With the 2022 UCLA football season on the horizon, Daily Bruin Sports will preview the Bruins’ outlook at each position group as the countdown to football begins. Next up, Sports senior staffer Jon Christon breaks down the linebackers corps.
Personnel
After an offseason of change for UCLA’s defense, the blue and gold will enter the 2022 season with new faces atop the depth chart at linebacker.
The Bruins are losing three starters and their three top tacklers at the position, with Jordan Genmark Heath graduating and Mitchell Agude and Caleb Johnson both transferring to Miami.
In addition to the loss of production on the field, UCLA will be without a pair of linebacker coaches. Inside linebackers coach Don Pellum retired, while outside linebackers coach Jason Kaufusi will join former Bruin offensive coordinator coach Jedd Fisch’s staff in Arizona.
Both redshirt senior Bo Calvert and senior Carl Jones Jr. return as veteran leaders, but the pair are expected to play more as edge rushers under new defensive coordinator Bill McGovern.
As such, there is ample playing time up for grabs – and plenty of candidates vying for opportunity.
Starting in the middle, Hawai’i transfer Darius Muasau is a name UCLA fans should get to know before the season starts.
A two-time All-Mountain West First Team honoree while with the Rainbow Warriors, the senior eclipsed 100 tackles in each of the past two seasons, including an 11-tackle game against UCLA to open last season. He joins Jones on the preseason Butkus Award watch list and should see the field as much as any Bruin on defense.
Flanking Muasau on the outside was expected to be redshirt senior Ale Kaho, an Alabama transfer who contributed a year ago for UCLA, and Damian Sellers. However, Kaho missed all of spring camp and has not appeared so far in fall camp because of an undisclosed leg injury – his status for the season is publicly unknown – and Sellers is no longer listed on the official roster, though coach Chip Kelly said he is still part of the program.
Redshirt junior Kain Medrano, who racked up 26 tackles last season, is a good bet to soak up playing time on the left side if Kaho’s absence continues. The 6-foot-3-inch, 240-pound redshirt sophomore Choé Bryant-Strother also seems primed to see the field more this season.
On the right side, former walk-on redshirt senior Shea Pitts earned a scholarship in the spring and has likely earned significant playing time after participating in 34 games across five seasons with the program.
Watch out for junior JonJon Vaughns as the most intriguing breakout candidate, though. Vaughns, who splits time with UCLA baseball, has played well in fall camp and could be a huge boost to a rebuilding Bruin defense if he lives up to his potential.
Predictions
Even with the loss of production, UCLA is deep enough at the linebacking position – albeit with a lot of unproven talent – to not skip a beat.
With McGovern, inside linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. and outside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator Ikaika Malloe revamping the scheme, the Bruins’ linebackers should all see a bump in production en route to an improved defense overall.
Former defensive coordinator Jerry Azzinaro was often too aggressive with blitzes, particularly from the outside linebacker position, causing the Bruins to be burned through the air time and again over the past four seasons. With McGovern likely letting linebackers drop back in coverage more often, players like Vaughns and Pitts – who have game experience at the defensive back – should be able to shine while Muasau, Medrano and Bryant-Strother thrive against the run.
Muasau, in particular, will be a production machine. He should pace the blue and gold – and maybe even the conference – in tackles while serving as the vocal leader of the defense.
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