WATCH: Obi Eboh, Duke Clemens Share Thanksgiving Traditions, Plans Ahead of UCLA-Cal
UCLA football cornerback Obi Eboh and center Duke Clemens were the two players made available to the media after Wednesday's practice.
Eboh talked about going over to his teammates' apartment for Thanksgiving dinner, as well as his overall two-year journey at UCLA and how he harkens back to his Stanford days to still view Cal as a fierce rival. Clemens shared a few opinions on Thanksgiving dishes while giving some insight into what his family usually does for the holiday back in Hawaii, and he also touched on his ability to move around positions on the offensive line.
OBI EBOH
Thanksgiving plans?
Yeah, we're having a Thanksgiving dinner as a team tonight at the Luskin. And then, unfortunately, my family's not coming into town, so I think I'm gonna have Otito and Odua and Jon Gaines cook me up something pretty good.
Any Thanksgiving hot takes?
Not really, man. I'm just a straight Turkey, cranberry, yams and marshmallows, you know that sweet – you know what I'm talking about? Um, yeah, no hot takes over here, man, I'm pretty basic when it comes to all that stuff. Just as long as I got a ton of food and stuffing and all that type of stuff, maybe some dessert – I like apple pie.
'Big Game' vibes still lingering even at UCLA?
Yeah, I think naturally, it kind of does. So last year, when we played them, I was at Stanford the year before, we had lost at home and they had stormed the field – I think they did again actually last week – but they had stormed the field when I was a senior. And so when I played them the COVID year, I kinda took that a little personally and I maybe said something about me getting the axe back even though I was over here. But it still lingers over a little bit, but they're a good opponent and well-respected.
What's on the menu at Otito's house?
I have no idea, I have no idea, but I trust his judgement, I think he's gonna cook something up pretty good.
Last regular season college football game ever, emotions heading in?
Yeah, it's definitely an emotional time for a lot of the seniors. Everything is – or at last coming up throughout the weeks – like 'Oh, this is gonna be our last so-and-so or XYZ, this is gonna be our last Wednesday practice here, it's gonna be so-and-so.' It's definitely an emotional time and I appreciate all these guys. It just seems like yesterday I was coming in during COVID and trying to figure all this stuff out and now we're kind of down to our last rope, but I feel like the guys that came in during that year are feeling pretty good about what we've accomplished and still trying to accomplish. Just gonna keep it going and enjoy our last few weeks with these guys and I think that bowl game will definitely help.
Kinship among all you super seniors?
I'd say so. I mean, naturally, when you go to a new place, you gotta find some familiar faces and for us, the synonymous faces are the other guys that are coming in, the other transfers, right? So I built a bond, definitely, with those guys coming in, initially, especially because when we came to work out during the COVID year, you only saw about 10 of our teammates during the workouts, at least from the beginning. So we built a bond that way, for sure. And then I knew Brittain coming in, even before UCLA, and he's my roommate now, so we're definitely a close-knit group and we have to be the ones that are obviously leading the team and doing our way that way. So yeah, we're very close. It's a very close group all around.
How would you characterize your journey at UCLA these past two years?
Yeah, I think it's everything that I wanted it to be and what I envisioned. Or at least from the start, there was a little adversity there with the COVID year and not knowing what was gonna happen with the team and the season and then going through a little bump in the road there during the COVID year for some of the games. I was trying to figure out are we gonna go to the NFL or come back, and then kind of us banding together to say, 'Hey look, we've got some more things to accomplish.' To then come back and have the season we're having, being bowl eligible for the first time, I think I'd probably characterize it as a roller coaster, maybe coach Kelly said something about that. It's been a roller coaster ride for sure, and there have been ebbs and flows and ups and downs, but in the end, we're finishing off pretty strong and having a great time. So yeah, I'd probably say roller coaster.
DUKE CLEMENS
Evaluate your performance and everyone having to move around with positions so often?
The way we do things, it's like everyone has to know the playbook from every position, every point of view, so it wasn't too hard. Our biggest thing is we just want to win and we're all team players so wherever they need us, that's where we're gonna be, and that's where we're gonna try and do our best.
Take pride in both the passing and running game succeeding in the same game?
We take a lot of pride in that. You work hard in practice every single day to be able to execute those plays. Whereas if you open up the run game, then the pass game comes and if you have O-linemen that's doing their job and executing, you'll get both, and that's what we showed against SC. And I'm just proud of our guys and the work is finally paying off.
Plan for Thanksgiving?
Yeah, I definitely will be going to the team dinner. UCLA does a good job at providing a Thanksgiving meal for us, especially me, being from Hawaii, not from California. So it's good to get a family atmosphere over there and they always check on you to make sure you have plans for Thanksgiving. So I'll be probably spending it with my sister tomorrow, or on Thursday – yeah, on Thursday. So yeah, it's nice to have that meal as a team.
Thanksgiving hot takes?
The biggest question going around our locker room and our training room was either if you're a ham or turkey guy. I would say I'm a ham guy, sorry to the turkey. I'll eat turkey, but I prefer the ham.
Ham more traditional in Hawaii?
I think that's just me cause I feel like you can do a lot more things with ham. You can do a lot of things with turkey as well, but you can fry some ham for breakfast, make a sandwich, eat it for Thanksgiving, so yeah.
What's usually on the Thanksgiving table in Hawaii?
We usually have the traditional Thanksgiving foods. Sometimes we'll have enough Hawaiian food in there, things like poke or kalua pig and a lot of rice for me. I love rice, so gotta have that.
What do the grad transfers and super seniors mean to you? How have they helped you progress personally?
It's good, coming in here, those guys were older than me so there wasn't really no awkward stage, I would say, between me coming in or them coming in as transfers. It kind of just clicked right away, the impact they made on this team as leaders and as friends, as players. They're gonna leave an incredible mark on the UCLA football team, especially having such a great year that we're having so far, so I'm really gonna miss those guys.
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