When the NFL, graduation and injuries come calling, good teams turn to their depth when they need healthy bodies on the field. The UCLA Football team has had to dip into their young depth with up and down results but it looks like the trials are finally paying dividends.
No one will accuse this 2017 UCLA Football team of being an all around “good” team. While the offense has has improved by leaps and bounds, the defense that was already going to be finding new playmakers has looked flat out bad plenty of times this year. They haven’t been helped with suspensions from targeting and injuries but such is the nature of the beast that is college football.
The resulting situation was the Bruins struggling to find healthy and capable players for all 11 positions on defense.
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On the defensive line the UCLA Football fanbase was ecstatic at the idea of Jaelan Phillips starting from day one for the Bruins but injuries and freshman mistakes have marred the debut of the top recruit. A guy that almost no one had on their radar but has stud potential is Marcus Moore who spent his freshman year recovering from injury. Now as a red-shirt freshman Moore has totaled five and a half tackles for loss and one sack in limited time. Osa Odighizuwa, Martin Andrus and Greg Rogers have all also played valuable minutes and shown the flashes that had Bruin coaches excited during the recruitment process.
The linebacker group is a group that hasn’t exactly been lights out and neither has the defensive line. There are questions about what the linebacker corps will look like in 2018 and beyond but for this season one guy has flashed.
Krys Barnes hasn’t been perfect this season but there have been promising signs. Hesitation in the hole or not being aggressive downhill are often the signs of an unsure player and that’s completely normal with young guys. Barnes has been guilty of this multiple time through the season but had one of his better outings against the ASU Sun Devils on Saturday night. This season I’ve seen him take on and shed offensive linemen to make tackles, be alert and effective in coverage and display solid football I.Q.
His growth has been paramount for the Bruins who lost Josh Woods and Breland Brandt for the season or to medical retirement in Brandt’s case.
The UCLA Football secondary was the only defensive groups that didn’t face as much scrutiny coming into the season. Sure Fabian Moreau, Randall Goforth, Tahaan Goodman and Marcus Rios were gone but the Bruins had talented depth and were signing a few big players including Darnay Holmes to bolster the backend.
Confidence and calm gave way to shell shock as the UCLA Football DB group was picked apart by QBs who’s names don’t inspire fear. Suspensions and injuries forced the Bruins to play a number of youthful players in terms of experience and the youth showed. Blown assignments, poor angles and not winning contested ball situations were commonplace but have now become few and far between. That’s because this once young group has now been tested and proven able.
There’s no better example of that than against ASU when players like Colin Samuel and Will Lockett were leaned upon and they answered the call. Samuel was on an island much of the night and responded with solid coverage outside using his long frame to blanket receivers. He was tested often with Nate Meadors on the other side being the more proven defender.
Lockett may not have shown up on your stat sheet much but his impact, especially as a cover safety was on full display. On multiple occasions he took the correct angle and was able to break up a pass attempt. With Jaleel Wadood out the Bruins needed him to have a big night and he did.
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By no means am I saying the Bruins will win out the rest of their schedule or shut down any offense left to play. Nor am I saying this defense has been without flaw this season. They’ve been well below average in many departments but what I am saying is that this young, athletic depth is starting to put it all together at just the right time for the UCLA Football team. With USC on deck the Bruins will need every healthy body they can get.