UCLA Football: New Defensive Coordinator Explains This Year's Shifting Approach
New UCLA football defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe is leading the Bruins' defense for the first time as spring practices have gotten underway. Malloe is well aware that he has "big shoes to fill" after former DC D'Anton Lynn left for USC.
He had led UCLA to the 11th overall defense in 2023. For this reason, Malloe isn't necessarily trying to change the Bruins' scheme and package. Instead, Malloe is focused on sharpening the team's fundamentals so they can execute the scheme better.
"We're going to keep the package the same," Malloe told reporters Thursday. "Our goal this spring is no different than coach Bieniemy's, just try to get better at the fundamentals. In order to do that, we don't want to change the package, so we're out here just trying to get better."
"The scheme itself, we do want to keep it the same," Malloe added. "We want to make sure we can emphasize fundamentals and how it applies to the scheme."
While the scheme might not be changing, the personnel has certainly changed for UCLA. The Bruins have lost several of their best defensive linemen, including Laiatu Latu, Gabriel Murphy and Grayson Murphy, who departed for the NFL Draft.
“We lost five guys on the outside edge,” Malloe said. "So in terms of replacing them, I won’t, I can’t. So we’ve just got to manufacture some different ways of getting pressure differently.”
Malloe knows he can't replace these star linemen who helped the team finish sixth in the FBS in total sacks last season but is working to improve the guys UCLA does have on the roster. Additionally, Malloe stated that they are open to adding talent to the transfer portal.
None of this will guarantee that Malloe and UCLA can replace the production they got from Lynn as their DC and their former edge rushers, but this does show the current plan Malloe has put in place for their defense.
