UCLA Football: Chip Kelly Responds To Departing QB Dante Moore's Criticisms
When highly-touted UCLA Bruins freshman quarterback Dante Moore decided to announce his transfer from the program early last week, many were surprised at how candid he was.
Moore spoke about wanting to be developed, as well as playing for a program that "loves college football" among other things.
Though he didn't specifically mention Chip Kelly or UCLA, sometimes the unspoken words are the most impactful. Those comments objectively could be seen as veiled shots towards Kelly -- specifically the part about development. The act of developing, by the way, is ironically one of Kelly's calling cards (ask Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Greg Dulcich, among others).
When asked about this during Sunday's press conference, Kelly had the following to say (per The Los Angeles Times' Ben Bolch):
Rarely would you ever see the head coach of any sports program go after a player negatively in the press. In this case, Kelly took the high road in terms of offering to help Moore with his next stop.
At the same time, Kelly mentioned not seeing any of the comments Moore had given to 247Sports reporter Matt Zenitz days prior.
Is Kelly telling the truth here? Well, he did have a rather tumultuous last few weeks which saw banners flying over the campus calling for his dismissal. Four other Bruins entered the transfer portal, and two of his coaches -- including DC D'Anton Lynn -- left the team. In Lynn's case, he went to USC, perhaps the worst possible destination if you are a follower/fan/supporter of UCLA's football program.
It is quite possible Kelly was also busy prepping for what will be a massive offseason for UCLA. This includes player retention, finding new players in the transfer portal, recruiting high school kids, and hiring a plethora of new coaches for the staff. Perhaps more than anything, Kelly will be tasked with trying to revive the fan base's interest in the program heading into Big Ten play.
At the same time, given the high-profile nature of Moore coupled with the news revolving around his transfer, we wouldn't be shocked if Kelly happened upon those quotes at some point.
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