WATCH: Martin Andrus Jr. Returns From Injury, Shea Pitts Gets Sendoff Sack Against USC

Along with the Victory Bell, the Bruins got a couple feel-good storylines out of Saturday's win over the Trojans.

UCLA football defensive lineman Martin Andrus Jr. and striker Shea Pitts were the two players made available to talk to the media after Tuesday's practice.

Andrus talked about his two-year battle with injuries, coming off of two torn ACLs, and returning as a team captain in the Bruins' game against USC on Saturday. Pitts spoke about his growth and development through the years, what he's thinking about for his future, the relief of finally getting to play in a bowl game and his relationship with UCLA men's basketball.

MARTIN ANDRUS JR.

What did it mean to be named captain? Know it would happen leading up to the game?

I actually didn't know until he told me probably 10, 15 minutes before the game. And it was a huge honor for me cause I never got the opportunity to be team captain before, so that was real big.

When did you know you would play? Plan to come back for USC game?

Well actually, I just got cleared not too long ago, probably two or three weeks ago, so I've only had two or three weeks of full contact going against other guys. So honestly, it was just timing, just perfect timing I guess.

Rehab process? Point where you thought you wouldn't be able to get back on the field?

No, there was never a point in time where I thought I wouldn't be coming back. Rehab was – it was pretty long, some days better than others, but my main thing was to just make sure I got some work in every day, make sure I'm trying to get better every day and just take it from there, day-by-day.

Have another year of eligibility left?

Yes, I have a year after this one.

Decided on whether you're coming back?

I plan on coming back, but there's still some things we've got to work out with the coaching staff, we're still trying to figure some things out with the COVID year and all that. So yeah, I plan on coming back, definitely.

Working with a defense that's been criticized, so active Saturday?

We've just been trying to get better week by week. We understand it's a process and journey, so we just been trying to trust the process, come out every day, get better, learn more about the defense and study our opponents to help give us that extra advantage on Saturdays.

How much did it mean that your big return came against USC?

It was pretty nice. Beating SC is always – you know, crosstown rivalry – that's always pretty big. But honestly, it was just good to be back. I didn't care if it was SC or Cal or whatever, I just wanted to come back and play, so it was just an honor and a blessing just to be back and be able to play football again.

Cool seeing Shea Pitts get that sack against USC?

Yes sir, that was awesome seeing that. Like you said, we came in together, so that's my guy. It was just good to see him be able to go out there and make some plays for our team and it was really exciting.

What have you been up to the last two years?

Basically just rehab – rehab and school. Like you said, the past two years, I've been out, not really been in the mix or whatever, so I've just been trying to rehab, get stronger, faster, get my knees right. I don't know if you guys know, but I'm coming off of two ACL surgeries, both knees, so I've pretty much been trying to recover from those every day. Rehab five-to-seven days a week, about two hours a day, so it's been a grind.

Hearing the news you had to do the rehab all over again on the other leg?

It was devastating, I'm not gonna lie, but I knew and I understand what it took to get back, so I already knew what to do. The second go around, I had a way better mindset about it, so I was pretty – like, it was a bummer, but hey, it builds character, so just take it head first.

Who helped you keep the positive mindset?

Oh, it was everybody, my coaches, teammates, friends, family. Everybody was constantly in my ear, constantly pushing me, constantly giving me the support and confidence I needed to be able to come back from this.

Hearing from former teammates on social media?

It was awesome to see all those people care. And I'm just grateful and thankful for everybody who's supporting me and everybody who stuck along with me through the journey. And I'm just glad to be back out here with my teammates, coaches and everybody.

SHEA PITTS

Coming back for next year? 

Yeah, I haven’t really put much thought about that yet. I’ve had some small discussions, but I’m going to have some more discussions about that moving forward and figuring out exactly what I’m going to be doing next year, but for right now, I’m just worried about Cal and handling Cal and beating our other rival and trying to be dominant in California. That’s what I’m worried about right now. It’s definitely something I’m going to be talking about and have a lot of conversations about, but I’m kind of just waiting until after the season to really worry about that.

Dad's history in college football impact your decision?

Yeah, he’s very, he’s very just, he looks at things at more of a life aspect for me, he’s like what’s the best thing for you in life. All of the conversations we have, none of them are really about football, which is the cool part about it. But personally, I love the game of football and so if I have another year left, I definitely want to use it. But I haven’t really had any conversations with anybody about moving forward that much about it, but I know personally, I love football too much too — I have my whole life to do everything else after that, but I love the game too much to not be able to — I don’t want to look back and well, I wish I played one more year. So I want to play football and he’s just kind of whatever you want to do, you can do.

