In his first few months on the job, UCLA football coach Bob Chesney got a feel for Southern California highways by visiting as many high school coaches as possible.
On Friday, the coaches came to him.
Chesney and his staff hosted roughly 180 coaches — including 30 head coaches — as part of an on-campus clinic designed to strengthen the relationship between the Bruins and the surrounding football community.
There were so many coaches on Spaulding Field — including some who had traveled from as far away as Virginia — that they lined multiple sidelines and end zones.
Chesney said being around the program would give those coaches a feel for how things are done — and whether UCLA would be a good fit for their players.
“They are with the whole staff out there, getting a chance to watch a practice, getting a chance to feel exactly what we’re all about, how we do things, the tempo at which we move,” Chesney said. “The passion, the energy, the joy that we play with, the toughness that we play with — all those things are really important for them to understand what their players will be entering into if they choose UCLA.”
Here are five observations from the hourlong evening practice that was more of a walk-through:
A five-star review
Kory Minor, one of the high school coaches on hand, told The California Post that he was impressed with the tempo and energy he observed on the field.
“I’ve got a lot of coaches here, and they’re taking something from it,” said Minor, the head coach at Bishop Amat High in La Puente. “It’s going to be great for us.”
Chesney opened the clinic with a presentation about his philosophy and his plan to make his team the best version of itself.
“It was really inspiring, really touching,” said Minor, a former Notre Dame linebacker who was a teammate of former UCLA coach DeShaun Foster for one season with the NFL’s Panthers. “I got some notes for myself to go back to talk to my team about.”
Chesney has already scored some big early recruiting wins. His 2027 high school recruiting class, which includes four four-star prospects among the nine committed players, is ranked No. 22 nationally by On3.com.
The defense reigns
Perhaps the most spirited part of the practice came during a 1-on-1 period matching a receiver against a defensive back near the goal line.
The defense would have won all four matchups had Chesney not ruled there was pass interference on a pass breakup.
“They always have a lot of problems with the referees,” Chesney quipped, referring to his taking over that role. “It’s not an easy profession over here.”
But the defense ruled overall, with Jhase McMillan and Osiris Gilbert each making an interception. The entire defense celebrated Gilbert’s interception by running the length of the field with him to the opposite end zone.
Controlled passion?
With competition at the core of everything the Bruins do, it can be easy to get overly emotional and chippy in practice.
Chesney said he wanted his players to play “on an edge and with an edge,” meaning that they harnessed their passion to avoid scuffles and penalties.
“That’s really one of the hallmarks of what this program’s gonna be is that we have to play that style of football and we have to train that style of football, and we have to do this every single day,” Chesney said.
“Then, we gotta learn our limits and our boundaries, and then we gotta learn our teammates’ limits and boundaries and make sure that we’re able to protect each other from those things. … I think that’s important for us to be in a position where we can keep our poise even though we’re playing with an edge.”
Injury report
Defensive back Scooter Jackson remained out because of an unspecified issue.
Chesney said center Sam Yoon, who returned to practice Thursday, will slowly increase his participation as he completes his recovery from a surgical procedure on his knee.
The players working off to the side as they continue to round into form from injuries were defensive linemen Nico Davillier, Ryan McCulloch, Aiden Gobaira and Tyson Ford; defensive back Ta’Shawn James; running back Wayne Knight; wide receivers Major Pride and Jalen Saint Paul; and offensive linemen Caleb Walker and Quinn Buckey.
Another scrimmage
The Bruins are scheduled to hold their second scrimmage of the spring Saturday, which will be closed to reporters and the public.
Given all the moving parts on a new team installing so many things and running them at full speed for the first time, the debut scrimmage was a bit sloppy.
“I hope that when we get out here [Saturday] it will look a whole lot different than it did the Saturday before — and it wasn’t bad, we’ve just got to be better,” Chesney said. “I said it earlier — there’s got to be a lot of growth from Scrimmage 1 to Scrimmage 2, it’s got to happen that way, so I’m kind of excited about to see where we’re at, but there’s a lot of work to be done still, which we expected.”
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