WATCH: Greg Dulcich, Josiah Norwood Talk Late Start Times, UCLA's Pass Attack

The Bruins' starting tight end and future NFL Draft pick is averaging over 25 yards per reception in 2021.

Tight end Greg Dulcich and receiver Josiah Norwood spoke with the media Wednesday after practice.

The pair of offensive weapons for UCLA football both chimed in on what it means to be playing three late-night games in four weeks, as well as how they've spread the ball around to this point. Dulcich talked about the impact of Mike Martinez's absence, while Norwood spoke on his relationship with quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and how it's changed through the years.

GREG DULCICH

Late start times, not being seen by award voters/fans?

We know that's not really what we're worried about when we have a late start like that. It kinda just gives us more time to prepare before the game. Whatever the start time is doesn't play too much into our mindset, it's always the same thing, just go out there and win.

Different experience?

Yeah, obviously it's a little different since you just kinda sit around and you're off your feet a little longer, but it gives you time to get some extra stretching in if you need or maybe see an assignment that you maybe didn't pick up on earlier. It's just extra time that you're waiting before the game, it doesn't change too much, to be honest.

Family or friends say anything about staying up til midnight watching you?

No, not too often. Yeah, they don't say much about it, they're just excited to come out and support whenever gametime is.

Watch other games across the country when you have night games?

Yeah, that's one of the nice things about the later start is that you get to watch some football other than just film, kind of just like you used to before, like when you're in high school, just watching ball and that's a lot of fun.

Watch as a fan?

A little bit, yeah. I mean, obviously, as a guy that's playing and stuff, you do kinda fall back into looking at the game and analyzing it a little bit, but it is nice to just get to sit back and watch football.

Throwing to running backs open up the middle for you?

Yeah, it's just a quarterback's gonna take the open guy when he can and so as quick as he can get the ball out of his hands and into his receivers to move the ball, he's gonna do it. So it just comes down to whoever's open, really.

Thoughts on Kyle Philips?

Kyle is a phenomenal player. He's probably one of the best receivers in the country right now. What he's able to do with the ball in his hands is just remarkable. It's something that, in our own tight end room, we're like, 'Man, look at Kyle on this route. Look at the move that he made. Let's try to implement that into our game.' As a leader offensively has been really great for us, especially bringing the younger guys along and making plays like that, it's a lot of fun.

Impact of Mike Martinez being out? You being the only tight end that played vs. Stanford?

Truthfully, it doesn't change too much in my role. I'm pretty much a tight end, I'm in line for most of our plays. Obviously, you miss having him out there. He's great energy on the field, he's a really fun guy to be around. He's still around meetings and stuff, I still get to talk to him, he's a great friend. With him down, Mike Ezieke, David Priebe, Hudson Habermehl, doing a really good job in practice trying to fill that role. He's doing a really good job of keeping a positive attitude and just making sure that everyone in our tight end room is understanding our roles and moving forward.

Feeling between you and Kyle that opposing defenses try to take one of you away?

I don't think too much like that, no. Things just work out the way they do. We'll just take whatever they give us. Maybe it seems like that in retrospect, but I don't think that's what's going on. We're just playing ball.

How much is it is instinct holding onto ball when big hit is coming?

That's something we focus on every day is ball security. Making sure we have the ball tight up to our chest, 'Chin it' is how we like to call it. Making sure we are covering as much surface area as we can with our body and not giving them any space to punch it out. Once you get the ball in your hand, you have to squeeze it and that's something we do every day in practice.

JOSIAH NORWOOD

Making an impact at new position?

I mean, it’s been awesome. I’m getting a lot of good opportunity here just with coach Jerry coming in and he just said at the beginning of the off-season that he was going to give us all a chance, we just have to put the work in and I think I got a good opportunity this spring just with a lot of injuries that went down and we got a lot of reps, so it was good to get the reps and I just always felt prepared going into the game that whenever my number was called I would be able to make a play and help the team out however I could.

Payoff what you were hoping for switching positions?

Right, yeah, see, the reason I switched to begin with was just because I wanted to get on the field any way I could, obviously, and I love the receiver position and learning under coach Jerry and coach Kelly, they’re smart coaches and just taking the knowledge and being able to make the transition smoothly, they really helped me with that and I fell in love with it, honestly.

Relationship with Jerry?

It’s great. Jerry’s a really great coach. We had him as a receiver GA actually about two years ago and he has always been like a very motivating coach. He’s always been very detailed and in our room we talk about attention to detail and consistency and he harps on those a lot and he’s always very detailed and it helps a lot with our offense and just being effective on the field.

Go way back with Dorian, friendship and how that's progressed into games now?

Yeah, it’s been great, honestly. Me and Dorian joke about it all the time. He always said that if I’m ever in the game, he’s going to toss it to me a couple of times, so it’s just fun being out there with him, I mean, his freshman year we were roommates obviously as you guys know and just growing up with him, seeing him grow as a player too like as a leader, he’s obviously been, just seeing him get better through the years and get smarter and just seeing him perform on the field is awesome for me to see just because I love him as a dude too, he’s just a great guy and even a better player too and just like it’s cool to see him perform and I love being out there with him as well.

First career catch vs. Hawaii?

Yes.

Hear from anyone?

Yeah, a lot of my old coaches were watching the game and they saw it and they showed me some love and it was just cool to get some love from them and just from all my high school coaches and some of the guys who helped me get to where I am today, and it was just awesome to get some love from them.

Care about 7:30 starts?

Um, honestly, I could care less that we play at 7:30, 10:30 [Eastern]. Coach Kelly always talks about just being ready to play whenever we have our scheduled game and I think we do a really good job of that. Coach KB, our strength coach and [two coaches I’ve never heard of and can’t spell] they do a great job of preparing us in the mornings depending on what time our games are, and I think we’re prepared for every week very efficiently. They do things here in a really smart manner, like when we wake up and go out to warm up and our whole process over here is very efficient and keeps us prepared for the game, so with all due respect, I don’t think it matters too much what time we play, I think we’re always going to be prepared as much as we can be.

What do you bring that's unique as a receiver?

I think the receivers group as a whole just brings a lot of aggressiveness and a lot of heart that I haven’t seen on other teams. I just think that this team that we have, we have a lot of young guys that are very good that you guys have not seen a lot of either like Keontez Lewis, K-Lew, we call him, he’s a great player, he’s going to be great for us in years to come. The same with Logan Loya, Kyle obviously has been a great mentor obviously to me learning a position and just a lot of the guys, we all the bring same energy and aggressiveness to the field and I think we all have our own things that we’re good at, obviously, and I think that whatever we can do to help the team do well and succeed we’re going to bring to the table, but I just think everyone has their own way to play and I think that it’s everything we need to be successful as a receiver group and receiver core.

Think you're the fastest receiver?

Personally, I’m really confident, so I would say myself. I think I’m the fastest but we always joke about it—me, Kyle and Kaz, we always say we’re going to race. We never end up racing [LOL] but it’s always like an argument that we have. I think we’re all going to say ourselves obviously but we definitely have some speed on the team. Even K-Lew is really fast, I didn’t realize how fast he was until this offseason training, he can move, Kaz can move, Kyle can move, I think a lot of the guys can move on the team but I’m going to have to say myself but we have fast guys on the team just in general.

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