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A few links before we get to the questions:

• Notes on UCLA’s running game, its trip to Memphis and Saturday’s early kick
• UCLA’s lone Heisman winner Gary Beban talked to Heisman.com about meeting over Heisman winners over the years and his time at UCLA

Now your questions:

A lot of attention is being paid to the linebacker situation for the Memphis game with Kenny Young and Josh Woods out. Why is there no mention of concern for the safeties?

The dual losses of Adarius Pickett and Jaleel Wadood are very big and won’t be forgotten on Saturday. However, I don’t think they elicit as much initial worry as the losses at linebacker because the defensive backs group is deeper. The secondary was the second deepest unit on the team heading into the season behind defensive line, so it can more easily weather losses in theory.

Will Lockett is a redshirt sophomore and Octavius Spencer is a junior and they both had previous game experience on defense. Mossi Johnson, who is the third safety, is a little bit of a wild card because he only recently made the full-time switch to the defensive side. Lockett and Spencer can both play multiple positions, which should ease the transition.

With Kenny Young (head) highly doubtful for this week (in my mind) and Josh Woods out for the first half, the Bruins lost their only two linebackers with any defensive game experience prior to this season. Breland Brandt, who I think will fill in at Woods’ strong-side position, redshirted last year. Krys Barnes, Young’s replacement, only got special teams snaps. Brandt, Barnes and Lokeni Toailoa are only playing in their third games on defense. I think there is less proven position flexibility with them because they are more inexperienced.

Which players do you think will miss the Memphis game?

I don’t know the long-term prognosis for any players, but I think Kenny Young and Jaleel Wadood will at least miss this weekend because the team always — and rightfully — takes head injuries seriously and treats them with extreme patience. The severity of Adarius Pickett’s knee injury is unclear, but it’s not often that a player suffers a non-contact knee injury and comes back the very next week. Soso Jamabo’s injury seemed minor, but he has a history of health flareups so he would be an unknown to me. I think Boss Tagaloa would have the best chance of playing after it looked like he suffered a minor injury in the second half against Texas A&M and took last week off.

The UCLA offense is getting all the limelight in the first two weeks of the season, and most of the questions remain in the defense. Are you surprised by this given the fact that throughout spring and fall camp, it was the defense that was consistently dominating and seemed to be the rock of the team?

Defenses almost always win spring and fall camps. That phenomenon is not unique to UCLA, so I didn’t take that into account when I wrote during the offseason that I thought the defense was going to be a strength of this team. I expected more from the defense because I saw what look like talented players at every level, depth and a mix of experience and youth. At this early point in the season, the play is still trying to catch up to the talent, especially with the young players. Many are getting their first tastes of a real college game and are catching up to the game speed. There’s still a lot of time for them to improve, so I’m not burying the unit yet.

What do you think about Tom Bradley’s defensive philosophy given the personnel he has available and the results on the field? Do you think he’s doing the right thing or should the approach on defense be more like the second half of the Texas A&M game all the time?

Like I wrote in last week’s Q&A, I’m not a coach and I don’t pretend to be. I’m not in the meeting rooms. It’s hard to identify exactly how much of the struggles are with the scheme and how much are due to execution because you don’t know the precise responsibility of every player on each play.

I think the defense is still trying to find its way after losing so many playmakers like Takkarist McKinley and Jayon Brown who erased mistakes easily. UCLA misses the size of Eddie Vanderdoes and Eli Ankou against the run badly. Bradley is still trying to understand how to best use the personnel he has. It’s only been two games and many of the players are taking the first defensive snaps of their career.

I also wrote last week why playing the way UCLA did against Texas A&M in the second half won’t necessarily always work and why Bradley won’t go away from it unless he’s facing 34-point deficits every game. It worked against a backup quarterback playing in his first college game, but UCLA can’t expect to play with fire again against better quarterbacks in the Pac-12 (and this week against Memphis) and not get burned.

 

Is there any particular reason that stands out to you as to why the Bruins have not been able to run the ball effectively through the first two games of the season? Given what appears to be a much improved playcalling scheme, can this be chalked up to building depth and strength along the offensive line?

The sample size is still too small to make a sweeping statement about anything regarding UCLA as a team, including the running game. The two games were very different so there’s no common thread.

In the first game, UCLA couldn’t run the ball very much during the second half because of the 34-point deficit. When it did try to run the ball at the beginning of the game, it didn’t work, so that was discouraging for their rushing effort. But really nothing worked in that first half so can you really blame the running game?

In the second game, UCLA actually ran it better. Without the three sacks, the Bruins averaged 6.7 yards per carry. Most of efficiency came from Demetric Felton, who had three carries for 37 yards on jet sweeps. The right side of the line with Andre James and Michael Alves did really well in run blocking, which was illustrated on a run from Nate Starks in the first quarter when Nate Starks went completely untouched for 25 yards.

