UCLA Football: Where does the defense go from here? Recap and outlook

The first year of the Chip Kelly era with UCLA football also brought about the first year of the Jerry Azzinao era with the defense. Despite a lackluster season, the defense was actually better than you think and could set them up to be one of the best in 2019.

There was going to be aggression. There was going to be violence. There was going to be a defensive revolution. The UCLA football team was going to blow people’s minds… and they just might in 2019.

RELATED: Where Does UCLA Football’s Offense Go From Here?

A year ago, UCLA fired Jim Mora and hired Chip Kelly. Kelly then started assembling his staff and with the offensive mastermind shaping his side of the ball, he went to a former colleague to shape the defensive side. Kelly needed someone that would compliment his uptempo offense. He needed someone that would give the Bruins’ defense a boost.

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He needed someone that understood all that would go into rebuilding a program from the ground up. That man is Jerry Azzinaro, a former assistant to Kelly and a coach that helped to transform Cal’s inept defense the year prior.

In 2017, Azzinaro was Cal’s defensive line coach. He helped that defense become more aggressive and a lot more savage and the results spoke for themselves. In 2016, the Golden Bears had the worst rush defense in the Pac-12, giving up 272.8 yards per game. Azzinaro’s contribution helped Cal lower that number to 164.1 yards, 6th in the conference in 2017.

This is the type of mentality the Bruins needed. Under Mora and former defensive coordinator Tom Bradley, UCLA relied on a conservative style. “Bend but don’t break.” It was a style that relied on giving up a lesser number of yards to prevent larger amounts. Defenders were basically expected to have a “wait and see” approach. It did not work. UCLA was 11th in scoring defense and last in both total and rushing defense last season.

This needed to be changed and in a hurry.

Roster Changes

Like the offense, the defense went through a complete overhaul, but the roster did not change as much as it did on offense. Still, it was a new system that everyone, young and experienced, had to get on board with. Azzinaro brought in a 3-4 defensive scheme in an attempt to bring down those run defense numbers.

The philosophy behind all of it was to create pressure on the quarterback and disrupt their opponent’s offensive game plan. In previous years, UCLA had been known to have a tough secondary, so the Bruins should not have had a problem in this area. It was limiting rushing yards which plagued them in previous seasons. Things looked like they would fit into place, but Azzinaro had other things to worry about before unleashing the hounds of his hellish defense.

UCLA Defensive Roster Changes in 2018

• DLs: 6 new, 7 returning
• LBs: 4 new, 11 returning
• DBs: 8 new, 10 returning

Many said that the cupboard was bare at UCLA, which was not exactly true, especially on defense. Though the Bruins lost several players because they did not mesh with the new coaching staff, Azzinaro still had a lot to work with. Guys like S Adarius Pickett, CB Nate Meadors, CB Darnay Holmes, DL Rick Wade, DE/OLB Keiseasn Lucier-South, LB Josh Woods, and LB Jaelan Phillips, just to name a few.

The only problem is that once the season started on September 1, the Bruins were already down several players due to injuries and then had to deal with a few suspensions. As the season progressed, it just kept getting worse.

Before the season started, Woods suffered a season-ending injury and suspensions were handed out for DL Osa Odighizuwa, DB Mo Osling, and DL Moses Robinson-Carr.

As the season went on, DL Marcus Moore would be suspended indefinitely while LB Bo Calvert, Phillips, Juarez, LB Je’Vari Anderson and Meadors would suffer injuries of varying degree through season’s end. So that is what Azzinaro was working within 2018, let us look at what it resulted in.

More Violence

UCLA football fans had something to be excited for entering 2019. During the Spring Game and in fall, the defense looked very active and very aggressive. They looked like they would be the strength of this team.

There was also a new mantra. The phrase that was being thrown around was “more violence”.

Though we saw some of that violence manifest throughout the season, for the most part, UCLA did not look that impressive. But that is a bit of an illusion. Once again, take into consideration how many key players there were without. Also, add in the fact that this defense faced some of the top offenses all season long.

To show how difficult the defense had it, let us look at a few rankings. We will start with the College Football Playoff rankings. To properly assess who the top teams in the nation are after a given time, the CFB Playoff rankings began in Week 9 of the season. Since then, five polls have been released. In those five polls, five of UCLA’s 2018 opponents have made appearances in the rankings (Oklahoma, Washington, Utah, Fresno State, and Cincinnati).

In regards to total offense, the Bruins went up against six teams that are currently in the Top 50 (Oklahoma, Cincinnati, Arizona, Oregon, Fresno State, and Arizona State). With rushing offense, the Bruins faced five in the Top 50 (Oklahoma, Cincinnati, Arizona, Utah, and Oregon. With passing, UCLA faced seven (Oklahoma, Stanford, Fresno State, Arizona, Oregon, Colorado, and USC).

The point is, the Bruins’ defense had their work cut out for them.

Testing Things Out

We quickly saw how the team played with a portion of their players to start the season. In the non-conference, UCLA went up against Cincinnati, traveled to Oklahoma in Week 2 and returned to the Rose Bowl in Week 3 to face Fresno State. Many UCLA critics predicted (hoped) the Bruins would go 2-1 in this stretch. They went 0-3.

The game against Cincinnati was quite possibly their best defensive performance, holding the Bearcats to 304 total yards. The Bruins also held them to 110 passing yards. Still, there were mistakes and unforeseen factors (on both sides of the ball) that led to the loss, but it seemed as if the defense would indeed be the strength of this team.

UCLA Average Time of Possession: 27:34

Opponent Average Time of Possession: 32:26

In the next week against Oklahoma, it was expected that the Bruins would get waxed against one of the most potent offensive teams in the nation. Depsite, giving up 49 points, there were a lot of things the Bruins showed progress in. The Sooners put up 485 total yards on the Bruins, but it was only the third most in the season. Then there was Fresno State.

