WATCH: Bo Calvert on UCLA's Defensive Coaching Staff, Emphasis on Communication
UCLA football edge rusher Bo Calvert spoke to reporters following the Bruins' spring showcase at Drake Stadium on Saturday morning. Calvert talked about the changes on the defensive coaching staff, the impact of the Murphy twins on the edges and what his responsibilities are as a veteran in terms of communication.
BO CALVERT
New coaches, new faces coming together?
Yeah, it's been nice over the last couple weeks just bonding closer with those guys and getting to see how they think, how they work, how they coach. Every coach has a different style, philosophy and whatnot, so it takes some time to kinda build up that relationship and I think this spring has been really good to get all those guys together and be able to work as a group and see how everybody flows together and I think it's been great, I think we're working really well together and it's nice to get out here in front of some fans, some new scenery and just be able to test things out.
Primary difference between McGovern and Azzinaro in terms of how they run things?
Um, I think they're pretty similar as far as personality-wise, but obviously coach McGovern's been primarily more in the NFL and so he runs a lot more kind of that style type stuff, teaches more in those terms and the way he teaches is just obviously different philosophy. And the way that he sees the game, I think it's always good to get a different perspective, be able to have a guy come in with that much experience, be able to just share that knowledge with you. Anybody who's been coaching that long, coaching 36/37 years, they've got a lot of football in them. And so just being able to pick his brain, see how he thinks has been great for us.
Is that tough to catch onto?
I think he's been really good over the course of spring. Typically in a camp, you'll try and install a lot, you'll throw a bunch of stuff out, see how much the guys can pick up on it, how much sticks with us, what works well, what guys like, what they struggle with, and then you kinda work back from there. So I think he's throwing a lot at us and we've adapted well. We have a lot of things obviously to work on still, but it's been good being able to just see tons of different types of defenses and just be able to play around with who we are as a defense, try to figure that out.
Other players said McGovern talks to people individually a lot – what has he said to you?
Yeah, I think he's just a real personal guy, a personal coach. The way he coaches, he likes to – obviously he's the defensive coordinator, so he's gonna speak in generalities when he's coaching in front of the defense – but when he pulls you aside 1-on-1, he's very personal. You can tell that he pays attention on every single rep, that he watches the film of the whole entire practice and that he stores that in his brain and whenever he sees you in the hallway, he gives really specific coaching tips and I think that's been really good. He always is kinda tweaking my pass rush and different stuff like that when we're at lunch or random times, he'll kind of just pull you over and I think it's been awesome to have a guy like that – a brain like that – the way he works.
Murphy twins being disruptive and Muasau covering a lot of territory?
Yeah, we've had a bunch of new additions on the defense. Obviously, the Murphy twins have been doing great, providing a lot of pressure off the edge. And then yeah, in the middle we got a couple guys coming in and being able to see them working around each other I think the biggest thing I said is probably just being able to have – with a bunch of new guys in on defense and a lot of turnover from last year – just being able to come out and trying to work the communication and figure out how guys play. It's the same, like I said, it's the same point before with the coaches, having new coaches. When you have new players, you gotta figure out how that guy thinks, how is he gonna react? Because football's all a game of reactions, so if you can understand what the guy in front of you is gonna do and then you, behind him, can react off of that, that makes you, as a defense, that much better.
What's your role in communicating?
As far as down-to-down?
Yeah, just among the guys?
Yeah, I mean, typically outside backer, you're not really calling the defense or anything like that, that's more middle linebacker. But I'd say every guy on the field's gonna communicate and any guy that sees things – there's no secrets in football, that's what they say. So if you see something, yeah, you're gonna call it out and obviously we're saying little things here and there on the D line and communicating on the back end and whatnot. But overall, I think the thing we've been doing really well is just communicating as a whole, the entire defense just being able to talk and see things out and be able to have the guys that have had more downs be able to feel comfortable stepping up and just communicating out on the field.
What's it been like working with Ken Norton Jr.?
Yeah, I haven't worked with him directly, as far as position-wise, but when we're in drills, different drills, working on special teams and whatnot, he's been a great guy. He's kind of the same thing as coach McGovern. Obviously he's got tons of football knowledge, so being able to pick his brain as well, I always sit next to him in our team defensive meetings and he's always kinda whispering things, saying stuff and whatnot, stuff that he sees on the film and just little things that I, myself, who's only been – this is my fifth year coming up – comparily to him, obviously I don't know anything compared to him in a scale-wise. So being able to pick up the little things and things that he sees that I don't really see that, being able to work off him has been great.
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