UCLA Football Spring Practice Day 5: A Deeper Look at the Offense

It is the fifth day of Spring Practice for the UCLA Football team and Go Joe Bruin took a hard look at the offense, which is slowly progressing and had more than a few bright spots.

So what does new UCLA Football Offensive Coordinator Jedd Fisch’s “multiple” offense look like and how is it developing? These were two questions I looked to answer as I focused on the offense for much of this practice.

With a new offensive philosophy (the third in as many seasons), the Bruins have to be retrained on what the are expected to do. Though this seems very similar to the offense ran by last year’s OC Kennedy Polamalu, it seems that Fisch is more into explaining every little detail.

When I got to the IM Field on the campus of UCLA, the offensive line was on the west field working on form and technique. OL Coach Hank Farley was having the line go through their rhythm and spending  a good amount of time after every snap to discuss where individuals should be and how they need to pick up their assignments.

The line will take some time to click which was evident when the Bruins ran 11-on-11s. In three series with Josh Rosen, Devon Monster and Matt Lynch behind center, the Bruins’ only score came off a field goal. Rosen had ended his first drive with an INT that could have gone for 6.

All of the QBs were rushed as the defense was able to consistently get in the backfield, which caused the quarterbacks to force several throws. After a while, the Bruins settled down with two good 30-yard drives for touchdowns, which was capped by Nate Starks bulldozing into the end zone for a a five-yard run. The running game needs work, but there were plenty of good runs from the RBs.