Spring Football Roundup: April 23-30
The UCLA football team began the spring portion of its training schedule April 23, returning to Spaulding Field for the first of 15 sessions.
"The [first] day was high energy. Everyone's ready, running around, just happy to be here," said defensive back Qwuantrezz Knight. "Just happy to play football, have the football be on the field again, be amongst the guys – just trying to be great."
B. Brown/Knight Availability | Calvert/Johnson Availability | Cota/Philips Availability | Griffin/Thompson-Robinson Availability
Knight and running back Brittain Brown are two of four graduate transfers appearing in Westwood for a second campaign in 2021. Defensive back Obi Eboh and offensive lineman Paul Grattan round out the quartet.
"We were definitely in communication with each other," said Brown of the group during the offseason. "Just trying to see how good of a position we would be in, what we could do if we all came back. We kind of all made a decision around the same time … I think it was really good to come together and talk about how we could really do something this year."
Brown rushed 82 times for 543 yards during the shortened 2020 season, culminating in a 29-carry, 219-yard performance in the finale versus Stanford. Knight racked up 40 tackles – including 4.5 for negative yardage – and received honorable mention recognition when the Pac-12 announced its All-Conference Team. Both are students in the UCLA Transformative Coaching and Leadership Academy, as is Grattan. Eboh is part of the Master of Legal Studies Program at UCLA School of Law.
"The cool part for them – not only do they get another year of football to prepare themselves if they want to play football after college -- but they get another year in our grad program," said head coach Chip Kelly. "They'll walk out of here, all of them, with their master's degrees."
UCLA football spring training continues through May 27.
Back at it 💯#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/S2KiDxSnn7
— UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) April 24, 2021