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Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Alabama State
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 45, Alabama State 7
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
September 10, 2022
UCLA head coach Chip Kelly
on having the opportunity to play multiple guys in today’s game
“We got an opportunity to play a lot of guys. You learn by doing. And we had some guys that got valuable playing experience in a college football game with referees, with ramifications – if you make a mistake, unlike in practice you don’t get to do it again. You’ve got to learn from your mistakes. There were some good things to build off of. There are some things that we can teach off the film, also. It was beneficial that we could get so many guys, I don’t know the exact number, but we played a lot of guys today. It was fortunate that we could get all of those guys in. Hopefully we can build from that.”
on updates with Zach Charbonnet and Dorian Thompson-Robinson
“They were both unavailable.”
on the status of Kam Brown
“Kam is unavailable.”
on if he saw any secondary breakdowns, particularly in the first half
“I’ve got to look at the tape. I think that they did a nice job with their slow mesh RPO [run pass option] game. I don’t know if it was specifically secondary breakdowns. I thought that their quarterback was really accurate. They tried to suck you up a little bit with the run and then throw the ball over the top. But I thought the ball was accurate and they did a nice job. It wasn’t like anybody was wide open. There was one play in the second half, I thought that our young kids blew the coverage and they hit a kid on the seam and got a play in the red zone. Besides that, I think we were close in coverage, but you’ve got to make plays on the ball.”
on Bruins’ quarterback Ethan Garbers
“I thought that Garbers did a nice job. He’s got to want that one back down in the red zone, you know, go through a logical progression in terms of where we are. He knew the answer coming off the field. But again, he’s a kid that’s taking advantage of the reps and the opportunity that he gets. I thought he was really accurate with his ball today, did a nice job of placing the ball in certain places. If you ask him, I think that he’d want that one throw back.”
on the efforts from Laiatu Latu and Colson Yankoff
“I think that is a really good point. I mean, this is a game of adversity. And for both of those guys, they have worked so hard at overcoming some of the adverse situations that they have been in. I’m really proud of them. If you could see behind the scenes, the work that they have done with our medical staff and our football performance staff, in terms of rehabilitating themselves – to get an opportunity to go back and play college football, something that both of those guys love. The fact that we have both of those guys available to us is a huge deal. Colson was a huge contributor for us during the Covid year [2020], during special teams, but then he hurt his foot. He had transitioned from quarterback. He had been playing some wide out, but he’s up to 230 pounds. He’s a physical back. But he will be the first to tell you that he has never been tackled as a running back. So today was kind of the first time. He’ll start to grown and learn. It’s that experience that he can lean on now. But for both him and Latu, I was really happy for both of those guys.”
on his assessment of the running backs in today’s win
“I think that we rolled through a lot of guys. I think that they were solid. I don’t think that any of them was standout. It was really good for T.J. [Harden] to kind of get his first extensive playing time as a true freshman. He was an early enrollee for us and did a really nice job in spring ball. And the fact that we could get him on the field today, he scored a touchdown, he did a nice job. Christian Grubb, coming off of missing an entire year, he’s another comeback kid that did a great job from a rehab standpoint. He has worked really hard. It was good to see Grubber get out there and do some things. So to get some depth behind Zach has been important for us. We felt like we can count on Keegan [Jones] but now we think we’ve got some other guys, as the season goes along, your depth is always going to be tested. So, the fact that some of those young guys got some playing time is a positive for us today.”
on how challenging it can be to keep his players engaged in a game like this
“Well, I think that in college football, you only get 12. And you better take advantage of all of them. I was just told coming in here that there were a lot of upsets today in college football. I don’t think you can look past anybody. You’ve really got to keep your focus on what it is and savor it. It’s a unique sport. You’ll prepare so long for just 12 opportunities. I told our players in the locker room that we’ve only got 10 left. We have already had two. And it still feels like it’s just starting. It goes like that. So the season seems like it is long, but the games are short. We have to take advantage of them. Their attention when they come back on Monday is going to be really focused on South Alabama, who had a big win today over Central Michigan. And Central Michigan is a good football team. We will get back at it here.”
UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers
on entering the game as a substitution
“I know Dorian was unavailable at that time. I came in this week and prepared as if I was going to play. You’ve got to go into it with the mindset with, ‘Hey, you’re right now. You’re going to be right now. You’ve just got to do your job.’ So, that’s pretty much it.”
on Yankoff’s performance given his injury rehab
“I just want to say all those runs and everything are a credit to the guys up front and tight ends who do such a great job blocking and during the week and doing their job.”
on the passing game progressing in the offense
“I think we’ve been working this whole offseason on throwing the ball more. We’ve got a great offensive line that can really protect the passer. We’ll run the ball a lot. Our offensive line is really good on our run blocking, and they’re also really good at pass blocking. So, whatever the defense allows us to do and whatever we can set up. We just do what we do.”