Doing your masters? In what?

Oh, masters in coaching and leadership. It’s like a John Wooden program. Honestly, it’s really good stuff. Some of the professors are professors that coached here. Miss Val, she’s teaching us. We’re learning a lot of good stuff about not only coaching, but how to administer things in life, how to really run a business, how to talk to people, how to communicate with people so that’s been really cool. Because a lot of times in school, you just kind of learn about book stuff, book stuff, book stuff and to be able to learn and learn things that are more life oriented that you can really apply to your life, that’s been really good stuff and that’s what I’ve enjoyed about this master’s program.

Sack against USC?

Yeah, well I’m up there, I’m just thinking take advantage of every opportunity given and I looked at a little bit of film and I knew that I felt I had a pretty good chance of beating them around the edge, just do what I can. And mainly just effort, kind of a will to get there. The second I saw them set back for a pass, I was just thinking to myself, I need to find a way to get to the quarterback and do something to make this game memorable for me because like it was talked about earlier, my dad had a sack against SC, my grandpa, back in the day, in the first super bowl, he scored two touchdowns in that same stadium so it was kind of like, I need to play for my memory. I remember two years ago, I also had a pretty big play there, but I needed one more play at the Coliseum to have something in my family memory and something I can remember. So I was just thinking maybe one big play or as many big plays as possible, but that happened to be the big play where I could find a way to make something.

Reaction to Ethan Fernea's touchdown?

Oh my God! Yeah, no, Ethan, I’m, side note, super proud of Ethan. He’s been through a lot. He’s been here for six years. He’s been through a lot of ups and downs, broken wrist, told wasn’t going to play this season so I really commend Ethan. Hat’s on to him for that. My guy. I knew Ethan was fast — Ethan’s probably one of the fastest people on the team. I know him and Kaz will probably argue about that, but Ethan can run, so the second he bounced out and had that little lane, I knew he was going to be gone. So, another side note, every time Ethan touches the ball, I feel like he scores. The SC game last year, Colorado a couple years ago, so the second he has the ball in his hands, I know something good’s going to happen. That’s what I was thinking.

Apartment on Gayley is done now, still looking at that as a metaphor with a parallel to the team reaching its goals?

I mean, yeah, some people, I have heard jokes about that, but I think, where we’re going now, we’re just going to keep going up. There are some games this year we definitely wish we would have had, but as of right now, we can only look at what’s been in the past couple of weeks and what the future is and so far, in the month of November, we haven’t lost a game. That’s kind of what we’re — we’re not trying to plateau. We’re just trying to keep it going. We had two more big games left, we’re going to beat Cal and I think that’s the greatest part about our team: we beat SC and a lot of teams would be like, OK, we’re content, that’s a big win, we beat our rival, kind of level off a little bit. But the way we are and the way we have with our coaching staff and the people around us, Coach KB really emphasizes a lot that we’re not done, we’re going to keep going. These are two huge games, 9-4 looks really good and that’s what’s on our mind. And in order to do 9-4, we gotta start with this game to go 8-4. So we’re kind of just like, as much as we’ve built and as far as we’ve come from past years, we know there’s so much more that we’re capable of and like, against Cal, SC is our rival, but Cal is kind of our rival too so we’ll have to battle them and it’s a big game that we’ve gotta get up for. Thanksgiving weekend, there’s a lot of big – coming out to a big game, there’s a lot of things going into this, but our mindset is really focused and we’re really locked in now playing against a rival school now so that’s kind of what I like about this team, to not plateau and keep it going.

Go to the bowl game in 2017?

Yeah, I did go, but that was my redshirt year though. I didn’t play in that game. But it was really fun and I’ve been waiting four long years to get back so I’m very, very, very excited to get back to a bowl game.

Being a Campbell Trophy Semifinalist for top scholar athlete?

Yeah, that was really cool to me mainly because it just looks at me as more than a football player and that’s all I really wanted to be since I got here. Football is a big part of my life, but there’s so much more to life than playing football and being able to use this platform and doing other things and have work in the community and be recognized for that, that’s pretty great because that’s been my whole mindset and that’s what my dad talks to me about every day, that you’re more than a football player, don’t box yourself in, be able to do different things. So I wouldn’t be able to have a lot of opportunities without football, but now to use football to be able to do different things.

