Five takeaways from UCLA football training camp workouts

UCLA QB Ethan Garbers throws the ball during the L.A. Bowl.

Staff Writer

Aug. 21, 2024 3:32 PM PT

DeShaun Foster just gave away part of his first game plan.

Contrary to many of his counterparts who take their teams to Honolulu, UCLA’s new football coach said he would not wear a tropical shirt when the Bruins face Hawaii on Aug. 31 in their season opener.

“We’re not on vacay,” Foster said Wednesday. “You know, bowl games, it’s a different feel; this is our first game — people are always saying this is their Super Bowl [but] this is ours too, you know. We want to get this started off on the right foot.”

Foster said his team could play its opener now but would gladly take 10 more days to simulate as many game-like scenarios as possible. There are also positions to be won — Mateen Bhaghani and Blake Glessner are competing to be the kicker and Brody Richter and Chase Barry the punter — and plays to be perfected from among the “million” that Foster said percolated inside offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy’s brain.

“We’ve just got to make sure that we put a good product out there on the field and let these recruits know what’s going on,” Foster said. “You know, they love the atmosphere, but they want to see if we’re able to win games, and once we prove that …”

As Foster’s voice trailed off, he pointed skyward, indicating his intended trajectory.

Might the Bruins be on the verge of a quick takeoff under their new coach? Here are five takeaways from training camp after Foster spoke with reporters for the final time before game week:

Health factor will be huge

UCLA coach DeShaun Foster talks with quarterbacks Justyn Martin and Ethan Garbers during the spring game on April 27.

UCLA has some talent but not lots of it, meaning the availability of first stringers will be essential.

The Bruins are deep at wide receiver, running back, linebacker … and maybe nowhere else. The biggest determining factor in UCLA’s bid to qualify for a bowl game could be how many games quarterback Ethan Garbers plays. Not only is Garbers that good, the players behind him are that unproven (with the exception of veteran Chase Griffin, who appears to be in deep backup territory).

It’s such a big deal that Garbers said playing in every game is his top goal for the season.

“If we keep him healthy,” Foster said of Garbers, “there may be some awards for him at the end of the season.”

An offensive line that struggled mightily last season, giving up 42 sacks, will have a big say in whether that happens.

“I’m going to do everything in my power,” center Josh Carlin said, “to never let him get touched one time.”

This offense could be dynamic

There are so many possibilities with Bieniemy’s West Coast offense that wide receiver Logan Loya compared it to a buffet.

“Everyone eats,” Loya said, “and we don’t just do short [passes], we don’t just do long, we don’t just do medium, we don’t just run to the inside, to the outside, we’ve got everything in there. I mean, the playbook is huge. We’ve got every play you could think of.”

That variety was on display during the one preseason practice open to reporters. Screens appear to be a staple of Bieniemy’s playbook, including bubble screens, slip screens and other screens that involve the running backs. Bieniemy also heavily uses the tight ends and occasionally a fullback.

The question is whether the players can grasp it all. Garbers said when Bieniemy started on the job, some players couldn’t even say the names of the plays.

“They were just long and a little wordy,” Garbers said.

And now?

“We’re all starting to learn it a lot better,” wide receiver J.Michael Sturdivant said, “and we’re leaning on each other and leaning on the coaching staff.”

They’re (not) in the game

EA Sports’ “College Football ‘25” has issued an apology to one UCLA wide receiver and might owe another receiver one soon.

Makers of the video game told Rico Flores Jr. they were sorry they left him off the Bruins’ roster, a mistake undoubtedly tied to the timing of his transfer from Notre Dame.

“I gotta make ‘em not forget ever again,” said the sophomore who has impressed teammates with his maturity and competitiveness.

Meanwhile, the video game did not give Titus Mokiao-Atimalala the proper respect, at least according to Loya.

“I get it, he didn’t play last year,” Loya said of Mokiao-Atimalala, who sat out the season for unspecified reasons, “but his rating should be way higher.”

Flores and Mokiao-Atimalala have been just two of the camp standouts in a group so stockpiled that wide receivers coach Erik Frazier has continually provided an edict.

“I tell them every day: ‘Make it hard for me not to play you,’” Frazier said. “‘Force my hand.’”

One player who might be on the verge of breaking through is redshirt freshman Carter Shaw, whose football savvy might have something to do with being the son of former Stanford coach David Shaw.

“He’ll bring up things during meetings sometimes or he’ll come to me and say certain things,” Frazier said, “and I’m like, ‘OK, well yeah, you get it.’”

They’ve got team spirit

The Bruins ended up going off campus for training camp after all — they spent part of their down time at a hotel in Woodland Hills.

In an effort to bond his team, Foster made each offensive player room with a defensive player. That meant the first face that Garbers saw every morning was linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo. It was the kind of exposure that could help keep the team from fraying if one side of the ball vastly outplays the other.

The players went through the usual bonding exercises, going bowling, out to a movie (“Deadpool & Wolverine”) and to a host of restaurants (BJ’s and Fogo de Chao, among others). After the team returned to campus, safeties coach Brian Norwood revived an old tradition from his days at Navy by leading players in singing “Lean on Me.”

“I just wanted the team to come together,” Foster said. “Just like NFL camp, you come together in camp and really get ready to take on the world.”

Ignore this team at your own peril

UCLA isn’t just unranked, it’s also been picked by most media polls to finish in the bottom five of the Big Ten.

Foster seemed to dig the disses, saying they drove his players.

“They’re not worried about it, but we’re fired up,” Foster said. “It is a little light underneath you a little bit, so we just take it in stride and you just better hope that you didn’t say something and I beat you because it’s going to be bad.”

Does Foster keep receipts?

“Trust me,” Foster said. “I’ve got receipts from [his freshman season in] ‘98 — there’s a few people on the list I’m looking for.”