It's now or never for UCLA football with so much experience returning
Three years ago, he was part of Chip Kelly's first recruiting class in Westwood.
Jon Gaines II was joining a team that had more underclassmen than anyone else in the nation. He's been a part of three losing teams since then, simply filling a role as the offensive line settled in over the years.
Fast forward to 2021, and Gaines is ready to win.
"The time is now," Gaines said.
Gaines will slide right back into the right guard position for UCLA football this fall, but not without competition for the starting spot. Unlike Sean Rhyan and Alec Anderson at the tackles, Sam Marrazzo at center and Paul Grattan at left guard, Gaines has to hold off Duke Clemens, who started the first three games at right guard last season.
That isn't exactly a problem for coach Chip Kelly and the Bruins. Offensive line depth had been a major hole in the early days of Kelly's tenure, not even hitting the goal of scholarship linemen up front in the first two seasons.
Now, in addition to Gaines and Clemens battling it out for snaps, Atonio Mafi, Baraka Beckett, Bruno Fina, Patrick Selna and three new freshmen are on the bench. UCLA is three-deep through it's entire offensive line for the first time under Kelly.
With so much competition in those reserve spots, Rhyan said he's looking forward to guiding his younger teammates through the process.
"We’re an older team now, we’re not as young of a team," Rhyan said. "I think the young guys are kind of realizing that if they don’t step up, they’re getting left behind. They have to step up. If they don’t know it, then the next guy is going to surpass them. So they got a little edge to them because they don’t want to get left behind. So it’s a good competition."
Both Gaines and Rhyan pointed out that any of those guys could wind up in a game in the blink of an eye, so it's best for them all to be prepared for those in-game situations as soon as possible.
Whether it's the five returning starters or the competitive group of backups and potential replacements, the goal is the same – win football games. To do that, Gaines made it very clear what they had to do.
"It's about communicating and executing," Gaines said. "Finishing really, finishing above all. We're more than capable, it's just about executing and doing our jobs, it's that simple."
The group the offensive line is protecting is also looking very similar to last year. Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson – although he was absent from practice this week – is back. Running back Demetric Felton is now in the NFL, but Brittain Brown, Keegan Jones, Kazmeir Allen and Ethan Fernea are all returning.
Mix all of it together, and you've got an offense that's returning more production than all but two teams in the whole country.
If there were any time to become a winning team, Gaines can't be blamed for thinking it's now.
Good eats, plenty of meat
Any quarterback should hope he's on his offensive line's good side.
Based on what Rhyan and Gaines said after Sunday's practice, they certainly have Thompson-Robinson's back.
"He's a little comedian, we all like to poke jokes at each other, but you know how Dorian is," Rhyan said. "He's always got a smile on his face, he always has a good attitude."
The quarterback group and offensive linemen went out for an all-you-can-eat meal a few weeks back, something Thompson-Robinson shared on Twitter when they were done.
Gaines said he hasn't been filled in on any potential quarterback-offensive line name, image, likeness deals in the works.
But don't be surprised if a fried chicken place or steakhouse puts some money behind Thompson-Robinson's bond with his "Hogs" sooner rather than later, though.
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