WATCH: Chip Kelly breaks down backfield, shares availability updates and quarterback thoughts

UCLA football coach Chip Kelly talked to the media about injury updates, the depth of the running back group and how Ethan Garbers has taken advantage of additional reps this week.

CHIP KELLY

Dorian's status?

Dorian is unavailable today.

Parker McQuarrie?

Parker’s unavailable.

Keegan Jones?

Keegan’s here.

Thoughts on the offensive line?

I think the key is development because they’ve all played a lot of football. A lot of those guys, you know, Sean’s going into year three, Alec’s going into year three. Sam’s been around for a long time. Jon Gaines has played a lot of football for us. Paul Grattan came in as a grad transfer a year ago and is back again but was a three-year starter at Villanova before getting here. And you’re starting to see guys like Mafi and Siale getting a lot more comfortable. So they’ve been around and they’re byproducts of their experience and we have more depth so we can play more guys there.

Any freshmen standing out?

They’re doing really well. A couple of them are early enrollees. Patrick Selna, Thomas Cole and then Ben Roy and Garrett DiGiorgio joined us at the beginning of the summer. But they’ve all picked things up very quickly. Ben and Garrett, especially, because they’re the two newer ones, but they’ve both done a really nice job. Garrett’s run a couple times with the twos just because a bang up or something, they’re just moving guys up and down. Justin’s moving those guys all around. But all of those young guys are doing pretty good.

Ethan Garbers without Dorian?

Ethan’s done a really nice job. Obviously, it was fortunate for us, we had a chance get him in for spring ball. Getting that underneath him is big, but he’s capitalizing on his reps. He’s done a great job of fitting in. I think he’s got a great way about himself, really knows how to think like a quarterback. Been coached really, really well at Corona del Mar. They do a such a great job down there. Coach O’Shea does a really, really, really good job with everybody down there. He’s got a lot of experience coming in. Sometimes, some kids maybe come in from a more limited background. But they put in a diverse offense down there and threw the ball a ton so it’s just a matter of him just getting comfortable every day with what we’re doing here.

Garbers' skillset?

He’s an extremely accurate thrower. He’s got competitive accuracy. He’s got a lot of velocity on the ball. He’s really intelligent. He’s a good decision maker. He doesn’t force the issue. Sometimes when guys have really strong arms, they just think, it doesn’t matter what the coverage is, they think they can get the ball in there. I just think he’s really smart and makes really good decisions in there. It’s just a matter of getting him reps to get him really comfortable with what we’re doing.

Thoughts on ASU's COVID vaccine travel policy?

I didn't see that and I would think, and maybe correct me on this, that wouldn't be considered here because you can't go to school here unless you're vaccinated. And I think that's a UC system rule so Cal – and I know I talked to David Shaw, Stanford's under the same thing. So to be out here, you have to be vaccinated or you have to get a waiver. So that's really not an issue here.

Ray Anderson said it was for the safety of his players and opponents.

Yeah, I didn't see that.

What are Aupiu and Toia doing for the D-Line now?

Well Devin's playing outside linebacker for us, and then Jay's obviously an interior defensive lineman for us. So again, they're just two quality kids that we recruited really hard, thought they would fit especially for what we do schematically, so it's just they're still just got here. Dev's still not in full pads, he's still gotta be in uppers right now just because you gotta follow the start practice NCAA protocols in terms of how many days of helmets, how many days of uppers and how many days of full pads. But they both have a really good skill set. It's early, but I'm impressed with both those guys.

Updates on Toia's eligibility?

No, I haven't talked to anyone about that.

Aupiu in pads tomorrow then?

Yeah, he's in shells today so it's just when can we get in full – well, we may not be in full pads tomorrow. The rules are different this year than they've ever been, so there's only a certain amount of practices during preseason camp that you can have in full pads, certain amount of practices you can have in helmet and shoulder pads and then a certain amount of practices you have to have in just helmets. So that fluctuates and you can't go two days in a row of full pads so none of us will be in full pads tomorrow.

Replacement for Felton in do-it-all role to hide what you're doing?

No, they all can do it. They all are really skilled at pass protection, and that's first and foremost that you have to do if you're gonna be a third down back. And they're really good route runners and all of them have really good hands, so we don't miss – you know, Felt did it a little bit more because of how talented Felt was, so he just earned that playing time, but we feel comfortable with all those guys if we're running the football and we feel comfortable with all those guys if we're throwing the football. So I don't think you're gonna get a tell on who's in the game based upon who's in the game, we're gonna do this. I think it's the ability for those guys to do it all, and I think all those guys that you mentioned are complete backs so they can handle whatever we ask them to do in terms of play calling.

Deepest group of running backs?

Every position is the deepest, because we have so many people that have experience here. Two years ago, we had 87 freshmen and sophomores, now two years later, those guys are all juniors and seniors. This is the deepest at every position – you could say that at running back, you could say that at quarterback, at tight end, at D-line, inside linebacker, secondary, every position on our team is the deepest group since we've been here.

Improvements from the secondary?

I think in every aspect, it's always the same things. They have to be sound tacklers because they're tackling in the open field. It's a little bit different from a defensive lineman trying to make a tackle. You've got to be able to close space and be able to, a lot of times, make individual tackles back there, not gang tackles that usually happen when the ball is being run up the middle. Just coverage skills, can we disrupt the timing of the quarterback and the receivers in terms of being able to get our hands on receivers as they try and get downfield. And then, how close are we to the receivers when the ball is thrown. If we can close that separation gap between the receiver and the defensive back, then the quarterback has to be that much more accurate in terms of being able to put the ball in there. We did a really good job last year, but we need to be able to continue to improve and get better, especially in the tackling and then finishing it..when the ball is in the air, we just got to finish those plays.

Clarify the timeline of practice with or without pads?

We have a skeleton of what it will look like, but a lot of it will depend on feedback from the training room. If we say we're going to go...we're scheduled to go Monday in full pads and on Sunday's practice, you get a couple of guys hurt at key positions, you don't want to waste that full padded practice because if we wait a day, they're coming back. So, a lot of that depends on...we have a skeleton of what the practice schedule will be, but we have to wait until the day of, or really the night before, in terms of our trainers telling us who's available and who's not available. It's a combination of those two.

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