WATCH: Chip Kelly on DC Bill McGovern, UCLA’s Transfer Strategy

Kelly was complimentary of McGovern’s experience at the NFL level, most recently with the Chicago Bears.

UCLA football coach Chip Kelly spoke to reporters ahead of Tuesday morning’s fall camp session. Kelly went in-depth on the Bruins’ approach the transfer portal each offseason, who has stood out at linebacker, where the offensive tackle depth chart stands and why he decided to hire Bill McGovern as his newest defensive coordinator.

What happened with Azzinaro?

Coach Azzinaro is home right now in Maine, I think.

Retire?

Um, I think he tried to catch on the National Football League and was looking for other opportunities there.

He may coach again?

He could, yeah.

What drew you to McGovern?

Um, just through our research, we wanted to get some NFL-style [coaching], bringing both him and Ken [Norton Jr.] in here. Obviously, I think we’ve done a really good job against the run, but we need to do a better job in pass defense, so some of the principles that Billy and Ken have and pass rush schemes is kind of what we were looking for, so.

Early memories of McGovern?

Yeah, Billy was an unbelievable football player in college—I believe he’s the all-time leading interception [player] for the FCS level, comes from a great family of athletes in New Jersey and then started coaching at UMass and was at Boston College for a long time, got to know Billy really well there and then Billy was on our staff when we were in Philadelphia together, so I got an opportunity to work with him there.

What does NFL coaching experience bring to UCLA players?

I just think almost all of our players have goals and aspirations to play at the next level, so to bring some of their techniques and teaching styles is very beneficial to our players and then some of the tweaks we’ve done coverage-wise have really helped our guys, so anxious to see it in action this fall.

Competition at right tackle between DiGiorgio and Manoa?

Tyler’s on the left side now, so right tackle, left tackle, and it depends on the day. We’re always trying to get the five best offensive linemen on the field, so we have some tackle candidates in Garrett, Tyler, Raiqwon, Siale’s out there, Josh Carlin’s out there, Bruno Fina’s done a really nice job, so it will be an ongoing rotation as we get going through camp, so the final thing is who are the best five? Right tackle, left tackle, the game’s turned a little bit, I don’t think it’s specifically you have a right tackle that’s just a run block guy and the left tackle is pass-block guy. Most of the time when you’re in spread formation, both tackles are exposed, they don’t have a tight end attached to them at all, so they both have to have a similar skill set. Our job is to find the best five and then who’s the next because it’s really your tackle is, who’s the next tackle in the game—he’ll back up on both the right side and the left side so at the end of the day, we’re looking for the best eight in a rotation, so who’s your starting five, who’s your backup guard, who’s your backup tackle and then we’ll rotate and play all eight consistently—we’ve done that since we’ve been here, but we’ve got a lot of guys who are competing and doing a good job right now, so.

Raiqwon working mostly at LT?

I think that he's worked at both. But I mean, we're on day three, four, I can't figure that out. So I don't know where Drev has him in the rotation. Guys that just got here, we've tried to keep them in one spot. Siale's just stayed on the right side just cause he didn't practice during the spring, so he's back to there, but eventually, we'll start to rotate those guys on both sides.

Jon Gaines come back?

Gainsey's here.

Linebackers standing out with a few guys missing, Norton have any names?

Yeah, I mean, we discuss personnel every single day, so I feel really good about our linebacker spot. Kain's done a really nice job, Darius has been outstanding since we've been here. JonJon wasn't with us in the spring but has really picked up kinda where he left off, JonJon's done a really nice job in there, Jeremiah Trojan's done a really nice job in there. There's a bunch of guys that are competing and trying to stand out at that position.

Been aggressive in transfer recruiting, how does that impact how you build the roster?

Just the nature of the game we're involved in right now, so that's just – those are the rules presented by the NCAA so we adhere to the rules that are presented by the NCAA. Every year, you're team building – how do we put together the best team for this season? It's a year-to-year deal, the way it is now. It's no longer, you're bringing in 25 freshmen, then we'll redshirt them all and develop them and five years from now, we'll be good. Five years from now, you're probably not gonna be around, so everything's a year-to-year. We don't really look at it as recruiting anymore, we look at it as team-building, so how do we build the best team for the 2022 season and that's a combination of high school and transfers. You can't predict what the market's gonna be like cause you don't know who's going in the portal. It's not like the NFL where you know in free agency that this guy's contract's up, he's going to be a free agent, you know who to identify then. So you just have to stay on top of it and be in front of it. The biggest thing is finding the right athletic, academic and cultural fits for what we have in our locker room and how they will fit in with our guys. I think our staff has done a really nice job from that standpoint.

Transfer landscape impact how you do high school recruiting this time of year?

Same thing. We're full-bore on both, so it's – you're not doing any transfer work right now because there's nobody in the portal right now, so you're full-bore on your high school kids. And everything we determine is can he come in here and contribute? If he can come in here and contribute – whether he's a transfer or a high school kid – I think the days of "Hey, let's take a flier on this kid, I think he may be a developmental kid. He hasn't really shown much, but he's got some height, weight and speed and we'll just see if he pans out," you're not gonna do that now because you could potentially not have a scholarship for a kid who can come in and start for you next fall.

Selectively making decision on high school players now?

We've always done that, though. I think some other people's models have been that, 'are you gonna take a developmental kid?' For us, especially when we first got here because we were so young, we wanted to get some older kids in our program, and at that point in time, it wasn't the transfer portal, it was the grad transfer route. So we took the Wilton Speights and some of those guys of the world as grad transfers who really helped us, got us to be older a little bit quicker. That first year I think we had 44 new kids in fall camp, we brought 29 in and then we brought in another 14 in walk ons. So our goal when we first got here was 'How do we get a little bit older?' because we were such a young team. So the grad transfer route was the first two years of that. And then they made the rule that you were instantly eligible, that pool of transfers just got bigger for you.

Expect multi-time transfer eligibility to pass?

I have no idea. If it passes, they tell us. If it doesn't pass, I don't.... I don't spend time on things I don't have a say in. And I don't sit there and wonder, 'Hey, is this gonna pass? Is this not gonna pass?' Erin Adkins in our compliance office does an unbelievable job. She keeps us abreast to everything. If the rule passes, you adjust with it. Because the rule passes for everybody. It's not like it would just affect us. It would affect every team. If that's what it is, that's what it is.

Mixing and matching high school and transfers?

You're mixing and matching. I just don't think you can predict the future. I think one of the things that we've always been conscious of is saving some scholarships so when kids... We were fortunate last year, we were at 84 and then Devin Aupiu went in the portal. We were lucky, because we had a scholarship available to take Devin Aupiu a year ago. I think you just have to plan strategically, but you don't know if it's gonna be there. You may short a year or two, you may be at 81 or 82, but you don't want to get caught short. That's about as far as the planning part goes. You really don't know, you just kind of have to go through every contingency and see if you have your bases covered.

Nick Pasquale scholarship rewarded in camp?

That was a scholarship awarded, he just wore his number. Ethan earned his scholarship a long time ago. We've always a great history since I've been here, Josh Kelley, Greg Dulcich, Ethan. Guys who have come in as walk-ons and have contributed. So it's not a formal affair, it's whoever wears his number was a former walk-on but that's not tied to a scholarship award either.

Follow Connon on Twitter at @SamConnon
Follow All Bruins on Twitter at @SI_AllBruins
Like All Bruins on Facebook at @SI.AllBruins
Subscribe to All Bruins on YouTube

Read more UCLA stories: UCLA Bruins on Sports Illustrated
Read more UCLA football stories: UCLA Football on Sports Illustrated