Earlier this week Go Joe Bruin took a look at the moves Chip Kelly was reportedly making to the UCLA Football coaching staff. Today we’ve learned about another change coming to the Bruins. It’s a defensive change that was all but assured.
According to reports, Chip Kelly has hired Don Pellum, a longtime Oregon assistant with Kelly, to become the UCLA Football team’s LB coach. This would mean that current LB coach Scott White is out at least as the positional coach. There’s a chance he could be retained as the special teams coach but as for now we have to assume UCLA will move on from White.
In 2017 the LB group was banged up losing Josh Woods for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury after the Oregon game ironically enough. But even before then the play of this group left much to be desired. Tackling, technique and eye-discipline were constant issues for the Bruin linebackers and helped them become the 129th ranked run defense in 2017.
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With the leader of this group, Kenny Young, not able to return for 2018 because of graduation and the NFL, there needs to be an influx of talent if the Bruins are hoping to have enough bodies moving forward.
While there were other defensive issues, the ones among the LB group couldn’t be ignored and it appears Kelly knew that as well.
Pellum comes to UCLA with 16 years experience as Oregon’s LB coach. He’s produced NFL starters like current Miami Dolphins LB Kiko Alonso who despite having his shortcomings in the league was a stud for Oregon. He’s also coached NFL talent in the making with guys like Troy Dye who UCLA Football fans might recognize as former Bruin DB Tony Dye’s younger brother. Despite Oregon historically not being a high profile destination for LB recruits, Pellum was able to make the Ducks’ LB group one of the most active and effective in the PAC-12 for almost two decades.
His ability coupled with, and most importantly his experience, make Pellum a strong hire for a defense that is in desperate need of improvement should the Bruins hope to win PAC-12 championships and compete for more.
Currently the Ducks have the sixth best recruiting class for 2018 and a high profile LB recruit in Adrian Jackson. Athletic and instinctive, Jackson would give this UCLA Football LB group a major player to build around. That’s huge because currently the Bruins’ depth chart at LB is thin and the Bruins have faced a number of targets re-opening their recruitment as a response to Jim Mora’s firing including LB target Matthew Tago.
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Kelly wants to put his stamp on this team and you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone objecting to any moves he makes especially considering how the defense played in 2017. One thing is for sure, there’s going to be plenty of buzz around how all the defensive units will look in 2018 especially the linebacker group.
Keep it locked in here to Go Joe Bruin as we bring you all the UCLA Football news you can handle including new hires, transfers and looking towards the 2018 season.