Pac-12 Football: 5 storylines to follow in spring 2019
By Zach Bigalke
4. Can Chip Kelly initiate a year two turnaround at UCLA?
When Chip Kelly signed on as the new head coach at UCLA for the 2018 season, it wasn’t necessarily expected to yield immediate dividends for the Bruins.
With a lot of question marks throughout the roster, it was an opportunity for a young nucleus to begin developing in Kelly’s system. And even as they went just 3-9 over the course of the year, the Bruins showed some flashes of promise.
Dorian Thompson-Robinson has the potential to be the next Dennis Dixon or Darron Thomas in Kelly’s system. After rushing for more than 1,200 yards in 2018, Joshua Kelley could break out as the next great Pac-12 running back this year after the former UC-Davis transfer elected to stay at UCLA for his senior season instead of declaring early for the NFL Draft. Other than losing tight end Caleb Wilson, the Bruins offense is in great shape to perform in Chip’s second season.
It will all come down to whether a defense that ranked outside the top 100 in the FBS almost every possible category can improve enough to threaten in the Pac-12 South.
Defensive coordinator Jerry Azzinaro, a longtime defensive line coach whose last coordinator gig came in 1997 with UMass, has a more experienced unit in his second season in Los Angeles. Key to watch in the spring is the development of a secondary that lost veterans Adarius Pickett and Nate Meadors.