UCLA Football: Five freshmen that could see major minutes in 2018
Go Joe Bruin takes a look at five incoming UCLA football freshman that could see a lot of time on the field next season.
What Chip Kelly wants, he gets and this last signing day, he got a lot. As the new head coach of the UCLA football team, Kelly is rebuilding a brand and needs a certain type of player to help execute his style.
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Long and fast. That is the simple criteria for the players Kelly wants. Although, if you listen to defensive line coach Vince Oghobaase, violence is also a key trait that they coaches require.
So the Bruin coaches started to get what they want, now who do they play? Looking at both talent and positional need, Go Joe Bruin takes a look at five freshman that can contribute right away.
1. RB Kazmeir Allen, 5’10, 185 lbs.
There are so many reasons to get excited about the number of the players that will be coming in this fall. One of them is Kazmeir Allen, a Central California product who is fast, fast, fast. But it is not just his speed down field that makes him an attractive option to get heavy minutes carrying the ball, it is how quickly he can make decisions and how quickly he can accelerate and hit the open gap.
2017 High School Stats
Rushing Yds – 3,336 | Rushing TDs – 62 | Receiving Yds – 833 | Receiving TDs – 9
On top of that, he has excellent body control as he is able to keep his momentum going forward whilst juking or stepping to the side.
But when he does get into open field or one-one one situations, he exploits the defenders angles and cuts to the opposite side they are anticipating, creating space for Allen. And yes, if he does break free, forget about it, he is gone.
By the way, he is also a bit of a track star, so he also has that going for him.