Go Joe Bruin
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UCLA Football: Five players that could declare for the draft early after 2019

By Mike Regalado

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 17: Osa Odighizuwa #92 of the UCLA Bruins gets his hands in the face of JT Daniels #18 of the USC Trojans during the first half at Rose Bowl on November 17, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 17: Osa Odighizuwa #92 of the UCLA Bruins gets his hands in the face of JT Daniels #18 of the USC Trojans during the first half at Rose Bowl on November 17, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

Go Joe Bruin takes a look at five UCLA football players that have the potential to breakout in 2019 and possibly declare for the 2020 NFL Draft.

I am going to harp on this until you all understand that what UCLA football head coach Chip Kelly is doing is a process. It will take time, but things will start to come together. That is especially true for the players.

RELATED: Joshua Kelley is Returning to UCLA for 2019

Just look at what the coach did for Joshua Kelley. The former walk-on could only muster up 27 total yards in the first three games. He then finished the season with 1,243. Because of that, Kelley was toying with the idea of declaring for the NFL Draft. Luckily he decided to stay for his senior season.

But that got me thinking… which Bruins have the potential to have a breakout season, prompting them to declare for the 2020 NFL Draft after next season? Let us take a look…

DL Osa Odighizuwa

During Chip Kelly’s first spring practice, it looked as if the defense would develop quicker than the offense. During the spring game, the defense was aggressive and dominated both offenses. Unfortunately, they were hit hard by injuries and had to reallocate players to new positions and schemes when they were down to the bare bones in their depth chart, especially by the end of the regular season.

That might actually be good news for a few players on the defense, especially when considering how several healthy Bruins played during that time. Osa Odighizuwa is one of those that was not only able to avoid serious injury but slowly progressed as the season went on.

The Bruins were trying to be more aggressive in DC Jerry Azzinaro’s defense and were mildly successful. With so many injuries, the Bruins could barely put together a solid pass rush, yet having a player like Odighizuwa to occasionally break through the line helped the Bruins in several games.

With all of that experience and the coaches continuing to develop his skills, the redshirt junior to be can improve off of his 29 tackles, 6 tackles for a loss and 3 sacks. With his explosion off the line and ability to break through the gaps, Odighizuwa could be one of the better defensive linemen in the Pac-12 next season, which would give him a lot of attention.