Football is a game where the stats aren’t foolproof. There aren’t ways to quantify how well an offensive linemen or defensive linemen controls the line of scrimmage, and there aren’t ways to truly measure how well a defensive back plays in man coverage.
This year, Daily Bruin Sports will take a look at one UCLA football player each week who may be overlooked because he doesn’t stand out on the stat sheet.
In week one against Virginia, that player was outside linebacker Kenny Orjioke. The redshirt junior finished the game with only one tackle and one pass break-up in the official box score, but showed a consistently strong pass rush and a full recovery from his torn ACL, which sidelined him for the final nine games of last season.
Here’s a recap of Orjioke’s “Overlooked Outing” in week one against Virginia.
When outside linebacker Kenny Orjioke returned from fall training camp in San Bernardino this year, he was a different looking player.
“I started to see (it) once we got back out of camp and he got a little bit of time off. You could see the difference in his play,” said defensive coordinator Tom Bradley.
The change Bradley saw was in Orjioke’s right knee, which had just been through its first full-contact test since being surgically repaired last September. That test included 11 practices in scalding San Bernardino, few of which were easy.
“(He’s) just getting himself back into the groove and getting going again,” Bradley said on the third day of camp. “Remember, he didn’t have the spring (practice) that the other guys did to get it going.”
Orjioke had to sit out on some plays during team scrimmages in San Bernardino, and he was often hampered by the new protective brace that hung over his right knee. On multiple plays, Orjioke had to tug on the brace to keep it stable, only to see it slide back down his right calf again.
“That (knee) brace is a pain in the butt for him,” said coach Jim Mora during fall camp.
Despite the early struggles, Orjioke was confident that he’d be back to 100 percent eventually.
“I’m sure as time goes on, the brace goes off, my knee gets better, stronger, I’m sure that will gradually progress,” he said on Aug. 13.
Orjioke’s prediction turned out to be right. Starting the week of Aug. 24 – UCLA’s first week of practicing back on campus – Bradley started to see glimpses of a full recovery.
“He’s not favoring that (left) leg as much,” Bradley said. “He’s much more confident knowing what he can do.”
On Saturday, over 65,000 fans in the Rose Bowl became aware of what Bradley had realized over the past week in practice: Orjioke was back.
On his first play of the game, Orjioke blitzed off the left edge, planted hard on his surgically repaired right knee and surged past Virginia’s left tackle. The outside linebacker got right into the face of Virginia quarterback Matt Johns, forcing him to throw the ball out of bounds.
“It definitely surprised me … just how (Orjioke) went out there (and) was flying around on the field,” said junior outside linebacker Deon Hollins, who Orjioke was subbing in for on the play.
Orjioke wasn’t done. Midway through the second quarter, he went in and caused havoc in the Virginia backfield again. He blew right by Virginia’s right tackle and forced Johns to throw the ball away once more.
Then, midway through the third quarter, Orjioke beat Virginia’s left tackle off the edge once again, recording another quarterback hit.
Orjioke finished the game with only one tackle and one pass break-up, but was valued much more by Hollins, who Orjioke relieved of duty on several occasions.
“That’s one of the things coach talked about at the beginning of the season: rotating guys in, having guys fresh,” Hollins said. “That’s one of the things that kind of hurt us in the midpoint of (last) season (when Orjioke was out). … So just having (Orjioke) as a backup is great.”
