UCLA Football News: Bruins Insider Expresses Concerns Over QB Questions, Labels Them a Bowl Team
The 2023 season for your UCLA Bruins will look a bit different. The Bruins have lost many of their upperclassman and veterans and are now a young, inexperienced team. This is the first time since 2018 that Dorian Thompson-Robinson won't be under center for UCLA, and the program is now tasked with finding a new QB for the next handful of years.
Overall, there is a lot of turnover from the player side of things, and it will be up to the coaching staff to ensure they're ready. UCLA is looking at its last season in the Pac-12 and will hope for a smooth transition into the Big 10 starting in 2024.
It won't be easy in 2023, especially with the uncertainty at QB. Bruins insider for the OC Register James H. Williams believes that is a concern for the team but calls it an exciting time.
“This year is the first year where you just don’t know what you have (at quarterback), so in that regard, there’s no real benchmark for the team on what the ceiling is and what the floor is,” he said, “which is kind of exciting in a way.”
The quarterback battle will be something to look at, especially with freshman QB fighting for a spot, Dante Moore. Moore will be fighting for the QB1 spot, and many experts and pundits believe he will be under center for UCLA's first game come early September.
Still, even with all this uncertainty at the most important position in the spot, Wiliams believes UCLA will be good enough to be a bowl team in 2023.
“For right now, they’re kind of focused on this season,” Williams said. “This is definitely a season where you need to develop talent and make good of whatever this time is going to be before you get into the Big Ten and start getting your feet in there. This is a crucial year for sure.”
Williams said UCLA is “definitely” a bowl team but that it’s difficult to project how good the Bruins will be with a new quarterback leading the way.
The Bruins hope to get to a major bowl game, but nonetheless, it will still be a great accomplishment to make one, especially with the youth movement ahead. One thing is for sure; thee Rose Bowl will be rocking and rolling as they will try to get their first double-digit win total for the first time in the Chip Kelly era.
