UCLA Football: 5 reasons Bruins have what it takes to upset Oklahoma

1. Dorian Thompson-Robinson‘s upside

Chip Kelly might not admit to it, but he took the easy way out when he named Michigan transfer Wilton Speight his starting quarterback in Week 1 against Cincinnati. Although he wasn’t particularly good last season (54.3 percent passing, three touchdowns and two interceptions), he was the only proven option Kelly had.

But playing it safe isn’t Kelly’s m.o. Kelly made himself the hottest coaching commodity in the country by continuously pushing the envelope on offense, adding wrinkle after wrinkle to his schemes at Oregon and bringing the Ducks to the cusp of a national championship.

With Speight’s future uncertain, Dorian Thompson-Robinson is the next man up. A dual-threat quarterback from the famed Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Thompson-Robinson was the No. 2 dual-threat passer in the 2018 class. In an ideal world, he’d have a year to learn the system, but the raw talent is there. And unfettered raw talent, when pointed in the right direction, can be dangerous.

Mobile quarterbacks are the norm in today’s game. Players like Thompson-Robinson that can create in space keep defenses on their heels. With a full week of preparation as the starter and specific schemes and plays inserted into the gameplan to emphasize his strengths, a youth movement could be a big boon for UCLA.