WATCH: Chip Kelly on Dorian Thompson-Robinson's return, status of karaoke tournament

UCLA football coach Chip Kelly talks to the media about the return of Dorian Thompson-Robinson, having a veteran group of players and his dormant karaoke skills.

CHIP KELLY

Dorian 100%?

Yes.

How did he look?

He looked good. He looked good. Good to get him back out there, running around, throwing the ball, doing some really good things with him.

Receivers he's connecting with?

I couldn’t single anybody out because he was unavailable for a couple training sessions so just getting everybody back and getting in sync with everybody but he’s doing a good job with everybody.

What kept him out?

He was unavailable. We can stop asking, the question will be the same now to the end of the year. It’s a school policy. I’m not trying to be evasive, but I’m not trying to say anything about anyone who isn’t available.

Kain Medrano and Delon Hurt available?

Kain Medrano is available.

Scrimmages past few weeks?

We’ve had officials here, we had them three days ago, we had them here today and we’ll have them one more time this year. So we’ll have three sessions with officials.

Anything stand out?

No, I think everybody’s playing. It’s a lot of situational work. It’s not put the ball and just drive it and stay out here for two hours. Everything is a situational deal, whether it be a two-minute situation, red zone, coming out, third-down drills, all those different things so we try to touch base on as many different situations as possible.

Able to compare scrimmages to spring scrimmages?

I don’t compare to anything to anything. We’re just trying to get better on a daily basis so to thing back to what happened last spring with this group and say, hey where are they — because in the spring, we’re not preparing to play a game, we’re doing fundamentals, trying to get schemes and schematics down, making sure we have players in the right spots so I’ve never thought it that way, comparing the spring to the fall.

Goals for the rest of camp?

Our goals are the same. So we’ve got one more week of camp and there’s a lot of fundamental things we get done. Almost all of our schemes are inserted, it’s a matter of repping them and then really identifying what our players do well, what are the strengths, what are we going to lean on more than some other things because we have the ability in our schemes to do a lot of different things. But you can’t do them all, you have to do what really fits the personnel best. So as the personnel starts to shape itself out, what’s the best way to use this person, what’s the best way to use that person, then as we get into next Saturday, we’ll start to get into putting in a game plan for Hawaii and get ready for that opponent.

When do you flip to game-prep mode?

Next Saturday, so a week before the first game. Seven days out.

Keeping guys motivated through fall camp?

Our guys love playing football and our coaches love coaching football, so I don't think anybody out here thinks it's a grind. We're a 'get-to' operation – we're excited that we get to come out here today and do something, so it's not a 'have-to' operation. I think it's just your mindset. If you 'have to' do something ... like if you 'have to' cover this team, it's probably going to be a grind for you. But if you 'get to' cover this team, then it's not a grind for you, and that's the way our players feel about it and I know that's the way our coaches feel about it. We're blessed that we get to come out here and practice today. We're excited about every day, that we have an opportunity to do that.

Experience making it easier to install?

I just think, when you have a veteran group – which we do – they can handle things a lot quicker. You really gauge your installs just depending on the learner. And, if the learner has grasped it ... and going through... a lot of these guys have been here three or four years so it's not their first time hearing a concept, it's not their first time hearing a play call. So, they can handle a lot more. We've been able to install faster. Usually it may have taken five days to get an install done, we could have got it done in three days. But, that's just a credit to the players we have and the depth we have.

Able to add a little bit more?

Yeah, you just have to be conscious of that, because sometimes you can get too diluted. We also have to hone in on what do you do well and continue to work on that, because you can never get too many reps on something. So, you can't say we've got that...'Hey, we've got that down pat, so let's not worry about it anymore,' then you're probably going to get beat, so we're always going to continue to harp on the fundamentals and the techniques. Those always need to be refined.

Hard for young guys to keep up with installs?

The players have helped in that, but we also, we don't run the same plays with the 3s that we run with the 1s. So I think we're conscious as coaches knowing what group is in there and what they can handle. So you may go faster with the first group and a little bit slower with the third group, but that's always, that's probably the way it is throughout the country. You gotta be able to get things in and challenge your older, veteran players and we can do that while we're still bringing along the younger guys.

Veteran players help get knowledge to younger guys to help them pick it up faster?

I think the players, obviously, help in that. We've got some really good veteran leaders at each position that have done a really good job of taking the young guys at their position kind of under their wing and fostering a really good learning atmosphere for them and kind of explaining it through their eyes, how they saw it, maybe some of the techniques and study habits that they developed since they've been here and share those with those other guys.

Q Knight said he wants you and Azz to do karaoke

I want Q out there, cause Q hasn't done it yet either. Tell Q to stop talking.

He did Sean Kingston

What'd he do? No he didn't.

There's video proof

Yeah, he didn't sing the entire song, we've already talked about that a lot. So we had a coaches representative and it was coach Foster and coach Frye so every group was represented.

If you end up doing karaoke at another time...

I will not end up doing karaoke.

What would your go-to song be?

There would not be a go-to song. Know your strengths and know your weaknesses. My strength in karaoke is listening.

What did Foster and Frye sing?

I don't know the name of it. You'll have to check with them, I'm not sure exactly what the name of it is.

How does it goes?

Do I know how what goes?

The song Foster and Frye sang

No, that's why I'm not good at karaoke, that's why I'm a listener and not a singer. (SCOTT: Good try, Sam). Alright guys, that's a good one to end on.

Veteran presence of linebackers?

They just, all of our guys, no matter what position, have just done a really good job of helping teach the younger guys. So if you watch our guys when they're not in, they're not over on the sidelines BSing, they're over on the sidelines talking about what their call is, what their read may have been, how did you see that, what did that look like to you, why did you make that decision, what decision would you make? So there's a lot of questions and answers that go on between our older and younger players just to help them get up to speed, because at some point in time, that younger players are gonna have to line up next to that older player and you just can't say 'Well, he's young and he can afford to not know what he's doing.' We gotta make sure everybody is on the same page when we get ready to play the opponents we're gonna play this season.

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