Playmakers emerge as UCLA coach Bob Chesney dials up pressure during spring practice

UCLA football coach Bob Chesney saw a familiar face at practice Tuesday morning at Spaulding Field, one that made him even more energetic than usual.

It was that of his father, Bob Chesney Sr., who was his high school coach in Pennsylvania and figures to be a regular at Wasserman Football Center, just as he has been at every stop his son has made on his coaching journey.

“Pretty cool,” Chesney said after a drizzly two hours which saw players on both sides of the ball make big plays to fire up their respective sidelines. “He flew in yesterday, so he and my mom [Claudia, a retired school teacher] are here and it’s good to see him back out here for sure.”

Bob Sr. has had a big influence on his son’s coaching philosophy and career while acknowledging Westwood is thousands of miles from where Bob Jr. was raised in Kulpmont, a small coal mining town 120 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

“He has a lot of things to say,” Chesney said with a laugh and a smile. “He just sees the game differently. He sees it from a very different perspective. We’re so caught up in the exact Xs and O’s and every moving schematic part and he feels people, he feels matchups and that had more to do with it back in the day. A lot of people ran similar offenses and defenses, so it was who can be bigger, faster, stronger and whose matchups were better.

”… So it’s kinda cool having a lot of younger coaches where it’s scheme, scheme, scheme and then a couple older guys like my father who see it more from the standpoint of matchups and people. It’s just a little different.”

In assessing Tuesday’s practice, Chesney lauded the attention to detail.

“They did great — this was one we needed because we came off of that Saturday scrimmage where I thought we were just OK,” he said. “I thought today looked a whole lot better, the intensity was where it should be, we played some physical football. Both sides had their way a little bit, but overall we did a good job.

“We’ve just gotta keep putting the ball on the bodies when they’re open, we gotta make some competitive catches. I thought our protection looked really good today and there was a lot of exotic defenses thrown at them, so I was proud of the way they handled it.”

One player who stood out was wide receiver Brian Rowe, a transfer from South Carolina, where he played in 11 games (four starts) for the Gamecocks last fall, catching 19 passes for 149 yards and a touchdown. He reached behind him to make a one-handed catch from Nico Iamaleava.

“He runs really precise routes, he’s fast, he’s explosive, he understands leverage, how to get himself open and he brings his body to the ball,” Chesney said of the 5-foot-11, 170-pound sophomore who committed to UCLA on Jan. 10. “He makes some really competitive catches on balls that may not be perfectly thrown. So it’s been impressive to watch him handle his business. He’ll get a little dirty in the run game too, which is important. I’m really proud of where he’s at right now. Brian’s a young guy who’ll continue to get better.”

Several other player caught the coach’s eye.

“Jet [Jaivian Thomas] had a really nice run in there and also some of our interior offensive linemen looked really good,” Chesney said.

“On the defensive side, [linebacker] Sammy Omosigho has been really consistent, along with [defensive end] Sahir West throughout the secondary. [Defensive back] Cole Martin keeps showing up, especially in the run game, and is doing a really good job. There’s a lot of guys I thought did a really nice job in there. The inconsistencies we have to keep working towards improving, of course.”

Wide receiver Leland Smith was not wearing a black non-contact jersey Tuesday but was not involved in much of the team period activity. “He still has something nagging, it’s upper-body stuff,” Chesney said. “The position he plays, there’s a lot of physicality that has to come with it and Leland’s just not fully 100% just yet, but he’ll keep getting there.”

As for continuity on the offensive line, Chesney did not have a definitive answer.

“I don’t because there’ll be moments where we’re rotating guys regardless,” he said. “… We’re closing in on some things we like, but we have to keep challenging guys in different ways, figure out exactly what we think, then keep blending it together like we are and by the end we’ll have something. But it’s not anything we’re too worried about right now.”

Chesney liked the way his quarterbacks adjusted to facing new defensive schemes.

“We did a really good job of handling it,” he said. “The quarterback managed it well. There were two big plays off of it and two other sacks that happened off of it. That just is what it is. When there’s one more guy than you’ve got, you have to have some answer to it and it’s not usually blocking him because you don’t have enough. The quarterback managed it well, created more time and got the ball out the way he should.”

Linebacker Scott Taylor was a difference-maker Tuesday.

“We switched it up a little bit today and went to more of a three-down look where there’s a little different setup, so they have to deal with a couple of different boxes offensively, which also led us into a third-down blitz game defensively,” Chesney said. “I thought Scott did a good job, though. He understood where he needed to be, he had a lot of movement before the snap trying to confuse things and then he did a real nice job of understanding the protection and what his reaction was.”

Chesney was pleased with the progress of sophomore tight end Noah Fox-Flores, who had a four-yard touchdown reception against Nevada Las Vegas last season as a freshman.

“He’s an impressive athlete,” Chesney said. “His body’s different much than what it was a year ago, he’s viable in the run game right now and at the same time his routes are great and his hands are just phenomenal so there’s a lot of good coming out of his progressions.”

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