Kenny Young and Jaleel Wadood (photo by Greg Turk)Kenny Young and Jaleel Wadood (photo by Greg Turk)
Greg Turk

Senior Kenny Young is one of six returning defensive starters for the Bruins. (Photo: Greg Turk)

UCLA Set to Host Texas A&M in 2017 Opener

Football

Sunday showdown will kick off at 4:30 p.m. PT on FOX.

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LOS ANGELES -- UCLA opens the 2017 football season on Sunday, Sept. 3 at 4:30 p.m. PT in the Rose Bowl versus Texas A&M. The game will be televised by FOX, with Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft on the call. The Bruin IMG Radio Network, featuring Josh Lewin, Matt Stevens and Wayne Cook, will radio broadcast the contest on AM 1150. Sunday's game will also be aired over Sirius/XM, Westwood One, uclabruins.com and tunein.com and the TuneIn App.

UCLA will open the new campaign at home for just the third time in eight seasons. The same two teams tangled in last year's opener with the host Aggies prevailing in overtime, 31-24. The Bruins defeated Virginia in the 2015 season opener at the Rose Bowl (34-16). UCLA kicked off the 2014 campaign with a 28-20 win in Charlottesville. The Bruins opened 2013 at home with a win over Nevada, but played on the road to begin the 2012 (W at Rice), 2011 (L at Houston) and 2010 (L at Kansas State) seasons.

In 2016, the Bruins finished 4-8 overall and in a tie for fourth in the South Division of the Pac-12 with a 2-7 record.

Sixth-year head coach Jim Mora (41-24 record overall) welcomes back six offensive starters ---junior QB Josh Rosen, redshirt senior WR Darren Andrews, redshirt senior WR Eldridge Massington, senior OL Najee Toran, redshirt senior C Scott Quessenberry, redshirt sophomore OL Andre James.

On the defensive side of the ball six starters return --- senior DL Jacob Tuioti-Mariner, senior DL Matt Dickerson, senior LB Kenny Young, junior LB Josh Woods, junior CB Nate Meadors, senior S Jaleel Wadood.

In addition, experienced punters Stefan Flintoft (R-Jr.) and Austin Kent (So.) return along with kickers JJ Molson (So.) and Andrew Strauch (R-So.). Long snapper Johnny Den Bleyker (So.) is also back.

New additions to the coaching staff include, Jedd Fisch (Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks) who came from Michigan; Jimmie Dougherty (Passing Game Coordinator/Receivers) who was also at Michigan last season; Hank Fraley (Offensive Line) who was with the Minnesota Vikings and DeShaun Foster (Running Backs) who worked at Texas Tech last year. Each coach was in place for the spring practices.

This will be the sixth meeting between the Bruins and the Aggies on the gridiron. The schools met in last season's opener in College Station, a 31-24 Aggie win in overtime. Prior to that, the teams played most recently in the 1998 Cotton Bowl, a 29-23 UCLA victory. The last time the teams met in Los Angeles was in the 1955 season, a 21-0 Bruin win.

The opener will also mark the first of three non-Saturday games for the Bruins in 2017. UCLA also has Friday games scheduled at Utah (Nov. 3) and versus California (Nov. 24). The Bruins last played on a Sunday in a 1980 game versus Oregon State won by UCLA 34-3.

UCLA is 17-15-4 all-time vs. teams in the current Southeastern Conference -- Texas A&M (2-3), Alabama (2-1), Arkansas (1-0-1), Florida (3-2), Georgia (0-2), Missouri (2-0-1), Tennessee (6-7-2), Vanderbilt (1-0).

IN BRIEF
• UCLA is 64-29-5 in season-opening games in 98 seasons of play.
• UCLA has won 16 of its last 19 non-conference match ups. The Bruins have won 14 of 15 regular season non-conference games under Coach Mora, with the lone loss coming last season at A&M.
• Three major contributors from the Bruin secondary, which rated 7th in the nation in team passing efficiency defense (105.85) and 22nd in the nation in interceptions (15) last season, return - S Jaleel Wadood-11 starts, CB Nate Meadors-8 starts, S Adarius Pickett-5 starts.
• Three dads of current Bruins are working as assistant coaches in the NFL - TE Austin Roberts (Alfredo- Chargers RB coach), TE Caleb Wilson (Chris - Eagles DL coach), DB Quentin Lake (Carnell - Steelers DB coach).
• WR Darren Andrews became the 35th Bruin to reach the 1,000-receiving yards mark last season in the Colorado game ... Andrews has hauled in 98 passes for 1,152 yards over the past two seasons. ... No returning Pac-12 player has caught more passes than Andrews over the past two seasons (CU's Shay Fields also has 98).
• Last season's ASU game was Rosen's 10th career 300-yard passing game which leaves him tied for second on the all-time Bruin list with Brett Hundley, 2012-14. Cade McNown,1995-98, is first on the list with 11.
• 27 returning position players have starting experience.
• UCLA's total of 25 draftees in the last five NFL Drafts is the most of any Pac-12 school during that stretch and include a first-round selection in four of the past five drafts.
• UCLA has won 28 straight overall games and 47 straight regular season games in which it has held the opponent to less than 20 points (last loss 17-16 to BYU in 2007 Las Vegas Bowl / last regular season loss 16-14 at Colorado 2003).
• Since the start of the 2012 season, UCLA has won 22 of 27 games (81%) when winning the turnover battle and owns a record of 19-20 (48%) in games when losing or tying the turnover ratio.