WATCH: Chip Kelly on Scout Team, UCLA Preparing For Bowling Green

UCLA football coach Chip Kelly spoke to reporters ahead of Monday morning's practice session. Kelly talked about the weather forecast for Saturday's game against Bowling Green, his early thoughts on the opponents' USC-legacy quarterback, the importance of scout team quarterback Chase Artopoeus, how Dorian Thompson-Robinson has helped Justyn Martin develop thus far and where certain players stand in terms of health and availability.

102 degrees in Pasadena on Saturday? How are you going to handle the heat?

We’ll try to get a dome built between now and then, I don’t know if that would work. You’ve got to deal with it. We had always planned on—especially early—you’ve got to play a lot of depth, you’ve got to play a lot of guys, and I think that’s beneficial to us is that we do have a lot of guys that we can play. You’ve got to monitor it and we practice at the time that we’re going to play, so we’re usually on the field at that point and time and it’s obviously a little cooler here than it is up there, but you can’t manufacture it, it’s not like we can get reflective mirrors out there and make it a little bit hotter for our training sessions today, but the one thing is both teams have to play in the same weather, so they’ll be in the same situation that we are, so really the key to it is depth and our team does a really good job of it from a hydration standpoint, so we’ll see how that goes.

Cool zones out there?

Yeah. They’ll have them on the sideline, so.

Health of team? Good camp for that?

It has been. You know, our guys have done a really good job—you know, football’s become a year-round deal for all these guys and I think K.B. has done a great job with them in the off-season, so sometimes I think there’s an in-shape, out-of-shape [season]—that doesn’t really occur now at any places in college, so I think you’re a little healthier because your depth always gets tested and I think that’s the one thing you learn is that the teams that are usually the deepest when you get to later in the year, it’s beneficial to you, but it has been a relatively healthy training camp so knock on wood—we still have four more days to go before we play the game, so if we can get through at least Wednesday, which is the hitting portion of our week, but right now we’re on track to be pretty healthy, so.

Their QB is the son of former USC quarterback Paul McDonald, thoughts on him?

I think he’s obviously the guy we’ve got to focus on and stop. I think he does a great job within their system and Scott’s always done a really good job with all the quarterbacks he’s coached in his career but I think he really, truly understands what they’re doing—they’re in empty a lot and I think they’re in empty because the quarterback can direct everything and it seems like he’s a sharp, really well-coached kid and he also makes a lot of plays off-script so when the rush gets home but he can stay alive, and he’s made some really, really big plays—he’s got his eyes downfield, he’s like Russell Wilson that way. You know, some guys when they look to scramble they look to run; he’s looking to make the big play in the pass game so we have to be conscious of that and make sure we plaster with our guys when he’s in scramble bode, but he’s the key to what they do on offense and everything they do revolves around him—he’s got a lot on his plate and he runs a lot of check reads at the line of scrimmage, so we really have to focus our game plan around him.

Chase Artopoeus having experience as scout team QB important?

It's critical, especially when you're playing a quarterback-centric offense like this one is. Chase really takes a lot of pride in that role, spends a lot of time watching film of the other opponent, tries to – as much as he can – replicate what the other quarterback is gonna do. He's been one of the real unsung heroes in what we do here because of the pride he takes in it. I think he's done a great job. We give out scout team player of the week awards, and I think he won it three or four times last year for the work he did. I wouldn't be surprised if he's doing that again this year. But that's just the type of kid he is and we're fortunate to have him.

Give out those scholarships?

We have not done anything yet.

Ezavier Staples still making his way back from something?

He's still making his way back from an injury.

Sellers and Selna?

No updates on those guys.

Justyn Martin in fall camp vs. spring?

Yeah, I just – the cool thing with Justyn is I think you can see him getting better every day. I think he's a real student of the game, works extremely hard at football. He's one of the stay after practice guys – every time you look, he's working on either the fundamentals or something. He's always in the film room here in the offseason, during the film room during camp, he's around this building a lot. Football's really, really important to Justyn and you love that work ethic in him, and you can see him on a daily basis getting better and better. Got a really bright future.

Important to have Dorian showing Justyn the way?

Yeah, good question. It's always beneficial when you have an older player at your position that you can kinda learn from. You know, that veteran leadership, and Dorian certainly has provided that for that group. I think it's one of the neat things about that room is that you have a fifth-year kid with a true freshman and all the classes in between. But it's a really good quarterback room, they really are pulling for each other, they want them to be successful. You can see that when we're doing 7-on-7, those guys that aren't in are going through the reads and kinda talking to each other between snaps about what they saw and how they would've played it. It's been a really good group and it's a really cool dynamic to have a fifth-year senior and a true freshman and have them work that closely together.

Follow Connon on Twitter at @SamConnon
Follow All Bruins on Twitter at @SI_AllBruins
Like All Bruins on Facebook at @SI.AllBruins
Subscribe to All Bruins on YouTube

Read more UCLA stories: UCLA Bruins on Sports Illustrated
Read more UCLA football stories: UCLA Football on Sports Illustrated