WATCH: Bo Calvert Talks Battle of Brothers in UCLA-Utah Showdown
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UCLA football edge rusher Bo Calvert spoke with reporters following Wednesday morning's practice session at the Wasserman Football Center. Calvert talked about playing against Utah and his brothers for possibly the last time,
Calvert bowl on Saturday, your brothers go there and one transferred there?
Yeah, I’ve got two younger brothers, Josh Calvert is the middle one, he was at U-Dub for two years and then he transferred to Utah last year. Ethan Calvert is in his second year there at Utah now, so we’re all a year and a half apart from each other so in high school when I was a senior, Josh was a junior and Ethan was a freshman, so at one point we were all playing on the same team, which was pretty cool and I guess Saturday will most likely be the last time we’ll all three suit up on the same field, at least, so it’s pretty special.
How much trash talking so far this week?
Yeah, there’s always a lot of sibling rivalry that goes on between us, I think there’s a lot of respect too. Obviously, there’s a lot of bragging rights for a game like this between both of us [teams] but it’s just going to be a fun game overall, I’ve got a ton of family coming to the game, so it should be a good experience for everybody to be able to come out and see everybody.
Circle dates in the offseason?
Yeah, I think a lot of my family was looking forward to at least coming to this game. Obviously, you take it week by week but I was looking forward to playing this game, I knew it was going to be a big one between me and my brothers just as far as the significance of what it means to us and what we’ve been working at our whole lives to be able to get to this point, now it’s kind of coming to fruition, at least for me, this being my last year in college, so it’s been pretty amazing, this journey so far and I’m just looking forward to it on Saturday.
How will your parents handle the game, where will they sit?
Yeah, I think they’re all going to sit together, probably, but they have little sweatshirts that they’ve made, stuff like that, with our faces on it and have half Utah, half UCLA sort of stuff, so it should be fun.
Progress of the defense? What has Bill McGovern brought? Overall thoughts on performance?
I think just having everybody on the same page, you’ve seen a lot of plays being made on all different fronts, getting pressure up front and then you’ve got the secondary making picks and you’ve got linebackers coming up and making TFLs, so having everybody firing on the same cylinder, be at the same speed, be able to see the love shared between the whole defense has been great to see and so being able to have everybody work together well has been great.
Back in the top 20?
Yeah. I think, you know, as far as being ranked, coach Kelly likes to say that it only matters for that week. The next week, you have to prove that again. So that’s something we’re working toward now, just being able to be 1-0 each week. I think, obviously, the outside kind of view of the program and the success we’ve had at least statistically has improved; the mindset has never changed here, we’ve always looked to improve every single week, so that’s something we’re fighting for and we’re looking to get the win this weekend.
Mindset when preparing for a mobile quarterback like Rising?
Yeah, I played Cam in high school—I went to Oaks Christian and Cam went to Newbury Park and he was a pretty mobile quarterback back then, but yeah, obviously you have some pass rushers on our team at Oaks and now we’ve got some guys hwere, so just looking to get after him. Obviously, he’s a savy guy, he knows football, he’s been playing for a long time, he’s good on his feet but at the end of the day he’s just kind of a football player, so we have to get after him.
20 players in graduate programs – is this team more cerebral in its approach to the game?
I think I’ve seen that more so even when we didn’t have the graduate guys, just guys here at UCLA are very smart guys, guys who are going to go the extra mile to find the extra tape, looking at different cues, but I think now to have guys who have more experience in football, yeah, you’d be able to see that a lot more on display, just guys calling things out. I think one of the biggest things that helps in football is when you are able to work together well with your other teammates, so not being just locked in on what you have to do; once you know what you have to do and you are savvy enough to understand and tell a guy, tip a guy off, like last game Latu was yelling across the field to me, ‘Hey, they’re going to crack you, they’re going to crack you!’ and so I stood up and sure enough, they cracked me but I was ready for it and able to come off, so being able to have guys who can work well with each other and show you things even when they’re not at your position is great.
When they yell that, does the other team hear it or adjust?
Yeah, I think there’s communication that goes on all the time and those things happen, that’s just one small thing, but like I said, it just happens all the time on the field and guys get different alerts and whatnot. Obviously, they’re going to do the same thing on the other side of the ball but it’s kind of whoever is the last man that sees it is probably going to make the play.
How much fun is it to be winning and in the spotlight and have the respect on the nation?
Yeah, like I said, the mindset is we always kind of knew we wanted to be elite, we wanted to be on that national stage, so we kind of look forward to working together as a team, being able to find the satisfaction in each other, being able to work with the guy next to you to be able to beat the guy across from you is kind of the way we see it and so being able to have that brotherhood and that camaraderie with each other helps you to come together and be able to dominate on Saturdays, I think that's what we’ve seen so far this season.
USC has also made some leaps, pretty unique?
Yeah, I think it is a pretty unique time to be able to have two marquee teams in the same city, that’s something that L.A.’s always wanted and there were times in the past where UCLA and USC have both been top programs—obviously that’s down the road and we’ll get to that when it comes up, that game, but definitely looking forward to it and as long as we can keep it going on our end, we’re going to come in and keep the promise of coming in and working every single day, but it will be up to them to see what they have to do.
Friends at USC give you a hard time about the "Little boys across the street" comment?
I’ve got to keep my mouth shut this year, but yeah, we’re looking forward to getting after it and working hard every day to be able to make that a great game.
Latu and Murphy twins getting integrated into the scheme and executing?
Yeah, both of those guys are really natural pass rushers, again, you talk about the cerebral guys, guys who understand the game, guys that have natural fluidity in their bodies and be able to come off the edge and work themselves inside, you’ve seen them in all sorts of different positions in the front, so just being able to have natural athletes, I think, has been a vital thing I think we’ve kind of relied on in our outside backer group, being able to put guys in different positions and put them in different looks.
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