UCLA tight end Hudson Habermehl
on his touchdown play
“We worked that play a lot. I was reading if I was matched, unmatched and I saw Cover 0 blitz. So (I) turned around. We repped it a lot during practice. (I) caught it and it was instinctual from there. I run and try not to get caught.”
on what it was like going into the endzone
“It was crazy. It felt like a blur. A dream even though you’ve been dreaming about stuff like that your whole life. So it was really cool to happen.”
UCLA offensive lineman Jon Gaines II
on a lot of newcomers contributing
I think, especially from the old guy’ perspective, to see a lot of guys who haven’t been able to have that many snaps to come in and really take advantage of their opportunities, it was great for them. To be able to help TJ, watch Huddy score his first touchdown. Things like that. You love to see your teammates work hard throughout the week and that hard work pay off for them.
on Yankoff’s performance given his injury rehab
I’ve seen Colson come a long way with these injuries, switching positions – it’s a tough task for him. It was really cool to see him get in there and make some big plays. I know he’s earned it and he’s deserved it.”
UCLA defensive lineman Grayson Murphy
on UCLA’s first-downfumble recovery that nearly went for a touchdown
“My brother [Gabriel] got the sack and [Laiatu] Latu kind of stripped it out, my brother picked it up and I saw that someone was wrapping him up and I called out ‘Gabriel’ and he tossed it to me. I wish he would have tossed it backwards so we could keep the touchdown. I’m glad we got that play, but I wish we could have got the touchdown off of it. [Having my brother toss it to me] made it all the better, we’ve always been on the field together.”
on fitting in with the defense
“I feel pretty good. It helps with guys like Bo taking you under their wing. I feel pretty good, pretty confident. The more games I play, the more comfortable I get within the defense. But the defense [defensive coordinator Bill] McGovern has is so simple to learn. You just do your job, and everything will fit itself.”
UCLA linebacker Bo Calvert
On limiting the Alabama State offense
“I think we did a good job of getting after the quarterback, setting edges, coming downhill. Obviously rotated a lot, had a lot of guys in the game, so being able to share the love was the best thing about today, just seeing guys come in that aren’t able to be in the spotlight as much. Seeing those guys make plays was awesome.”
on the progression of the defense
“It’s been great, we’re an aggressive defense. We get after offenses and we want to control the tone of the game. Being able to have a versatile group where everyone is on the same page and wants to get after them, and have everybody work together great, we have a lot of really great relationships off the field which I think is really helping us get out there on Saturday.”
Alabama State head coach Eddie Robinson Jr.
on his team’s offensive performance
“Early on our offense was moving pretty good, and I think skill-wise that’s usually where we can compete with those guys. Once you start getting into the bigger guys and the back-ups, that’s where it catches up with you.”
UCLA 45, Alabama State 7
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
September 10, 2022
UCLA head coach Chip Kelly
on having the opportunity to play multiple guys in today’s game
“We got an opportunity to play a lot of guys. You learn by doing. And we had some guys that got valuable playing experience in a college football game with referees, with ramifications – if you make a mistake, unlike in practice you don’t get to do it again. You’ve got to learn from your mistakes. There were some good things to build off of. There are some things that we can teach off the film, also. It was beneficial that we could get so many guys, I don’t know the exact number, but we played a lot of guys today. It was fortunate that we could get all of those guys in. Hopefully we can build from that.”
on updates with Zach Charbonnet and Dorian Thompson-Robinson
“They were both unavailable.”
on the status of Kam Brown
“Kam is unavailable.”
on if he saw any secondary breakdowns, particularly in the first half
“I’ve got to look at the tape. I think that they did a nice job with their slow mesh RPO [run pass option] game. I don’t know if it was specifically secondary breakdowns. I thought that their quarterback was really accurate. They tried to suck you up a little bit with the run and then throw the ball over the top. But I thought the ball was accurate and they did a nice job. It wasn’t like anybody was wide open. There was one play in the second half, I thought that our young kids blew the coverage and they hit a kid on the seam and got a play in the red zone. Besides that, I think we were close in coverage, but you’ve got to make plays on the ball.”
on Bruins’ quarterback Ethan Garbers
“I thought that Garbers did a nice job. He’s got to want that one back down in the red zone, you know, go through a logical progression in terms of where we are. He knew the answer coming off the field. But again, he’s a kid that’s taking advantage of the reps and the opportunity that he gets. I thought he was really accurate with his ball today, did a nice job of placing the ball in certain places. If you ask him, I think that he’d want that one throw back.”
on the efforts from Laiatu Latu and Colson Yankoff
“I think that is a really good point. I mean, this is a game of adversity. And for both of those guys, they have worked so hard at overcoming some of the adverse situations that they have been in. I’m really proud of them. If you could see behind the scenes, the work that they have done with our medical staff and our football performance staff, in terms of rehabilitating themselves – to get an opportunity to go back and play college football, something that both of those guys love. The fact that we have both of those guys available to us is a huge deal. Colson was a huge contributor for us during the Covid year [2020], during special teams, but then he hurt his foot. He had transitioned from quarterback. He had been playing some wide out, but he’s up to 230 pounds. He’s a physical back. But he will be the first to tell you that he has never been tackled as a running back. So today was kind of the first time. He’ll start to grown and learn. It’s that experience that he can lean on now. But for both him and Latu, I was really happy for both of those guys.”
