UCLA Football Official Depth Chart: Week 5 vs. Arizona State
The Bruins have released their latest two-deep depth chart.
No. 20 UCLA football (3-1, 1-0 Pac-12) announced its 29 starters and 29 backups for its upcoming game against Arizona State (3-1, 1-0 Pac-12) as of Monday. Coach Chip Kelly has made it clear that these lineups can shift drastically before their kickoffs on Saturdays, but it is at least an insightful look at where things stand for the Bruins at the moment.
There were a few decisions of note from Kelly and co. this time around, and All Bruins is here to break them all down.
Center
One of the very few changes made since last Monday's two-deep was on the offensive line.
Center Sam Marrazzo was injured early in the second half Saturday and did not return for UCLA's final few drives against Stanford. Considering he was not in uniform or even getting loose with some of the other injured players at practice Monday, his return does not seem imminent.
UCLA is familiar with this situation, however, as Marrazzo already missed the first two games of the 2021 season. While Jon Gaines II started at center in those contests, the new depth chart has him splitting time with Duke Clemens.
Clemens is the first of the two listed, but instead of being the No. 2 center, Gaines' name is preceded by an "or" – the first one to appear on the depth chart for the Bruins this season. Clemens was also the No. 2 center behind Marrazzo last week, so he will likely be getting the majority of the snaps come Saturday.
No sign of Bruno Fina, who was the backup center the first few weeks.
Right Guard
The situation at right guard goes hand-in-hand with what's going down at center with Marrazzo out.
Gaines, who is center 1B, is right guard 1A. Again, the staff has elected to go with an "or" tag at this position, with Gaines getting listed above Atonio Mafi. When Marrazzo started at center, Gaines started at right guard with Mafi backing him up.
Mafi must now be cycled in at right guard even more than he has the past two weeks, which probably isn't a bad thing considering how well he played to open the year. Either way, there will be some cycle at center and right guard with Clemens, Gaines and Mafi.
Tight End
Even though the two-deep has been adjusted to account for Marrazzo's injury, the same cannot be said for tight end Mike Martinez's absence.
Martinez went down with an injury against Fresno State on Sept. 18, and he would be seen at practice two days later wearing a boot and riding a knee scooter. He was still listed on the depth chart for the Stanford game, but did not appear on the sidelines, let alone the field of play.
The Bruins' best blocking tight end has been missing for over a week now and he certainly doesn't seem close to returning. Michael Ezeike, who was TE2 through a lot of fall camp and is the presumed third man on the depth chart, did not see a lot of game action, if any, against the Cardinal.
Still, it is odd to see Ezeike not listed on the two-deep for the second week in a row, even with Kelly likely shying away from 12 personnel and two-tight end sets without Martinez. Greg Dulcich will obviously get the most play here, but he can't play every down and he could always go down with an injury.
Pegging Ezeike as the real TE2 is a total guess, since Kelly has elected not to make the actual adjustment in response to Martinez's injury. Either that, or the staff thinks Martinez has a real shot at making a miraculous return from injury Saturday.
Running Back
For the first time all season, Zach Charbonnet got the lion's share of touches out of the backfield.
He was slightly less efficient, but overall still very effective against Stanford, racking up over 100 yards for the third time in 2021. Brittain Brown saw his efficiency go up as he took more of a backseat and became the backup.
Brown, despite being listed as the starter, did not appear at all during UCLA's first two drives and didn't get a touch until the sixth. Charbonnet had 18 touches by the time Brown got his first.
Charbonnet is once again listed as the backup to Brown heading into the Arizona State game, though. As we saw last week, that doesn't mean much in terms of number of touches or order of snaps, so the impact on the game may be minimal.
But if Charbonnet gets more playing time and production, it begs the question of why Kelly and his staff haven't awarded the Michigan transfer the starting job on paper as well.
Safety
Like Martinez, safety Quentin Lake was hurt against Fresno State, listed on the Week 4 two-deep and missed the Stanford game entirely.
Lake was certainly closer to being cleared, though, as he was at least warming up with his teammates pregame and is a full participant in practice as of Monday. Despite boasting a different personal timeline than last week – he was not seen participating in drills at all leading up to the trip to Palo Alto – he sits in the same spot on paper that he did last Monday.
Kenny Churchwell III was the starter with Lake out last week, even with Lake getting the nod on paper. We'll keep track of Lake's health throughout the week at practice to see if he actually stands to appear against the Sun Devils.
The full depth chart can be seen here:
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