UCLA Football 2021 Positional Preview: Defensive Line
With UCLA football's shortened offseason already winding down, it's time to start looking ahead to fall 2021 and what lies ahead for the Bruins on the gridiron. Before scouting out opponents and projecting the Pac-12 pecking order, it's best to look within by picking apart how UCLA will shape up on its own sideline.
All Bruins will be breaking down every position group over the next few weeks, and the defensive line is next on the list. To catch up on the positions already covered, take a look below.
Aug. 9: Quarterbacks
Aug. 10: Running Backs
Aug. 11: Wide Receivers
Aug. 12: Tight Ends
Aug. 13: Offensive Line
Depth Chart
DE1: Mitchell Agude, redshirt senior
DE2: Myles Jackson, redshirt freshman
DE3: Choe Bryant-Strother, sophomore
DE4: Devin Aupiu, freshman
DE5: Christian Burkhalter, freshman
DE6: AJ Campbell, freshman
DE7: Hayden Nelson, freshman
DT1: Datona Jackson, redshirt senior
DT2: Odua Isibor, senior
DT3: Dovid Magna, redshirt sophomore
DT4: Qunintin Somerville, freshman
DT5: Tyler Kiehne, freshman
DT6: John Ward, redshirt sophomore
DT1: Otito Ogbonnia, senior
DT2: Tyler Manoa, senior
DT3: Jay Toia, freshman
DT4: Hayden Harris, redshirt sophomore
DT5: Martin Andrus, senior
DT6: Sitiveni Havili-Kaufusi, redshirt sophomore
DT7: Tia Savea, freshman
The Bruins are entering their second season with assistant head coach, passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach Brian Norwood.
The way Norwood came into town and worked with defensive coordinator Jerry Azzinaro on the structure and play style of the defense has affected far more than the secondary, however.
On the vast majority of plays in 2020, UCLA set up with two interior linemen, one traditional defensive end and one stand-up linebacker-defensive end hybrid known as the Bruin or Raider. Since the raider is more of a dynamic, rushing linebacker, we'll save that position group for the linebacker breakdown.
Agude again stands to be UCLA's best disrupter on the line, especially with Osa Odighizuwa now playing for the Dallas Cowboys. Agude led the team with 8.0 tackles for loss last season and is the defensive line's top returning sacker.
The Bruins were very reliant on Agude's evasiveness and the addition of a fifth pass-rusher in 2020, but getting Myles Jackson back from an ACL injury and adding Devin Aupiu late in the game should let the staff be more balanced and creative with their sub packages on the end.
Datona Jackson and Otito Ogbonnia got the most snaps of returning interior linemen last season, so they project to be the first down guys on the inside to start this year as well. Between them, Isibor and Manoa, UCLA's four key interior linemen are all seniors and above, now with plenty of experience in the program and scheme as well.
Somerville and Toia are two freshmen who could make an impact and get snaps early – the former of which had a solid spring and the latter being a late addition via USC and the transfer portal. The 265-pound Somerville looks like he may need to beef up a bit in order to contribute on the inside, and he isn't exactly a schematic fit on the outside in the role filled by Agude, Myles Jackson and Bryant-Strother.
Somerville's pure pass rushing skills make him a valuable asset, but his ability to mesh with the defense as a whole will be interesting to track moving forward, probably costing him snaps in the first few weeks of the season. Magna is a former walk-on who got a good amount of playing time in 2020 for someone with his background, and he should continue to build on it with those fifth and sixth interior spots up for grabs.
Toia is a true nose tackle, with the quick burst and steady strength that come along with that. Assuming he is ruled eligible in time – the timing of both his and Aupiu's transfers present compliance question marks that have yet to be hashed out – Toia can step right in and contribute right away as a deep rotation guy.
Harris has some solid athletic tools as well, but he's in the same boat as Somerville where his long 6-foot-5 frame is maybe a little too slight at 250 pounds to be a regular on the inside in this defense. Andrus is a much better fit at one of those two interior positions, but it remains to be seen how ready he is to play a significant amount of time at game speed after missing the better part of the last two seasons with injuries.
Havili-Kaufusi has also had lingering injury concerns throughout spring and fall camps, and he even spent a good chunk of Monday's practice on a stationary bike.
Burkhalter, Nelson and Campbell don't project to see the field much at all, except maybe on special teams. Savea and Kiehne – Savea even more so, due to his better reputation coming out of high school – are poised to be solid pieces moving forward, but the top and middle tiers of the Bruins' interior line are so crowded that they probably wouldn't get much play either.
Predictions
The Bruins have relied on linebackers and extra blitzers to create pressure throughout most of the Chip Kelly-Azzinaro era in Westwood. Of UCLA's 22 sacks in 2020, 8.0 came via defensive linemen compared to 5.0 from defensive backs and 9.0 from linebackers.
Just based on how Azzinaro has tweaked this defense to fit Norwood's downhill, 4-2-5 scheme, that will likely be the case again in 2021.
The pure pass rush production from the defensive line will probably tick down a bit with Odighizuwa's 4.0 sacks out the door and no clear answer as to who will make up the gap at his position. Isibor, who didn't record a sack or tackle for loss in 2020, stands as the player with the most room to grow, and from what we've heard in interviews and seen in fall camp, he certainly seems capable of making a step forward on those fronts.
By year's end, the defensive line should have about 14 sacks in their back pocket, with Agude leading the way with 5.0 or so. With so many veterans on the interior and Agude setting the edge, UCLA should continue to be solid against the run – it ranked second in the Pac-12 with just 135.7 rushing yards allowed per game.
The pass defense, which allowed the second-most passing yards per game in program history with 274.1 in 2020, is where the Bruins need to step up. Part of that is on the defensive backs, but a lot of it is up to the three defensive linemen and one hybrid raider.
The key this fall is creating pressure without all-out blitzes. Those shouldn't be removed from the playbook entirely, since they're a big part of why UCLA's defense had a little more juice behind it last year, but mixing them in on a more unpredictable basis would do wonders for the defense as a whole.
Azzinaro and Norwood have the ability to do just that now that their players have been in this system for over a year, and that familiarity should help the Bruins settle things down and avoid allowing big, quick bursts of points like they did against Colorado, USC and Stanford early and late in 2020.
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