on his assessment of the running backs in today’s win
“I think that we rolled through a lot of guys. I think that they were solid. I don’t think that any of them was standout. It was really good for T.J. [Harden] to kind of get his first extensive playing time as a true freshman. He was an early enrollee for us and did a really nice job in spring ball. And the fact that we could get him on the field today, he scored a touchdown, he did a nice job. Christian Grubb, coming off of missing an entire year, he’s another comeback kid that did a great job from a rehab standpoint. He has worked really hard. It was good to see Grubber get out there and do some things. So to get some depth behind Zach has been important for us. We felt like we can count on Keegan [Jones] but now we think we’ve got some other guys, as the season goes along, your depth is always going to be tested. So, the fact that some of those young guys got some playing time is a positive for us today.”
on how challenging it can be to keep his players engaged in a game like this
“Well, I think that in college football, you only get 12. And you better take advantage of all of them. I was just told coming in here that there were a lot of upsets today in college football. I don’t think you can look past anybody. You’ve really got to keep your focus on what it is and savor it. It’s a unique sport. You’ll prepare so long for just 12 opportunities. I told our players in the locker room that we’ve only got 10 left. We have already had two. And it still feels like it’s just starting. It goes like that. So the season seems like it is long, but the games are short. We have to take advantage of them. Their attention when they come back on Monday is going to be really focused on South Alabama, who had a big win today over Central Michigan. And Central Michigan is a good football team. We will get back at it here.”
UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers
on entering the game as a substitution
“I know Dorian was unavailable at that time. I came in this week and prepared as if I was going to play. You’ve got to go into it with the mindset with, ‘Hey, you’re right now. You’re going to be right now. You’ve just got to do your job.’ So, that’s pretty much it.”
on Yankoff’s performance given his injury rehab
“I just want to say all those runs and everything are a credit to the guys up front and tight ends who do such a great job blocking and during the week and doing their job.”
on the passing game progressing in the offense
“I think we’ve been working this whole offseason on throwing the ball more. We’ve got a great offensive line that can really protect the passer. We’ll run the ball a lot. Our offensive line is really good on our run blocking, and they’re also really good at pass blocking. So, whatever the defense allows us to do and whatever we can set up. We just do what we do.”
UCLA tight end Hudson Habermehl
on his touchdown play
“We worked that play a lot. I was reading if I was matched, unmatched and I saw Cover 0 blitz. So (I) turned around. We repped it a lot during practice. (I) caught it and it was instinctual from there. I run and try not to get caught.”
on what it was like going into the endzone
“It was crazy. It felt like a blur. A dream even though you’ve been dreaming about stuff like that your whole life. So it was really cool to happen.”
UCLA offensive lineman Jon Gaines II
on a lot of newcomers contributing
I think, especially from the old guy’ perspective, to see a lot of guys who haven’t been able to have that many snaps to come in and really take advantage of their opportunities, it was great for them. To be able to help TJ, watch Huddy score his first touchdown. Things like that. You love to see your teammates work hard throughout the week and that hard work pay off for them.
on Yankoff’s performance given his injury rehab
I’ve seen Colson come a long way with these injuries, switching positions – it’s a tough task for him. It was really cool to see him get in there and make some big plays. I know he’s earned it and he’s deserved it.”
UCLA defensive lineman Grayson Murphy
on UCLA’s first-downfumble recovery that nearly went for a touchdown
“My brother [Gabriel] got the sack and [Laiatu] Latu kind of stripped it out, my brother picked it up and I saw that someone was wrapping him up and I called out ‘Gabriel’ and he tossed it to me. I wish he would have tossed it backwards so we could keep the touchdown. I’m glad we got that play, but I wish we could have got the touchdown off of it. [Having my brother toss it to me] made it all the better, we’ve always been on the field together.”
on fitting in with the defense
“I feel pretty good. It helps with guys like Bo taking you under their wing. I feel pretty good, pretty confident. The more games I play, the more comfortable I get within the defense. But the defense [defensive coordinator Bill] McGovern has is so simple to learn. You just do your job, and everything will fit itself.”
UCLA linebacker Bo Calvert
On limiting the Alabama State offense
“I think we did a good job of getting after the quarterback, setting edges, coming downhill. Obviously rotated a lot, had a lot of guys in the game, so being able to share the love was the best thing about today, just seeing guys come in that aren’t able to be in the spotlight as much. Seeing those guys make plays was awesome.”
on the progression of the defense
“It’s been great, we’re an aggressive defense. We get after offenses and we want to control the tone of the game. Being able to have a versatile group where everyone is on the same page and wants to get after them, and have everybody work together great, we have a lot of really great relationships off the field which I think is really helping us get out there on Saturday.”
Alabama State head coach Eddie Robinson Jr.
on his team’s offensive performance
“Early on our offense was moving pretty good, and I think skill-wise that’s usually where we can compete with those guys. Once you start getting into the bigger guys and the back-ups, that’s where it catches up with you.”