WATCH: Chip Kelly on CFP Rankings, UCLA Preparing For Arizona
UCLA football coach Chip Kelly spoke with reporters ahead of Wednesday morning's practice session at the Wasserman Football Center. Kelly talked about the latest College Football Playoff rankings, Jacob Sykes' performance so far this season, where he projects as an NFL prospect, Arizona's explosive offense, the Wildcats' new-look defense and the statuses of Zach Charbonnet, defensive coordinator Bill McGovern and the backup running backs.
Had Oregon weather, now New Hampshire weather?
This is summertime in New Hampshire. It's beautiful out here.
See the new CFP rankings?
Yeah, so those, yeah.
Thoughts on not moving up even though you won and other teams lost?
Where it matters is four weeks from now. A lot of football to be played between now and then, so I don't think you can get caught up in it. I think it's good for television, good for people to talk about, ESPN gets a TV show out of it and people tune in, but if you don't win your next four games, then it really doesn't matter. So I think our – we want to be in the conversation, but the only way you can stay in the conversation is you can continue to prepare well and play well on Saturdays. So that's kinda what we can control.
Talked about Jacob Sykes as a smart guy but how about as a football player?
I think Jacob's done a nice job. You know, we felt like we needed some inside presence and help, and bringing in both him and Gary inside, really, both of those guys have played really, really well for us, give us a little bit of added dimension there. Both a little bit different size-wise – Gary's a little bit more stout, being over 300 pounds – but I think Jacob's twitchy, he moves well, he's really smart, he's got a great understanding of what schemes he's facing and what he's gonna do. I think he's – and he's been a great teammate. I think everybody around him just enjoys being around him. He fit in right from the jump, so we're really happy that we got a chance to get him here.
Harvard coach Tim Murphy said he sees him as an edge at the NFL level – do you agree with that?
Yeah, I think size-wise, that's where he matches up. He's probably not the size that the interior guys in the National Football League are. Most of those guys are 300-plus, and I don't think Jacob would carry 300-plus very well, so he's gotta probably be – see if he can, what he can do on the edge in a pass rush situation, you know? And in our situation, the D-edge players we have with Latu and Murphys and Bo and those guys, he's more valuable to us on the inside. But I do think he has some position versatility.
What do you see out of the Arizona offense?
Arizona's really explosive on the offensive side of the ball, that's obviously their strength. Their quarterback, obviously, was at Washington State before, then transferred down there. He's – everybody knows about him, knew about him, he's a great player from Hawaii. He's a gunslinger, I think he's got a lot of toughness to him. He's gotta run around, he's gotta keep plays alive, he's not afraid of throwing the ball up there. And they've got some receivers that will go get it, so it's really their passing attack that gets the most of your attention, but they can run the football too. So the strength of their football team is their offensive football team and they've scored a lot of points. They've done a really nice job, Jedd's done a really good job with them on the offensive side of the ball, so we've gotta be prepared going against this group.
How is Arizona different defensively than they were last year?
It's a different scheme and a different coordinator. Donnie Brown left and went to become the head coach at UMass, so I think there is a scheme change. They're still basically a 4-2-5 operation, Donnie ran a lot of packages – there was three-down, two-down, one-down, five-down. I think they've settled a little bit more, I think they're sound in their approach on the defensive side of the ball, they've got some really good athletes on that side of the ball that run around. I think they're mixing in some younger players right now, and as you see the season go along, I think those younger players are getting more reps, so I think they're getting more integrated into their system. But it's a really sound system, and you need to be prepared cause they got a good mix, they're not just playing one style. They'll blitz you some plays and put man coverage behind it. Then other plays, they're gonna play two-deep zone and try to keep the ball in front of them. So I think it's a really sound defense and we gotta be prepared going against them.
How far away is Deshun Murrell from making his way back?
He's practicing, he's here.
How's Zach coming along?
Zach's coming along, he practiced yesterday.
Keegan?
Keegan should practice today.
How has having Ross Shumway as the nutritionist paid off for the players?
Yeah, I mean, we've always had a nutritionist position here. Ross is our lead, so he's outstanding, I think he does a really tremendous job. I think really meeting with the players in a 1-on-1 – because what's good for one player may not necessarily be good for another player. There's some players that need to gain weight and then struggle from that standpoint, but some players, they need to lose weight and struggle from that standpoint. So I think the 1-on-1 stuff that Ross has really provided for us has been outstanding.
How's coach McGovern coming along?
Coach McGovern's doing well, so he's here today. Um, again, it's a day-by-day thing, just like everybody else.
Hopeful that he'll be there Saturday?
I'm hopeful that he'll be here on Wednesday, so we'll take care of Wednesday when Wednesday happens. So Saturday's a long way for all of us.
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