You can see small glimpses of what might be a running game but only time will tell if UCLA can be at least the slightest bit consistent on the ground. I don’t think it’s going to be something that will blow you away long term, but when Josh Rosen is at quarterback, UCLA doesn’t need a dominant running threat.

After Soso Jamabo was the most effective running back in game one, and made one of the plays of the game on that fourth down, why did he not get any snaps last week?

Like I mentioned here earlier this week, he likely suffered a minor injury, possibly something related to the back injury he dealt with during training camp.

Will the UCLA band ever expand its limited chants and or have a battle cry?

This is way out of my knowledge area. To be honest, I can’t even hear the UCLA band from the press box because the box is closed. I still don’t think I could even identify the UCLA fight song.

Punt coverage seems a bit odd. I’ve noticed UCLA tends to keep three people back near the punter even on times where the opponents don’t seem to be planning a heavy punt block rush. Any reason for that?

UCLA uses a shield punt formation, which features larger splits between linemen and a three-man shield between the line and the punter. The larger splits allow for the linemen to get down the field faster to cover the kick and limit return yardage. The shield is there to protect the punter in case any rushers slip between the larger splits. There are ways to disguise a rush and even if you don’t think one’s coming, you still need to protect the punter in the event of a late rush. (I can’t believe we’re talking about punt protection. UCLA literally punted one time last weekend.)

It’s a bit surprising to me how Darren Andrews has always flown under the media radar as a Bruin. The dude is 19th in FBS in receiving yards, leads the nation in receptions for touchdowns, and is third in the nation of overall touchdowns, but he rarely gets ink. Last year he was really the only sure-handed receiver on the team, with the plague of dropped balls coming from others. Perhaps a profile forthcoming? 

I wrote a profile about him last year.

How they liking the move to the shady side of the Rose Bowl?

At this point, I’m not sure if the players have felt a major difference. It won’t come into play until there’s a really taxing day game. I’m sure it felt a few degrees more comfortable during the Hawaii game as the sun moved over, but that game’s score allowed for more substitutions, which gave players more rest.

Why do you think UCLA is having such a hard time with run defense?

The Bruins miss Eddie Vanderdoes and Eli Ankou a lot. The lack of size inside is notable. Vanderdoes and Ankou were each listed at 325 pounds last year. Boss Tagaloa is listed at 305 (but is actually 295) and Matt Dickerson is listed at 295. Dickerson is still very strong, despite his smaller weight, but Vanderdoes and Ankou gave the Bruins size and girth to clog up the middle. They also miss a Jayon Brown type linebacker who can run around everywhere and make almost every tackle. He could cover a lot of mistakes. UCLA lost a ton of talent on defense and replacing it all is proving to be a little more difficult than previously thought as everyone has to grow into a new role. Such is life at the beginning of the season.

Will you ever get a chance to interview David Coleman (VP of Officials)? If so how would you phrase the question regarding his very questionable justification Of the Kenny Young non call?

If I wanted to, I could probably request an interview, I suppose, but I likely won’t unless it becomes a regular pattern with UCLA games. If I did do an interview with David Coleman and wanted to ask him about the play that led to Kenny Young leaving the game, it would probably be best to work through the situation in a series of questions, starting with what he saw on the play, which replay angles he received, asking him how the on-field referee’s initial ruling may have influenced his incorrect description of it on air and what his thoughts were when the Pac-12 released a statement admitting the error.

Based upon what you have seen, do you believe Tom Bradley is on par, in terms of providing leadership, with the other coaches?

I wouldn’t have any reason to question Tom Bradley’s leadership ability. He’s still respected by the players for his experience and knowledge of the game. He leads differently than the other coaches, but I wouldn’t call him any less effective than the other coaches.

How much has Mique Juarez played? What are your thoughts on his performance so far?

Mique Juarez played sparingly on special teams in both games. He has one shared tackle so far in two games. I haven’t noticed him much because he only plays special teams at this point. I don’t anticipate seeing him on defense too much this season unless the linebacker group gets so thin that it forces him into action.

Seems like wide receivers coach Jimmie Dougherty has been the unsung hero in the increased passing numbers. What’s your thought on this?

Sure, the receivers are off to a very good start to the season and some of that could be attributed to Jimmie Dougherty’s coaching. I’ve been impressed with their sure-handedness overall after last year’s struggles. Some of their blocking on the edge was not great in the first game, but it improved against Hawaii. I think the biggest thing that Doughtery brought was a fresh pair of eyes, which has allowed guys like Theo Howard and Christian Pabico to have their moments, despite a lack of experience or seniority.

With the potential depth issues in the secondary, any chance Brandon Burton is moved back to safety?

There’s surely a chance, but the linebackers are much thinner than the defensive backs. I think Brandon Burton can be an asset in a nickel situation as he already has exceptional coverage skills from his time as a safety, but playing nickel can be hard because it’s a mix between corner, safety and linebacker and it’s a difficult position to grasp for a young player.