, can Fisch lead this team to success? As a quarterbacks coach, he has been successful in molding two young QBs at Michigan the last two years and they have done very well under his tutelage.

As he arrives in Westwood, he already has a good quarterback in Josh Rosen, so he will work more on execution rather than development. This does not seem to be an issue (unless Rosen’s shoulder is not ready for the 2017 season), but other factors will lead to how successful Fisch can be.

What may be an issue (and our second question) is what will happen, if at all, with certain position coaches? Fisch was the passing game coordinator, QB and receivers coach at Michigan. Will he resume these roles at UCLA?

Currently, Marques Tuiasosopo is the passing game coordinator and QB coach for the Bruins while Eric Yarber coaches the receivers. It seems Tuiasosopo is safe with his position, but Yarber’s receivers did not do very well this last season. Will changes be made or will it be a collaboration to try and improve these areas?

And what will happpen with offensive line coach Adrian Klemm? The combination of a show cause label, a dip in recruiting results and his position group underachieving has left Bruin fans wondering if he is the best person for the job. This is something Fisch will need to address immediately.

Lastly, what kind of offense will Fisch bring and does he have the experience to turn the Bruins around?

Fisch has had experience as an OC at Minnesota, Miami and in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars. That is something former OC Kennedy Polamalu did not have.

Fisch ran a multi-look offense that could be described as “pro-style”, which will help him build off of what Polamalu tried to do. His focus should be on drastically improving the run game, but what he brings to the passing game could boost the overall production of the offense.

But this is all in theory. Fisch needs to first analyze the pieces he has to work with on the roster and find the best way to fit his players into his scheme.

Next: A Way-Too-Early Look at UCLA's 2017 Schedule

Indeed there are a lot of questions and none will be answered immediately, but there is time to try and make this team as proficient as they were in Rosen’s freshman year. If he does not, and 2017 turns out to be more like 2016, we could see another one-and-done OC.