UCLA football head coach Chip Kelly addressed the media on the second day of Spring Practice and confirmed several departures as well as commented on the progression of certain players.
You have no idea what kind of answers you are going to get from UCLA football head coach Chip Kelly and he continued his enigmatic pressers on Thursday morning as he addressed the media for the first time in Spring Practice. Although, to his credit, he did have a lot of straightforward answers than puzzling remarks.
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Kelly started things off by briefly talking about what he saw from Day 1 of practice. Though he continually stated that there is not a lot he could take away from one practice, he did say that he was, “Just excited to get back on the field. You know, get a chance to teach again.” He continued by saying, “I like the energy, I like the juice.”
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When asked about his new QB1, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Kelly said that he did a nice job, “Now, you can tell he has a very good understanding of what we are trying to do. It was a short install for the first practice but I thought he did a really good job.” This is the first spring practice for DTR and will now be in complete control of the offense after the graduation of Wilton Speight.
Kelly also talked about the other quarterbacks and addressed some recent activity among that position group. He confirmed that freshman Chase Griffin came into camp with a wrist injury and will be limited in spring.
When asked about junior Austin Burton’s development, Kelly stated, “Austin did a nice job. Everybody overall, uh, again you can tell how prepared they were coming into .”
And as for Matt Lynch‘s move to tight end, Kelly stated that it was a personal decision for the former QB to get more playing time in the upcoming season.
There were also three exits from the program that were confirmed by Kelly this morning. Moses Robinson-Carr has been dismissed from the team. Both Marcus Moore and embattled linebacker Mique Juarez have taken a medical retirements, according to Kelly. Juarez had a different take.
The Bruin coach also commented on freshman receiver Jaylen Erwin and how many that saw him on Day 1 of practice were really impressed with him, “He flashed a little bit yesterday. He brings another speed element to compliment Theo Howard.” That is big. And fast.
When asked about how practice is run and the effort put out by the players, Kelly said that he has not done anything new but the team now knows what to expect which is helping practices run more efficiently.
The following video comes from Thuc Nhi Nguyen of the Los Angeles Daily News.
Kelly was also asked about replenishing the roster. He stated that he is not expecting any moves in regards to transfers into the program anytime soon.