This post was updated Aug. 15 at 9:17 p.m.
After five straight losing seasons, the time is now for the Bruins, according to redshirt junior offensive lineman Jon Gaines II.
For UCLA football, the 2021 season provides an opportunity to get back in the win column and avoid extending its school-record streak of consecutive seasons under .500. Prior to this stretch, the blue and gold had never strung together more than three losing seasons in a row.
Redshirt senior running back Ethan Fernea – who has yet to experience a winning season in five years with the program – said the Bruins are ready to turn it around.
“It feels a little special, feels like there’s a little bit of magic in Wasserman (Football Center),” Fernea said. “Everyone’s ready to start winning. We owe it to the fans. We owe it to everyone that’s supporting us. It’s been a long time coming, so I think we’re going to come out hot this year.”
UCLA was on the brink of reversing its misfortunes a season ago until a double overtime loss to Stanford to close out the year turned a near-winning season into another losing campaign for coach Chip Kelly and the Bruins.
But Fernea said last season’s seven-game sprint felt like a blip on the radar relative to years past.
“It didn’t feel like (last season) was a real football season, like I kind of got one stolen from me,” Fernea said. “So whenever COVID happened, it was kind of a no-brainer. I was like, ‘I can’t end on a seven-game season. I want to come back and try to win the Pac-12.’ That’s what we’ve all been dreaming about. I haven’t had too many opportunities to win a lot of games, so it was definitely a no-brainer to come back and continue to play for UCLA.”
Entering his sixth season with UCLA, Fernea is among five sixth-year players on the Bruins’ roster. Many players opted to take the additional year of eligibility granted because of the pandemic.
Gaines, set to begin his fourth season with the program, said UCLA’s maturity and experience will set the tone for its upcoming season.
“We’re all old now. It’s on us to have that standard that we hold ourselves to,” Gaines said. “That’s kind of been the mantra throughout summer, throughout spring, throughout camp – the time is now.”
For Fernea and the rest of the veterans, 2021 is a chance to prove the Bruins can be a top-ranked program again.
“The last four years, we haven’t really had the record that we’ve been working for and hoping for,” Fernea said. “We’re just coming back hungry and coming back with a little bit of a chip on our shoulder. We’re trying to prove to the Pac-12 that we can contend and we can win games and I think that’s what we’re going to do.”
Running Game
Just like he did in Oregon, Kelly has significantly improved UCLA’s rushing attack since he joined the Bruins’ program.
The Bruins ranked second in the Pac-12 with 230.6 rushing yards per game a season ago, about one yard shy of Kelly’s rushing offense with the Ducks in 2009 – his first in Eugene. With Kelly at the helm, Oregon would go on to improve its rushing average in each of the next three seasons, culminating in a 315.2 rushing yards per game average that ranked second in the nation in 2012.
With four upperclassmen running backs on the roster, Gaines said running the ball has developed into a point of emphasis for the Bruins offensively.
“All our running backs are great,” Gaines said. “It’s great to open holes for these guys because they’re all going to hit them. There’s just an aggression. We’re a team that likes to run the ball. Anybody back there is capable of hitting a big play, and it’s just our job to help create opportunities for them to do that.”
The newest face in the Bruins’ backfield, junior transfer Zach Charbonnet, is poised to compete for a starting role in the absence of Demetric Felton, who was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in May. The Michigan transfer averaged over five yards per carry and scored 12 touchdowns in 18 games with the Wolverines.
Already earning praise from his teammates, the former four-star recruit said learning under running backs coach and former UCLA All-American DeShaun Foster has helped take his game to the next level.
“It’s real special to be coached by one of the UCLA greats in DeShaun,” Charbonnet said. “Being able to pick apart his brain and what he’s done here and in the NFL, that’s been very important and helped me a lot in running and passing.”
According to junior offensive lineman Sean Rhyan, Foster has been teaching his running backs to be more assertive behind the line of scrimmage this offseason.
“That’s something coach Foster is working on with the running backs, not dancing too much in the backfield, just pressing and hitting the hole when it’s there,” Rhyan said. “That kind of pushes us to play faster and smarter because we know the running backs will be pressing that line. It’s fun to block for those guys. All those running backs are putting in a lot of work and I can see it’s paying off.”
