LOS ANGELES \u2014 It was a picture perfect day in Westwood for the UCLA football team\u2019s second spring practice.<\/p>\n
Eighty-three degrees and not a cloud in the sky, the Bruins couldn\u2019t have asked for a better day to hit the practice field Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
The Bruins practiced in front of a crowd with more than 150 recruits, alumni, and media members in attendance for the full practice session at Spaulding Field.<\/p>\n
UCLA coach Bob Chesney filled the air with excitement and intensity. Through the first two spring practices, it\u2019s clear to see that Chesney has made it a priority to make practices fun but still productive.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur coach (Bob Chesney) is the best in the country when it comes to that stuff,\u201d UCLA offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy said. \u201cYou can see it when we come out here, staff or players, you have to love what you\u2019re doing. I think that\u2019s the biggest thing. If we don\u2019t like it, it\u2019s going to be a drag.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breaking in the offense<\/p>\n
The wide receiver group had a good day of practice, with Florida transfer Aidan Mizell looking like a serious difference-maker during 1-on-1 drills.<\/p>\n
Mizell, a redshirt junior, is with his third program after signing with Ohio State out of high school before transferring to Florida for his redshirt sophomore year.<\/p>\n
UCLA\u2019s revamped wide receiver room features six transfers, including Mizell, and two freshmen, with three-star signee Markus Kier arriving in the summer.<\/p>\n
Kennedy emphasized that the position room is still going through growing pains and has a long way to go before the Bruins\u2019 season opener against Cal on Sept. 5.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is all new for everybody. Even though people have been together, it\u2019s still new for everybody across the board \u2013 how we teach the routes, how we teach the reads within the quarterback \u2026 sure they might know each other and they might know their strengths and weaknesses, but then when you get on the football field, all of that is new,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n
Building a defensive unit<\/p>\n
Arguably the top transfer portal addition for the Bruins in the offseason, defensive end Sahir West looked every part of his 6-foot-4, 270 pound frame.<\/p>\n
One of the 10 players to follow Chesney from James Madison to UCLA, West should be a focal point of defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler\u2019s inaugural defense.<\/p>\n
For the Dukes last season, West accumulated 45 tackles, seven sacks and a forced fumble. He was the 2025 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year and a member of the All-Sun Belt second team.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loves (it) here,\u201d UCLA defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler said. \u201cKid loves football and works his butt off. He\u2019s got a lot of talent. He continues to get better and that\u2019s the best part about coaching him \u2026 of course we\u2019re fired up. I\u2019m excited to see what he does in (the Big Ten) as he continues to get better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hitschler and the defensive coaching staff were among the most vocal people on the field. They could be heard from inside Pauley Pavilion as they directed their players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s just coaching. It\u2019s all we know\u201d said Hitschler, grinning ear to ear. \u201cEvery great team I\u2019ve been a part of, there\u2019s an intensity. There\u2019s an attitude, there\u2019s a desire to get better and that intensity that shows up on the field. I think we\u2019re just having fun together being a football team and growing and I think we\u2019re in a really good spot for your year one and a few practices in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although it\u2019s only the second spring practice of the year, it wasn\u2019t hard to pick up on the connection that UCLA\u2019s coaches and players have already developed with each other. Hitschler credited the quality time everybody has spent with each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing around them, that\u2019s all that it\u2019s about,\u201d Hitschler said. \u201cEvery lift, you got coaches in there doing lifts with the players, you got Coach Chesney out there running with them and lifting with them. The more you\u2019re around them, the more of a relationship it is and it\u2019s real.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 It was a picture perfect day in Westwood for the UCLA football team\u2019s second spring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[61,331,339,7,9,32863,24415],"class_list":{"0":"post-854159","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-big-ten-conference","9":"tag-college-football","10":"tag-college-sports","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-ucla-football","14":"tag-ucla-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116349060244317030","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}