Importance of community service work?

Absolutely, yeah, it’s really cool and the biggest thing I’ve really been able to be part of that I feel like I’ve had the biggest impact is mentorship. We’ve gone to 186 elementary school down in Los Angeles and to be able to talk to those kids and be able to be someone that they look up to because you don’t realize it, but when you were a little kid, you looked up to guys playing college and NFL football so when you have influence, when you have a platform, you can be able to influence those kids. So what you say and to emphasize things to them, going to school, getting their grades up, it might not seem like a lot, but it has a strong impact and principals and teachers from the school have talked to me talking about the words that I’ve said and little words that my teammates who have gone there and said that have really impacted their lives and really made them change a lot of their habits. So to really be able to do that is something that’s really cool and goes way bigger than this game of football and you can really help inspire someone and have an impact on their lives.

Who's talked to you in that Miss Val class?

Yeah, we had Miss Val came and talked to the class, no, no, I mean, Miss Val’s class, we had Derek Fisher talk to the class. That was pretty cool. A couple other — Tyus Edney came and talked to one of our other classes. UCLA legend. Shout out to UCLA basketball against Gonzaga. Let’s get the win. But Tyus Edney came into our class, those are just off the top of my head, but there are a lot of others. Lisa Fernandez, I believe her name is, she came and talked to our class. So a lot of UCLA legends that we’ve had connections with came and talked to our class so that’s been really cool. But especially Derek Fisher, I’ve been a Lakers fan my — when I was a kid growing up, everyone was a Lakers fan in the L.A. area pretty much so to be able to talk to him was really cool, asking him questions, so that was really cool. So to be able to learn different aspects of leadership from people who have won championships and done stuff is really cool. 

Relationship with the men's basketball team?

Yeah, I'm cool with a lot of the guys – Johnny, Tyger, Jaime – we all kind of talk, we're all in the same athlete bubble, we talk to each other a lot. But the cool thing about it is they support us and we support them. At one of our games this year, I saw all of them on the sidelines, fired up. Kenny Nwuba, Kenny was fired up, so he's bringing the juice to us. And then we go to Pauley and bring the juice to them. So I think that's kind of the cool part about it is us supporting each other. I know a lot of the years I've been here, it's been kind of a divide – not divide, but we kind of did our own thing, they did their own thing, but now we're really inspiring each other. A couple guys on that team – Johnny, a couple of them – guys hit me up, hit us up after the game congratulating us and we do the same thing with them. So it's been really cool to kind of have that mesh between us. We're gonna be at Pauley all winter long in the student section getting after it, so I can't wait.

See Martin Andrus back on the field after so much happened?

Yeah, I mean, that's a really testament to Martin's character. I look at it – a lot of people can come motivated and do things when they're doing well and good, but when things are bad and you're not doing well and you're hurt, that really shows about your character. So for Martin to come, after not just one ACL but two, and work day in and day out to be able to get back on the field, that's just an unbelievable testament to his character and something I am just – it's really cool stuff. I mean, people – it just shows about who he is as a person. So anything he goes through in life, it's gonna be hard for him to go through something as hard as he went through now, so he's gonna be – really strong testament to who he is. And to see Martin flying on the field is good cause he's a very, very great player and he had to go through all those trials and tribulations. To see him running around, he can be a guy that's not just someone, 'OK, he's on the field' and we clap, but someone who can really make plays and help us win games. So it was really cool seeing Martin, being with him the past four years, and I'm really proud of him and I told him that.

Biggest takeaway from Fisher's talk in class?

Yeah, that's a good – there was so much. I think the biggest thing is to just be a good teammate, that's a really big aspect of it. Because I kind of looked at it, I did my own research and all the championships that the Lakers won and those things, Kobe was on each and every one of those – I mean, Derek Fisher was on each and every one of those teams with Kobe. Kobe, I've seen a couple things of him talking about that secret piece. He might not have been the person scoring all the points, but what he was able to do in the locker room and how he was able to be a good teammate helped the team win a lot of championships. And that's kinda – he was very modest talking about the championship part, but he talked about how to be a good teammate, a genuine teammate that's consistent, and he was talking about not just saying you're a good teammate, not just doing things just for the show, but actually behind closed doors, acting as a good teammate, and that's been something I've been trying to do that I really took from his speech.

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