Go Joe Bruin
Fansided

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) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 5
Next
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

OL Michael Alves

The UCLA run game has been horrible for the last few seasons and part of that has to do with the instability of the offensive line which has had three different offensive coordinators installing three different offensive schemes in the last three years. That is no bueno.

More from Go Joe Bruin

In 2017, Jedd Fisch did a great job of improving the Bruins offense from the previous year but things were taken up a notch in 2018 when Justin Frye showed up to coach the OL. The former Boston College coach was hired by Chip Kelly because of his brilliance in recruiting and developing offensive linemen and from what we have seen so far, he has been working out for UCLA.

This past year, Frye not only help to improve the Bruin’s running game and turned them into a team with the 28th best rushing S&P+ and the 27th fastest offense (pace) in the nation, but he also had each Bruin playing at a high-level.

Mike Alves has slowly been improving the last two years but really benefitted under Frye’s tutelage. As a player that has a lot of experience starting at guard and working with this revolutionary offense, 2019 should be a good year for him.

Alves has done a solid job of holding the line on passing plays and has shown his ability to pop out when being pulled. Not only is he a strong individual, but his adaptability to Kelly’s complex offensive schemes shows he also has a brain on him. With another year in college under Frye and Kelly, Alves should definitely standout next season and garner attention from pro scouts.