WATCH: Chip Kelly on UCLA Football’s Schedule, End of Fall Camp

UCLA football coach Chip Kelly spoke to reporters ahead of Tuesday morning’s fall camp session. Kelly talked about the Bruins’ plans heading into the end of the preseason, where the running back rotation lies, what he thinks of UCLA’s nonconference schedule and the new VR experiments he’s been running during practice.

Players going to announce new NIL venture?

Yeah, I think they’ve got something cooking but that’s their announcement to make so they’ll make that sometime later on today, I think.

Team-wide?

I don’t have all the specifics of it, I’ll let them announce it. Whoever sends it out, you can grab those guys tomorrow.

Schedule the rest of the week?

Practice tomorrow, Thursday is a walk, day off their legs, then Friday-Saturday, Sunday off and we’ll have a normal week next week like our normal week will start on Monday like we do after a game. Sunday will be the off day.

Michigan backed out and now UCLA is playing an FCS team for the first time?

Yeah, I think with all of it, with scheduling so far out—at least it had been for a long time—I know it was very difficult for us to find a game, so you just have to adjust with what’s out there. I think there were three schools, but I think all three schools are signed up to play—and Notre Dame was one, but I think they’re playing East Tennessee or one of the Tennessee States—you know I think everybody’s going to at least one of those games at times, but a lot of times that may be the only thing that’s available. I know our guys were exhaustive in terms of trying to get an extra game in there for us but that’s just kind of how it fell, so we play them as they come.

How do you feel about playing an FCS school?

I don’t really—and I don’t think you get a trophy for not playing an FCS school, so I don’t think they’re handing one out to say, ‘Hey, these are the only guys who haven’t played one, so to us I think it’s what was available and I think Martin wanted to see if he could partner with the HBCUs and I think we have two of them coming up, so that’s a pretty cool deal, so we’ll be excited about it when Alabama State comes here.

Scrimmage planned for the end of fall camp?

Nah. Everything we do is situations within our games and we’ve had officials at every single one of our longer practices and we have officials again here toady—I think this is the fifth or sixth time they’re here, so while they’re here, that’s what we manufacture, so we’ll have a two-minute [drill] today, we’ll have a goal-line today, we’ll have a red-zone today, we’ll have a [inaudible] today, so those periods are built within the training schedule itself, but there’s not one practice that’s dedicated to, we scrimmage for two straight hours.

Pac-12 officials?

I think so. I think some of them may be some other guys. We just contacted the league office and they provide them. We’ve had different crews here. I think this is either No. 5 or No. 6 that we’ve had here for that. There’s been guys who have been here more than once and there’s been new crews—the last three times there’s been new crews but I think today we’ve got one of the crews we’ve had before, so.

Kirkwood said you've helped give him tips on how refs will react differently to contact – good to have different combinations of refs here to help teach that?

It is. And then what we try to get our players to do while the officials are here is to spend time talking to them because it doesn’t really matter what our interpretation is of what that penalty is, it matters what the officials’ interpretation of that penalty is and they’ll give you what they see and what they’re calling. Some things that you think, hey, that should be called but they’re like, we’re not going to call it that way but we’re going to call it this way so every time the officials are here, we always have a Q&A period for the players so that they can kind of get to it because again it doesn’t matter what our interpretation of the rules is, it matters what the officials’ interpretation is, so the more our players can get exposed to the officials and ask questions. When the officials call penalties here, we get the number, we get the penalty and then we have a conversation and we actually encourage our players post-practice—because the officials hang around with them just to talk to them, ‘Hey, you got a PI called today, see if you can go grab that back judge or see if you can go grab that side judge and see what they saw and why they called what they called and I think it’s really helped our players really understand … a better understanding of the rules so the more exposure we get to it, the better it is because it’s critical in terms of the yardage you can acquire during the other team if they’re more penalized than you are, so.

When do you star prep for Bowling Green?

We’ve done a little so far—we had a week in June that we did our first four opponents, so those four weeks in June while we were in and going to camps various days, but we spent time on all four of our first opponents and we’ll revisit that as we get going here and then we’ll have our whole game plan in by next Monday.

Barr-Mira punting, doing double duty – going to be put on scholarship?

Yeah, we’ve got a lot of those. When we put guys on scholarship, we’ll give you that information but we haven’t done anything yet. But Nick’s doing a great job in both punting and field goal kicking right now, so we’re really, really happy with where Nick is. He’s worked extremely hard with both of them, so we’re excited for his season this year.

