LOS ANGELES — The UCLA football team is coming off its bye week, but the energy the players and coaches displayed during the media’s viewing portion of practice Tuesday didn’t feel like a team coming off a rest period.
Head coach DeShaun Foster pumped his fist in the air to the beat of “Sandstorm” by Darude. Players were jumping up and down before kickoff return drills, as if they were at a punk rock concert.
“It’s all about just keeping energy,” defensive back Kaylin Moore said after practice. “We just got to have energy each day, every day, bye week, practice week. No matter what it is, meetings. We’re just going to have energy to keep going to the next game and build momentum.”
For Moore and the rest of UCLA’s defense, the matchup against Nebraska on Saturday will require that energy to translate into physicality.
While the offensive numbers for the Cornhuskers don’t particularly stand out from the crowded Big Ten Conference, they bring a level of toughness that the Bruins will need to match in order to slow them down.
Three of Nebraska’s four top receivers stand 6-foot-4 or taller, speaking to its wideout group’s physical style of play.
“They got big receivers, so they’re gonna throw the ball up,” Moore said. “They really like to run the ball, but they’re going to throw the ball up, see one-on-ones, so we’re ready for that.”
“I think the receivers, again, can make plays in the pass game. You’ll see great catches on film and things like that,” linebacker Carson Schwesinger said. “And then the running backs, you’re going to get a lot of physicality and quickness as well from the backfield.”
The Cornhuskers also boast two running backs who can catch. Rahmir Johnson and Emmett Johnson have 19 and 15 receptions this year, respectively.
The Bruins have a couple of running backs with good hands of their own. T.J. Harden leads the team with 26 receptions and Keegan Jones has 12 catches. Both players caught a touchdown pass in UCLA’s 35-32 win over Rutgers on Oct. 19.
UCLA’s defense has been putting in extra work practicing against its own running backs to help prepare for Nebraska’s running back room.
“We’ve been going good on good a lot, so working on that,” Moore said. “We got Keegan, you know him, great back out of the backfield. So just getting reps after practice, before practice, stuff like that.”
Another wrinkle for the Bruins’ defense is Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola’s propensity to spread the ball around as opposed to hyper-targeting one or two wideouts, evidenced by four pass-catchers on the team having at least 20 receptions.
Schwesinger also pointed out that Raiola can run the ball, so it will be up to the front seven to keep the pressure on and not give the freshman quarterback time to go through his reads or escape the pocket.
“I know their quarterback is a relatively big deal just because, you know, young freshman quarterback. And he can make plays with his legs, make plays with his arm,” Schwesinger said. “But, yeah, we’re expecting a physical team and we’ve got to come out and play physical as well.”
