UCLA Football Spring Practice Report: April 5

The Bruins continued to mix up the defensive rotations in their fourth session of spring ball, with multiple turnovers highlighting team drills.

With spring practice in full swing, the Bruins aren't done mixing and matching just yet.

After all, there are still five months until UCLA football starts its regular season, giving coach Chip Kelly and his staff plenty of leeway to tinker and experiment on a random Tuesday in April. Of course, with quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and running back Zach Charbonnet returning, the offense is bound to look largely similar to how it did in 2021, but the defense is already showing off many changes four practices and two padded sessions into spring camp.

Bill McGovern is the new defensive coordinator taking Jerry Azzinaro's place, but the offseason moves went far beyond that – Chad Kauha'aha'a is running the defensive line, Ken Norton Jr. is working with the inside linebackers and Ikaika Malloe is handling the outside linebackers. Malloe has already proven to be the most energetic, hands-on coach to come through Westwood in quite some time, and he shows that in both the special teams and defensive drills.

Malloe was literally wrapping up players by the knees and diving at dummies full speed to demonstrate technique. The players seemed to enjoy Malloe's spark, with Carl Jones and others hyping him up as he crawled back to his feet.

That outside linebacker/defensive end group is where a lot of the changes are clear so far this spring, and that's with both Jones and Bo Calvert returning. Gone is the "raider" spot from the 4-2-5, with the Bruins now running mostly a 4-3 with the two ends feeling interchangeable and even working their way inside at times.

North Texas transfer Grayson and Gabriel Murphy are the early posterchildren of this – sometimes, they'll line up on opposite ends, sometimes they'll swap and in 3rd down scenarios, they'll even have one move to defensive tackle. McGovern talked about being multiple in his defense this year, and while that can largely apply to running 4-3 or 3-4 or nickel or stack and 4-2-5, it can apply to the versatility of the players themselves as well.

With the Murphys getting some time on the inside, Duke transfer Gary Smith III didn't appear to get any reps in team sessions, and Calvert seemed to only be in for one drive. Washington transfer Laiatu Latu and rising sophomore Devin Aupiu are getting some go at defensive end as well, and Joquarri Price, Carson Schwesinger and Hayden Nelson got some reps in with the backups.

Mo Osling III continues to switch between corner, nickel and safety and Wyoming transfer Azizi Hearn continues to swap back and forth from the slot to outside the numbers, but the secondary is running a lot more basic sets compared to year's past.

Damian Sellers and Kain Medrano are working in coverage a lot as the outside linebackers, while Hawaii transfer Darius Muasau and super senior Caleb Johnson are holding down the spot in the middle in more of a run support role.

Ale Kaho remains out with an injury, and while JonJon Vaughns was present Tuesday, he had to go suit up for UCLA baseball against LMU at Jackie Robinson Stadium later in the day and wasn't able to practice on the gridiron. The linebackers – both inside and outside – do present a lot of intrigue, though, based on either talent, past production or mystery.

Per usual, the special teams drills marked the start of practice, and the kick return group got one of its first walkthroughs of the spring. Kazmeir Allen is still the No. 1 return man, with Kam Brown standing in as the backup, while Keegan Jones, Titus Mokiao-Atimalala Logan Loya, DJ Justice, Zach Charbonnet and Christian Grubb working as the second man back who points out blocking schemes and pursuit patterns.

Grubb didn't participate in any team sessions, still working his way back from a torn achilles, but he and linebacker Kobey Fitzgerald were wearing pads and got in on at least a little action. Offensive lineman Siale Taupaki, center Sam Marrazzo, defensive lineman Sitiveni Havili-Kaufusi, receiver Colson Yankoff and receiver Ezavier Staples spent practice on the sidelines, working on balance drills and jogging if they weren't on the stationary bikes.

Offensive lineman Yutaka Mahe was seen with a crutch in his right arm and what appeared to be a cast of some kind on his left leg. Kaho, tight end Mike Martinez, offensive lineman Patrick Selna and offensive lineman Thomas Cole were not seen, and Kelly said they were "unavailable" before practice began.

After all the warmups, special teams action and position drills came the team sessions, featuring a rotation of 1-on-1 route running, half skeleton, 7-on-7 and 11-on-11.

Hearn picked off quarterback Chase Griffin in 1-on-1s, when Griffin was looking towards receiver Ashton Authement. Cornerback Devin Kirkwood got an interception from quarterback Ethan Garbers, but it only came after receiver Josiah Norwood blew by him and then came back towards the sideline for the slowly-developing route.

Garbers recovered in half skeleton workouts, lofting one deep to Duke transfer receiver Jake Bobo. Griffin continued to struggle, though, and he would have had two more interceptions if defensive backs Clint Stephens and Alex Johnson hadn't dropped them.

Thompson-Robinson helped start team sessions with a bang, finding Bobo 40 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown after cornerback John Humphrey got left in the dust. A few reps later, Thompson-Robinson found Kazmeir Allen on a seam route on the right side, with Hearn diving and missing while the speedster found his way into the end zone.

But Thompson-Robinson wasn't perfect, missing a few passes and giving the defense some momentum through the air and on the ground. Muasau got a tackle for loss on running back Keegan Jones, then came back not long after and completely blew up Allen in the flat to get to Thompson-Robinson in the backfield.

Thompson-Robinson did throw a pick as a result of a miscommunication with tight end Michael Ezeike. Rolling out to his right, Thompson-Robinson looked for Ezeike in the right flat, but as the ball went the tight end's way, someone had to yell out "Mike!" for him to turn his head. The ball bounced off his back bicep and found its way into the arms of Hearn.

Caleb Johnson forced a turnover as well, stripping tight end Carsen Ryan after the freshman made an impressive one-handed catch on a pass by Garbers. Before he could bring it to the front of his body and wrap it under the second hand, Johnson punched it out and the defense had it going the other way.

Tuesday was probably the defense's most disruptive day of the spring so far, and that was a welcome sight to see for a unit that ranked No. 30 in the nation in turnovers forced in 2021 but had lost three-quarters of its starters. Of course, spring ball is spring ball, and there is plenty of time for things to change, but this really does feel like a different defense two weeks in.

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