UCLA Football: Chip Kelly has begun assembling his staff

Things are beginning to progress very quickly for the UCLA Football Bruins. After days of speculation and projection we finally have some explanations. Chip Kelly has begun putting together his staff for at least the 2018 season and while there are familiar names there is a new one to know.

Reports have already piled in that Kelly has begun putting together his staff for the upcoming UCLA Football season and offensively at least things will look familiar. Offensive line coach Hank Fraley, running backs coach DeShaun Foster and wide receivers coach Jimmie Dougherty will all reportedly return next season.

All three were able to take essentially the same groups of players from a bad 2016 in terms of offense and make visible strides with their respective units this season. The offensive line was much stronger in the interior with Scott Quessenberry bouncing back from a 2016 where I thought he struggled. Coupled with impressive play from Najee Toran and Michael Alves at the guard positions, the OL will take some hits to graduation but I have confidence Fraley can put together a solid gameplan.

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At wide receiver Dougherty was able to take a unit more known for their drops than catches and would have likely had two 1,000 yard receivers if injuries hadn’t taken their toll. Another unit that will be ravaged by graduation and potentially an early departure in deep threat Jordan Lasely still has promise as Theo Howard began to show impressive signs of life in his second season.

Foster, a name held dear by UCLA Football fans for what he did during his time as a Bruin took a RB unit that again was largely unchanged from last year and found yards to gain rather than multiple defenders waiting for them. Of course all three units benefited from the return of QB Josh Rosen from injury but the improvement was plain to see.

With Kelly choosing to retain these three offensive assistants is there a growing chance that Jedd Fisch keeps his job as offensive coordinator? By no means was his first year poor. In fact Rosen enjoyed not only some his best production during his time at UCLA under Fisch but also was given more opportunities to show off every facet of his game as he prepares for the NFL.

While the offense looks essentially set except for TEs and the OC job, there’s much less certainty on the defense. That is except for one major recent development.

We’ve been speculating for some time that if Jim Mora was going to be fired then there absolutely going to be a change at the defensive coordinator position. Even if Mora had kept his job Tom Bradley was probably still going to get the axe. The UCLA Football defense was ranked 129 out 130 in terms of rush defense and while they had their moments clearly changes had to be made. The pass defense wasn’t the worst but because the Bruins were unable to mount a pass rush for much of the season teams had time to throw on them or simply ran the ball.

Those and other defensive issues are why Chip Kelly is reportedly bringing in his longtime friend, defensive assistant and most recently the defensive line coach for the Cal Golden Bears, Jerry Azzinaro.

Kelly hired Azzinaro to be his defensive line coach in 2009 when Kelly was the head coach of the Oregon Ducks but how they met can be traced back to their time at New Hampshire when as Kelly was leaving Azzinaro came in. After Kelly accepted the Philadelphia Eagles job he invited Azzinaro to come with him and accept the same position he had at Oregon. The two then did the same thing when Kelly took the San Francisco 49ers head coaching gig.

Azzainaro spent last season as the defensive line coach for Cal where his unit was part of a defense that ranked 68th in rush defense and was tied for 56th in the country in terms of sacks with 28. The UCLA Football defense had 19 and was tied for 98th best.

It makes sense that Kelly would target someone he’s not only familiar with, but someone who has defensive line experience in both college and the NFL. Azzarino’s expertise with defensive lines should also greatly benefit the Bruins as it was a troublesome unit for them all season. The only unit that may have struggled more was the linebacker group. It will be very interesting to see what Kelly decides to do with that group or if he thought it was purely a scheme issue that hurt this defense.

Last year at Cal the Golden Bears played predominantly out of the 3-4 but Azzarino also toyed with four and five man fronts. Throughout his career he’s shown the flexibility to bounce between three and four man fronts but given the nature of limited number of LBs that will be available to the UCLA Football team next year it might be safe to say four man fronts will be in heavy use. Of course that is all subject to change although in my opinion the Bruins don’t have the right pieces for a three man front.

Flexibility is the key word in the above paragraph. The “bend but don’t break” defense is something Bruin fans have had more than their fill of. I expect to see much more aggressive play from this defense moving forward especially considering how Azzarino’s DLs tended to be very active in terms of stunts and twists. That aggressive and active philosophy will likely carry over to a defense that has struggled to trade punches with offenses in the PAC-12.

In my opinion this is a very solid hire for the UCLA Football program. Kelly knows the limitations of Azzarino and what he excels at. He’s coached guys in both college and the NFL and more often than once he’s coached the same guy at both levels. Arik Armstead, DeForest Buckner were players Azzarino had at Oregon and then were both drafted by the 49ers. Philadelphia Eagles DE Vinny Curry was at Marshall while Azzarino coached the DL and met up with his former position coach when Kelly brought the latter to Philadelphia with him.

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At UCLA, Azzarino should be able to use his impressive recruiting prowess to land the long, versatile defensive linemen he likes and make running any offense in the PAC-12 a real chore. UCLA fans should be very excited for the upcoming season and for a very good reason. Aggressive defense is on it’s way to Westwood.