I am not exactly sure what happened in that game, but the Bruins could not move the ball against the Bulldogs and they could not stop them from moving the ball. It was in this game where we saw how injuries and lack of depth affected the defense. Fresno State kept attacking the middle of the field and grinding down the Bruins. In that game, the Bulldogs held onto the ball all most twice as long as the Bruins (39:57 to UCLA’s 20:03 time of possession).

When a defense is on the field for that long, there is not a lot of good that could come out of it, yet the Bruins persevered. Controlling the clock got better as the season went on, but for the season, the Bruins defense was on the field more than the offense. UCLA held onto the ball for an average of 27:34 per game while opponents had the ball for 32:26.

So that is what happened in the non-conference, let us move onto conference season.

Stats on the Season

Progress varied throughout the season. Also, keep in mind that the Bruins were down several players, which affected how individual units performed.

The biggest issue, which became very apparent towards the end of the season, was the lack of a pass rush. UCLA only had 15.0 sacks all season long, 118th in the nation. The Bruins’ pass rush was not bad, they just did not have the players to put pressure on offenses. By season’s end, Keisean Lucier-South was pretty much the only edge rusher, collecting a team-high four sacks and 11.5 tackles for a loss.

When defenses fail to get pressure on the quarterback, that gives those QBs more time to operate in the backfield. As you can see in the graph above, UCLA progressively got worse with their pass defense, which was capped off with USC (Week 11) and Stanford (Week 12) throwing for the most yards against the Bruins all season long.

But, UCLA was able to bring down their rushing yards allowed, especially in those last two games, which resulted in the least amount of yards allowed on the ground in a game for the season. The Trojans might have been a bit vain against UCLA, trying to depend on JT Daniels‘ arm a bit too much. With that in mind, the Bruins only allowed 112 yards in that game.

Against Stanford, there was more of a collective effort to shut down that run and the Bruins only allowed 126. That needs to be noted. UCLA’s run defense is taking major steps forward and in the next slide, we will see how the stats compared to 2017.

Better Than the Year Before?

UCLA was a lot more sound up front. Depsite using a lot of new players, Azzinaro and DL coach Vince Oghobasse produced results. They were also able to turn true freshmen Otito Ogbonnia and Atonio Mafi into veterans by season’s end. Having Keisean Lucier-South defend and attack the edges helped in creating a more disruptive presence on the rush which helped to limit those chances for opponents to make plays.

It was the opposite of “bend but don’t break”. It was “attack, attack, attack!” There was strength up front which led to getting into the gaps, being able to send in multiple-man blitzes, and hurry opposing QBs.

For a young defense that was not very deep, they made some notable jumps in their performance this season.

UCLA Defensive Stats Comparison: 2017 to 2018

UCLA allowed nearly 100 yards less per game. They were one of the worst run defenses in 2016 and 2017. That was not the case in 2018. Though 199.4 yards is a lot to give up, be mindful of the improvements. That is what is important going forward. Now imagine how low that number will be in one year with Azzianro being able to field a healthier, more talented and experienced defense.

But what about the pass defense? That took a step back, in terms of numbers, but as was previously stated, the inability to put forth a reliable and consistent pass rush, put more pressure on the DBs. The UCLA secondary was not only getting tested by offenses, but they were getting tested by the best offenses.

With that being said, the numbers for the pass defense should reduce in 2019. A better pass rush helps to take the load off the pass defense, but they will have to do it without Adarius Pickett, arguably the best defender on the field for UCLA.

Personnel

We will finish up with a quick look at personnel. What did the Bruins have, who stood out and what does that mean for 2019?

The biggest loss will be that of leading tackler (123) Adarius Pickett. Think about that, a defensive back had the most tackles during the season. Aside from the fact that he is incredibly athletic, he also had to make up for some of the defense’s weaknesses, like their thin LB corps. He defended his area, as well as dipped into the second level. Who knows where the Bruins would be if they did not have Pickett this season.

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Nate Meadors is also moving on. He is a Bruin that always gave it his all, unfortunately, this season, he did not play to his potential. Still, his contributions helped the team make big steps forward. The Bruins do get to retain the services of Darnay Holmes who will be the best DB UCLA has next season. He led the team with 3 interceptions this season. Holmes and Quentin Lake will be the leaders of the secondary, which will also help the pass defense improve because the run defense is looking good for 2019.

Who knew that UCLA would have such an improved run defense with the personnel they had? It took a while but having the big, young guys up front play a lot of minutes was imperative to the Bruins’ growth. Osa Odighizuwa had the most tackles (29) among all D-linemen. He exhibited the traits that Azzinaro needs to get the advantage on the fight up front and should be the best linemen heading into next season.

True freshmen Otito Ogbonnia and Atonio Mafi made quite the impact with the line. Though they did not light up the stat sheet, you can see how their technique and execution had improved as the season progressed. With these two big men pushing their way up front, the Bruins have a scary combo setup for next season. Could they be the next Kenny Clark and Eddie Vanderdoes?

Among the linebackers, we have nothing but good things to say about KLS. Not only was he a constant pass rushing threat, but continued to excel in coverage and would not be surprised if he makes several preseason watch lists before 2019. Krys Barnes might be the most improved on this line and he had several breakout games. Not only was he second on the team in tackles (85) but also recorded at least one TFL, sack, interception, breakup, and QB hurry. Now imagine what this Bruin team would be like with a full/healthy

In summation, UCLA fans should be pleased with the direction the team is going. The youth now have experience, there is still plenty of veteran talent… there are just two things that have to improve to help the Bruins make a big jump in 2019: (1) getting healthy and (2) recruiting. And we will get into that second topic very soon.