One bright spot for UCLA and the 2025 season was their defensive backs. Often put in tough positions, they rose up to the challenge and played well most weeks. They did give up a lot of yards, but they often had to cover for 5 to 7 seconds. Leading to many penalties, due to them not seeing much in terms of rush rate. If the defensive line couldn’t get to the quarterback, they were able to go through all their reads. Negatively affecting the defensive backs being able to cover Big Ten talent. Which includes Ohio State and Indiana with loads of NFL talent.
The Bruins got three of their best defensive backs to return for 2026. Those three were Rodrick Pleasant, Scooter Jackson and Cole Martin. They are set to benefit from a better defensive line and linebacker core, which will get to the quarterback quicker and stop running backs from getting to the second and third level. This will in general lead to more turnovers, which UCLA was also one of the worst in the nation at. They only had four interceptions all of the 2025 season in 12 games.
UCLA defensive back Rodrick Pleasant announced his return to Westwood and new coach Bob Chesney on Instagram.
— Benjamin Royer (@thebenroyer) January 2, 2026
Big boost to the Bruins’ secondary alongside Cole Martin, as bright spots, of which there were few, in 2025. pic.twitter.com/gRP4oxwiaA
UCLA also brought in good talent to replace the talent that left. Kanye Clark, Croix Stewart and Andre Jordan Jr. are all out. In comes Dante Lovett from Virginia Tech, Tao Johnson from Utah and Malik Hartford from Ohio State. The Bruins are banking on guys coming from some of the best defenses in the country and will thrive with more playing time. Hartford comes over from the Buckeyes who UCLA also poached Maxwell Roy from. Sometimes all a player needs is the opportunity and they can show their value.
Tao Johnson is a DAWG https://t.co/SBsxM2TAUG pic.twitter.com/UKH7pkJ99H
— 🐻 (@HOODIRUSS) January 10, 2026
Bob Chesney and Colin Hitschler will now be able to scheme their defensive backfield to put them in better positions. It was a huge score to get Pleasant, Jackson and Martin back. Now they add even more talent to the back end to pair with it. It will be exciting to see what the unit can do together. There are a lot of good football players with experience. It wouldn’t be surprising to see that four interception total in 2025 surpassed rather quickly into 2026.