It was 68 degrees and overcast, a cool coastal breeze wafting across the practice fields, when UCLA commenced its first off-campus football training camp in nearly a decade.
San Bernardino, this was not.
With 55 newcomers dotting a roster of 105, not to mention eight new assistant coaches, the Bruins’ camp that started in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning was more about togetherness than toughness in the triple-digit temperatures of the Inland Empire.
Every offensive player was matched with a roommate from the defense or special teams. A series of bonding exercises was planned inside and outside the nearby team hotel. Everything the Bruins do over the next 2 ½ weeks will be of the get-to-know-you variety.
“I have a lot of tough guys, but it’s more of the connection,” coach DeShaun Foster said. “There’s a lot of new coaches and players, so I just wanted to find a way to make us be able to connect a little bit more, you know? To be able to eat three meals with each other and just get close.”
Foster said the football facilities at Cal State San Bernardino that the Bruins had last used in 2016 weren’t available, forcing the move to his native Orange County.
After going through the initial two-hour practice, temperatures topping out at 75 degrees, the consensus was that the Jack R. Hammett Sports Complex felt more like a day at the beach than one inside a sauna.
“In the beginning, it was a little humid,” linebacker Isaiah Chisom said, “but the sun came out, it was beautiful out here.”
The facilities included three grass fields, a makeshift locker room under one tent and a makeshift weight room under another. Trainers set up near the field, unfurling folding tables next to carts of supplies. Fences lining the field were adorned with signage reflecting the Bruins mantras — “Discipline, Respect and Enthusiasm” and “Do More.”
There was the usual training-camp cadence. Whistles blew and on cue, players wrapped up foam pads and dragged them to the ground. After another whistle signaled the start of stretching, a roar rang out. Players dropped to their knees to commence a series of body bends, twisting their arms and shoulders one way and then the other.
After a series of leg stretches, new defensive line coach Jethro Franklin offered an opening salvo to a group of nearby players.
“Bruin football,” Franklin said, “should not be for the timid or the weak.”
During the 25-minute media viewing period, new quarterback Nico Iamaleava made a couple of handoffs to running backs, including one to Anthony Woods for a short touchdown, and threw one pass into the end zone that fell incomplete.
“He slings it,” tight end Jack Pedersen said of Iamaleava’s throwing style. “It’s a nice, firm spiral, man, and the guy doesn’t miss. Literally, can’t say enough great things.”
Before the training session, Foster said he was confident Iamaleava had sufficiently mastered the offense after enrolling in June.
“He’s pretty much grasped the playbook already,” Foster said of the transfer from Tennessee. “We haven’t had to hold back on anything. And I know at least he has these first two installs down pretty well. So just looking forward to getting out there and just watching him.”
The practice was staged in relative secrecy. Other than a handful of donors and a few city officials from Costa Mesa, fans were not allowed to attend like they had been in San Bernardino, where they sometimes lined multiple practice fields. The six reporters on hand Wednesday were barred from taking photos or videos of even the warmup periods.
Foster said training camp was about preparation, not publicity.
“We’re here to work,” he said. “We’ve got 16 days to come out and really be able to put a good product out there on the field.”
This is a business trip complete with bed checks and a curfew. Chisom is rooming with running back Anthony Frias II and has a connecting door attached to the room of linebacker Ben Perry and running back Troy Leigber, providing ample opportunities to learn about new teammates.
“I think it makes us build brotherhood,” Chisom said. “You’re staying with some people that you may have never talked to before … it kind of forces us to be close.”
The schedule called for an off day Thursday to accommodate players’ final exam schedules, one of four breaks interspersed among the 14 practices before the team breaks camp on Aug. 16. The Bruins hope that by the time they return to campus, the installation of a new 100-yard grass practice field alongside two smaller artificial turf fields will be complete.
If not, they’ll have new friends to commiserate with as they shift practices elsewhere on campus.
“This is a great opportunity to spend 2 1/2 weeks with a guy you don’t really know, right?” said Pedersen, who is rooming with defensive back Croix Stewart. “Being able to branch out, I think it’s really cool that they do this, and this is now getting an opportunity to meet other guys on the team and branch out and make those lifelong connections.”
Etc.
Although a judge denied wide receiver Kaedin Robinson’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have granted him immediate eligibility, Foster said his confidence level remained in the “90s percent” that Robinson could play for the Bruins this season. Robinson, a transfer from Appalachian State, has a preliminary injunction hearing set for Aug. 18 that will decide whether he’ll be cleared to play. … Freshman defensive lineman Robert James III maneuvered the area on a scooter, his lower right leg encased in a protective boot. … Luke Duncan took the snaps as the top backup quarterback. … Foster said linebacker Weston Port had commenced a Mormon mission and was expected to return by the spring of 2027.
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