UCLA Beat Writer Answers Five Questions About Cal's First Opponent

Each week we ask someone who covers Cal's next opponent to answer five questions about that opponent. This week we presented the questions to Kade Nix of UCLA Bruins on SI because Cal hosts UCLA in both teams' opener on Saturday night in Berkeley.

We provided an excerpt from each of his answers, but you may want to view the entire video to get his complete answer.

--1. Will UCLA linebacker Trent Hendrick, the 2025 Sun Belt defensive player of the year, play against Cal after being added to the UCLA roster two weeks ago when a court ruled he would be eligible for a fifth season despite participating in an NFL rookie camp this summer?

Answer: “It looks like he is going to play. He is eligible because he only took part in a mini-camp tryout and not an official NFL training camp.

“He will play against Cal. I don’t know exactly how much he’ll play. I don’t think we’ll see him in the starting lineup.”

---2. How is UCLA different under new head coach Bob Chesney?

Answer: "It’s kind of just like a breath of fresh air. Chesney’s a proven winner. He comes from a lot of programs that have had success. And he’s bringing over a plethora of guys from James Madison, so it’s a completely different team from what we saw last year.

“I think a lot of people, especially Bruins fans, kind of fell in love with him watching that Oregon game last year [against Chesney’s James Madison team in the college Football Playoff] where James Madison kind of fought on until the end. It was kind of fun to see that offense and what he can bring to UCLA.”

--- 3. How important is the opener against Cal to UCLA fans?

Answer: “For fans it’s really important because it’s not the rivalry with USC maybe, but it’s one that’s kind of been taken away because of conference realignment. So it’s kind of fun to have these kind of games in Week 1, because a lot of power conference teams are going to get FCS schools or lower-level schools to start off with in Week 1, and the Bruins get a road game that’s going to be tester to start the season.”

--- 4. Will QB Nico Iamaleava and the UCLA offense be better than it was last season when the Bruins averaged 18.2 points per game?

Answer: “I think they have to. Looking at that offense last year, it was pretty abysmal. One of the good things about having an offense that bad last year is that there’s really nowhere to go but up.”

Nix noted the quality of the players UCLA brought in from the transfer portal, including James Madison transfer running back Wayne Knight, will help UCLA’s run game, which was almost nonexistent last year.

“It’s going to be a completely different team in terms of talent.”

--- 5. Who are the two or three best UCLA players on offense and defense?

Answer: On offense Nix mentioned two James Madison transfers – running back Wayne Knight and wide receiver Landon Ellis – and South Carolina transfer wide receiver Brian Roe.

On defense, Nix singled out defensive lineman Sahir West, another transfer from James Madison who had 5.5 tackles for loss, including three sacks, in the Sun Belt championship game against Troy. Nix also mentioned Hendrick.

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