{"id":268659,"date":"2026-04-15T06:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T06:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/268659\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T06:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T06:26:14","slug":"ucla-football-coach-bob-chesney-says-defense-is-improving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/268659\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA football coach Bob Chesney says defense is improving"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Spring practice<\/a> continued for the UCLA<\/a> football program Tuesday morning at Spaulding Field and for the most part head coach Bob Chesney<\/a> was pleased with his team\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n

It marked the sixth of 14 practices leading up to the annual spring game on May 2 at the Rose Bowl.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defense took strides today,\u201d said Chesney, who was hired as the Bruins\u2019 20th head football coach on Dec. 26, replacing DeShaun Foster (fired after an 0-3 start in 2025) and interim coach Tim Skipper. \u201cThere were a couple turnovers in there. This was our second day with the officials, it was a different group and they were throwing some flags today. We just have to understand the game we\u2019re in. As you get further along the referees step aside, but early in the season they\u2019re excited to do their jobs and we gave them enough to throw laundry at so we\u2019ll go back and check it all out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Receiver Semaj Morgan caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Nico Iamaleava, tight end Brayden Loftin made several fine catches, Troy Leigber rushed for a touchdown, and Donavyn Pellot and Robert Stafford III had interceptions on defense as the squad is motivated to rebound from a 3-9 season (3-6 in Big Ten) \u2014 its worst since its debut season under Chip Kelly in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cPractice six is usually when it dips a little bit,\u201d said Chesney, who led James Madison to the Sun Belt Conference championship and a berth in the College Football Playoff last season. \u201cOn defense we did not, on offense we probably slowed down just a little bit. I didn\u2019t feel a dip from the group, which is great, but usually around now is when that starts to happen. [Practices] six, seven, eight are a little bit of a fight and then you gotta come back when you get to nine, 10 and 11. I thought they did a good job today, not a great job, but you have those days. It\u2019s the nature of the beast. I didn\u2019t see any steps backward from anybody, just a little bit of a lull from what they were bringing the other day. \u201d<\/p>\n

One position group that has impressed Chesney since he arrived in Westwood is running back \u2014 a unit that returns a number of players.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody has their pluses and minuses, everyone has things they\u2019re really good at and things they\u2019re mediocre at and our job every day is taking what\u2019s mediocre and turning it into good \u2014 and eventually great \u2014 and playing to their strengths,\u201d Chesney said. \u201cEach of them has their own running style. I\u2019ve been impressed with them, they\u2019re one of the stronger groups on this team. It\u2019s necessary as a running back for that to be the case. You have to be durable enough, you have to keep your pad level low and keep your body healthy because there\u2019s probably not another position out there that takes as much of a beating \u2026 you\u2019re getting tackled by guys who are sometimes much bigger than you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defensive back Scooter Jackson was not at Tuesday\u2019s practice but Chesney expects him to be back Thursday. Offensive lineman Jordan Davis is dealing with a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got range, he just doesn\u2019t feel like he has the full strength yet \u2026 but he\u2019s close,\u201d Chesney said of Davis. \u201cOn Saturday it was a little worse than it is today, so he\u2019s slowly getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chesney praised cornerback DJ Barksdale, an All-Sun Belt selection who transferred from James Madison \u2014 a player he knows well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nickel and slot corner is important in the bubble game and the screen game,\u201d Chesney said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be able to fight through some things physically. You\u2019re also tied in a lot as the bonus in the run game and then there\u2019s times when you\u2019re not there and you\u2019re playing straight man-to-man on the other team\u2019s quickest, best receiver so the skill set you\u2019ve got to carry, the confidence you\u2019ve got to carry and the physicality you\u2019ve got to carry is significant. DJ possesses all of those.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chesney is excited about the depth in the defensive backfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cRob [Stafford] did a good job,: he said. \u201cIn the red zone he\u2019s been really sticky in coverage and he\u2019s done a really nice job. He\u2019s starting to click with his playbook and understand it and that\u2019s kind of where everyone is at this stage of the game, we\u2019re in practice six so everything we\u2019ve done up to this point is six days of full speed stuff. Osiris [Gilbert] made a really big play on a ball that we had trouble with Saturday. To learn and carry that over from the previous practice into the film room and actuality execute it out here was great to see. Jhase McMillan is doing a great job. We\u2019re rotating them through, we put them in different positions to test them in fire and see who can handle all of it. They\u2019re a little more involved in the running game now, Cover 2 things and corner pressures, blitzing off the edge, they\u2019ve done a really nice job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked who has stood out in the trenches, Chesney cited Aiden Gobaira, Julian Armella and Riley Robell.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s impressed me most about Julian is his passion for this game,\u201d Chesney said. \u201cHe\u2019s got to harness that the right way. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s moments when you play with that much emotion and passion it can tip over, but I\u2019ve been impressed with that part. He uplifts a lot of people when he\u2019s out there. There\u2019s never a moment where he\u2019s just out here and it\u2019s not important \u2014 it\u2019s all important to him and that\u2019s infectious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressuring the quarterback is a defensive priority for Chesney and his staff. A year ago the Bruins tied for last in the Big Ten in pass defense, allowing opponents to complete 66% of their passes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the defensive side we have to continue to take bigger steps,\u201d he said. \u201cOur pass rush looks good, the interior pass rush is something we have to work on. A lot of the games that we\u2019re playing inside we\u2019ve got to continue to fine-tune things because obviously the offense knows they\u2019re coming and the element of surprise gets defeated The defense is doing a nice job setting them up, then it\u2019s cool watching the chess match go on between both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chesney is known for his emphasis on special teams and the Bruins ran drills throughout Tuesday\u2019s practice focused on that phase of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want it to be an afterthought \u2014 I want to make sure it\u2019s involved in everything we do,\u201d Chesney said. \u201cI want it to feel like a game as much as it possibly can but I also want our long snapper, our holder, our kickers and our protection guys to know that the whole team is relying on you so when we put them in those situations at the end to pin the ball, they have to know they have to hold up their end of the bargain.\u201d<\/p>\n

What has surprised Chesney most in his first few months in Westwood?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe alums who come out continually and who like being around this program is something I\u2019d hoped for,\u201d Chesney said. \u201cI understood that practices were maybe different and closed and not open to everybody before, but it\u2019s open to all of our alums and to high school coaches. I\u2019d hoped it would happen and to see it actually transpiring day to day is exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

UCLA\u2019s next practice is Thursday on Spaulding Field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spring practice continued for the UCLA football program Tuesday morning at Spaulding Field and for the most part…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[8932,44818,217,11155,423,4194,48,52,51,479,47,50,49,1741,117046,117047,278,102455,427,4610,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-268659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-bruins","9":"tag-chesney","10":"tag-day","11":"tag-defense","12":"tag-game","13":"tag-job","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-la-headlines","16":"tag-la-news","17":"tag-little-bit","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","20":"tag-los-angeles-news","21":"tag-lot","22":"tag-nice-job","23":"tag-pass-defense","24":"tag-season","25":"tag-spring-practice","26":"tag-team","27":"tag-thing","28":"tag-tuesday"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}