UCLA Football Official Depth Chart: Week 1 vs. Bowling Green
The Bruins have released their latest two-deep depth chart.
UCLA football announced its 29 starters and 29 backups for its upcoming game against Bowling Green as of Monday. Coach Chip Kelly has made it clear that these lineups can shift drastically before kickoffs on Saturdays, but it is at least an insightful look at where things stand for the Bruins at the moment.
There were a few decisions of note from Kelly and co. this time around, and All Bruins is here to break them all down.
Left Guard
Sam Marrazzo, now entering his sixth year with the Bruins, is a true center.
When asked about how he was spending his practice time post-injury, Marrazzo told the media he was exclusively working at center. This latest two-deep contradicts that, though, listing the veteran as the second-string left guard, so perhaps he could have added crosstraining to his routine over the past two weeks.
Marrazzo missed almost all of the 2021 season with a pair of serious leg injuries, and he did not participating in spring camp, either. Although he is back to full strength, he may still have to be eased back into the lineup.
Duke Clemens did enough last year to secure the starting center job, and center is one of the positions that heavy rotations doesn't really agree with. Kelly and his linemen have said on numerous occasions that they plan to rotate the most talented offensive linemen regardless of position, but maybe center does not apply to that mentality.
Perhaps Marrazzo will have a better shot at seeing the field as the backup left guard as opposed to backup center. The staff may consider getting Marrazzo back in the action more important than getting him back at center, or maybe this is just how they decided to format an ultimately meaningless two-deep for the media.
Running Back
One of the biggest questions of the offseason was who Zach Charbonnet's running mate was going to be.
Kelly and running backs coach DeShaun Foster both confirmed that the team would be sticking with a two-man backfield, as they have the past few years with Charbonnet and Brittain Brown, Brown and Demetric Felton and Felton and Joshua Kelley. There was not a clear replacement heading into 2022, but Keegan Jones appears to have earned that role this fall.
Both Kelly and Foster heaped plenty of praise upon Jones throughout fall camp, so this move is hardly a surprise this late in the game.
But given Jones rushed for just 66 yards on 26 carries in 2021, he is far from the proven commodity that Brown was last year.
Jones averages over 10 yards per reception for his career, though, and his speed makes him a weapon with untapped potential, to be sure. His entry into the two-deep could preview a different style of two-man backfield because of those talents, since he is not the same back Brown was a year ago.
The coaching staff said they loved having Charbonnet and Brown last year because they were interchangeable skillset-wise and could disguise play calling and substitution packages more easily that way. Jones is not the big, bruising back that Charbonnet is, so Kelly and Foster will likely have to shift around how they use the second running back, from the types of plays they run to how many snaps they get.
Linebacker
Ale Kaho and Damian Sellers were expectedly left off the two-deep, with the former still in a boot and the latter not even listed on the roster.
That not only bumps dual-sport star JonJon Vaughns to a starting role, but also pulls other names further up the depth chart.
Choe Bryant-Strother only made the transition from edge rusher in the spring, and he is already in line to get the fourth-most snaps among linebackers. Shea Pitts is in his sixth year and, having finally earned a scholarship in the spring, is poised to contribute in a far larger role this year.
The interesting addition is Carson Schwesinger, who is another walk-on in just his second year at UCLA. The local product is a little slight for a rotation linebacker, but given the missing bodies at the top, he figures to see the field, at least a little bit, when the season gets started Saturday.
Punter
Somehow, the most engaging position battle of fall camp has been the starting punter job.
For most of August, it appeared kicker Nicholas Barr-Mira had it locked up, taking first team reps for almost all of fall camp. Once the Bruins started easing into game week, though, freshman walk-on Chase Barry started to take over.
As it turns out, Barr-Mira has been named the starter – both at kicker and punter.
Barr-Mira has a touch more hangtime and kick power than Barry, but is the far more consistent of the two. If Barry can work out the kinks in his game and put the freshman year jitters behind him, he can surely take over in the near future, but he will have to leapfrog Barr-Mira to do so.
Speaking of punts, Jake Bobo was listed as the starting punt returner over Logan Loya. From what the team has run in the open portions of practice, Loya has appeared to be the starter, with Kazmeir Allen backing him up, followed by Bobo. It would be a bold move to have a 6-foot-5 starting outside receiver field punts instead of the sure-handed slot receiver, but it looks like Kelly is prepared to do so on Saturday.
The full depth chart can be seen here:
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