What does Chad Kauha'aha'a bring to the DL?

He’s got a wealth of experience, he’s been to a lot of different places and actually played the position himself, so I think he’s added something from an experience standpoint there and he’s got a good group to work with. Obviously, Martin is the older wily veteran of the group but when you add Jay and Gary and Dovid you’ve got kids who weigh over 315 pounds in there and I think we’ve got some size in the nose position and I think we’re a little more active at the three-technique and the [inaudible] depending on what defense Billy’s calling, so excited about not only the size of those guys but also their athleticism.

Impressions of the Murphy twins through spring and fall camp?

They're just football players. They love playing football, they love practicing football, they love everything about football. They're a lot of fun to coach. They are so dialed in, they're really, really, really smart football players, they understand the nuances of the game. I'm excited to finally see them play against somebody else, but I love everything they've brought from what their demeanor is in the locker room to the meeting rooms to how they practice and how they train. We're really, really excited that they're here.

Big takeaways from fall camp? Where is the team now?

Good question. I think they're really focused, I think we have some great older leadership – Mo and Blaylock in the secondary, Darius has really taken over with Kain and JonJon at inside linebacker, we've got Bo Calvert up front with Martin. And the O-line, Sam and Gainsey have done a really nice job of keeping that group collective. The tight end room is really, really close, and the young players that we've added there – Jack and Carsen – have fit in right away. But I think that's kinda the environment that Mike and Hudson had brought along. And then I think Zach and Dorian and Jake at the skill positions on offense have done a really good job of setting the tone for the younger kids of how we train and how we do things. So I've been really, really pleased with just their focus. Every day, they want to come out here, we're about the process, we're about trying to improve on a daily basis and I think they really take that to heart. They really are comparing themselves to themselves and they wanna know how many explosive efforts did I have in practice and can I top that in the next practice? And it's a pretty cool thing to watch those guys really competing against to be the best version of themselves, and that's what we're trying to get out of this group. But their focus and their attention every day has been really, really good.

Darius available today?

He's available.

One of those guys who has the heart rate limitations?

Yeah, that's happened before in the past with guys. A lot of that's for kids returning to play so we know how many – it's really distances, how much distance they have on a certain day, but there are no restrictions on Darius.

Things shaking out at running back behind Zach?

Well. I think Keegan has really had a great offseason and spring and really added to his game. He's done a really good job in pass pro, he's obviously a weapon coming out of the back in pass receptions, he's done a really nice job of running the ball. TJ's done a really nice job. The fact that TJ got here for the spring was huge for us, so we got a chance to see him for all of spring, and I think he's one kid that is noticeably better every day you get him out here. So the more reps you get TJ, the better. Deshun's been in and out of the lineup, doing some really nice things, I think we're excited about where he is. And Kaz can still play there too, so bit played a couple a little bit with Kaz can get a couple snaps in there. So we feel pretty good about where we are behind Zach right now.

Dorian and Darius' GoPro film something you study or just for social media?

It's not for social media at all, it's just another way for us for POV thing, so we get some more point of view things from – obviously, the quarterback spot is a little bit easier, but we're experimenting with different positions on defense and using it on the free safety, using it on some offensive linemen, kinda what they see in their world. And then the ability to translate that into some of the VR stuff that we're doing so that they can see it from a different realm. So it's been good, we're still getting a lot of data from it, a lot of information from it, but I think our players really enjoy using it.

Been keeping close tabs on those who have had COVID for long term effects?

I have not studied that, that's out of realm from a sports science standpoint. So I think that's Dr. McAllister and Dr. Goldman's deal from that standpoint, but I mean, I have a little understanding. The one thing I know about the sports science thing is I'm not a sports scientist, but I know who to kinda listen to and I can understand when they explain it. But I'm not drawing any conclusions or making any decisions on any of that. So I think the COVID question for anybody that's had it, I think everybody talks about the long term and I don't think anybody has that answer from what little I've gathered from that information. So we haven't done anything extensively right now from that standpoint.

No one's come to you with concerns?

I have not heard anything from our medical staff. I differ to all those decision when it comes to the bigger picture things like that, then we can talk about how many yards a healthy player can handle in an hour practice or an hour and a half practice or a two-hour practice, but anything that comes to – really, that's not – COVID, to me, is not a sports science thing, that's a medical thing, and that's obviously Dr. McAllister and Dr. Goldman's at that point there.

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