WATCH: Darius Muasau Talks Role With UCLA Linebackers, NFL Idols
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UCLA football linebacker Darius Muasau spoke to reporters after Wednesday morning’s fall camp session. Muasau shared his thoughts on how the coaching staff’s NFL experience shines through in their leadership style and play-calling, how it feels to be a leader in his first year with the Bruins, how often he watches film and the NFL linebackers he wants to emulate the most.
How far have things come since spring?
Man, we’ve come a long way—not just me but the whole linebacker group. We’re like sponges with coach Norton—we’re learning a lot from him. You know, he’s been there, done that, he’s coached in the league so we’re just grateful to be learning from him.
Norton seems very vocal, do you like his coaching style?
Yeah, so you see him yelling at us out there. He’s hard on us, it’s not any hard feelings. At the end of the day he’s just getting his message across through all the yelling. You know, he’s an old-school coach—he’s been here, he played here, been in the league, coached in the league, been there, done that, so that’s just his way of coaching and we’re all just adapting to him and we’re loving every second of that.
Bill McGovern?
He’s a great defensive mind. We’re learning from him, we’re implementing some different schemes here and there, we’re testing different coverages, seeing what’s working and we have a lot of weapons on our defense and I feel we’re going to have a great year with coach McGovern at the head.
Unique position to be in as a transfer in a leadership role – did you do anything in the offseason to build camaraderie?
I would say spending a lot of time with our boys—with our room, we kind of have that whole brotherhood connection. Right when I came in, the guys were already close. We’re always texting each other, hitting each other up whenever we need help on this certain play, spend some extra time in the film room, sometimes we have early meetings in the mornings, you know, just talk ball and just getting to know each other, so I think that helped with building a connection here.
Anyone you're taking under your wing at the Mike position?
Yeah, so right now we’ve got JonJon and Carson Schwesinger and they’re both having a good camp, but I’m kind of teaching them small things, little tendencies that they have that can really help to improve their game, but it’s not like that—that I know everything. I’m still learning myself, so I’m just learning and teaching them what I know already.
Have fun with the generational gap between you guys and Norton and McGovern?
Oh, yeah. We have a lot of fun with that. There’s some sayings that coach Norton says that we don’t even know what he’s saying, right? We just laugh because it’s funny how he says it and just the attitude that he brings every day. We’re not used to it but we’re getting used to it, so I really love that. I think we’re all kind of catching onto everything that he brings to the table every day and we’re loving every moment of that.
Anything come to mind?
He references some old movies sometimes and some old sayings, I can’t really think of it right now but it’s really funny in the moment. You just kind of have to be in the moment to enjoy everything with that.
Norton and McGovern being NFL guys come across more in their Xs and Os stuff or their overall coaching style?
I would say both. They’re both old-school, meaning they’re hard on their guys—always yelling, always preaching certain things but also making sure that they get the point across and the Xs and O’s, it’s the same thing—football is always football; you’re always running the same coverages, the same thing shows up in every team, but it’s just perfecting everything and making sure everything is crisp and clean.
McGovern seems kinda quiet out on the practice field?
I would say McGovern trusts his defensive staff. He knows he has veterans in the room—he always says that his defensive staff are going to be coordinators or already were coordinators, so the whole staff already knows the insides and outs and it’s just a matter of how well they’re teaching their players and I feel like they’re doing a great job of teaching everyone in the room right now.
How much time do you spend watching film?
Right now we’re spending three or four hours watching defensive-specific film, but when I get home I just jump on—we have iPads here and I just watch extra film, things I can get better at and not just our own film but also NFL film as well, I’m picking out specific things that they do in the league that I can implement into my own game, so things like that.
NFL teams or players you like to watch?
Right now, I think the top linebacker is Fred Warner, Darius Leonard, Devin White is up there, just guys like that that are always around the ball making big plays, difference-makers, and that’s what I’m trying to thrive to be that too.
McGovern was with Roquan Smith in Chicago, do you watch or talk about him?
Yeah, so we always watch the Chicago Bears defense because coach McGovern was there and every time I put on that film, Roquan is always around that ball, so he’s also one of the top linebackers right now in the league, so just being able to watch and adapt to that, to those films, it’s really nice to see. I really strive to implement into my game.
Any similarities between you and Roquan?
Uh, shoot, I think everyone is unique in their own way. You know, I can strive to be as good as them but I’ll kind of branch off and be my own Darius Muasau, my own kind of linebacker.
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