Revamped, experienced defensive line ready for 2011 football season
Rising redshirt junior defensive end Datone Jones will return to the field after sitting out last season after fracturing his foot in fall camp.
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 4, 2011 11:57 p.m.
The story of the UCLA defensive line in 2010 was one of absence begetting opportunity.
Noticeably absent were two playmakers: Brian Price, the havoc-wreaking tackle who gave up his senior year to play on Sundays in the NFL, and end Datone Jones, who had to redshirt after breaking his foot in fall camp.
Suddenly, playing time became available to those who weren’t expected to see much, and the unit ended the season with two true freshman starters ““ end Owamagbe Odighizuwa and tackle Cassius Marsh.
The line evolved throughout UCLA’s 4-8 season, but returns in 2011 with experience and, maybe more importantly, depth ““ seven linemen have started at least one game.
“It’s got to be an energy group,” coach Rick Neuheisel said of his defensive front four. “We’ve got a lot of bodies there, so there’s no reason to save it for the next play.”
Neuheisel tapped Inoke Breckterfield to lead his “energy group,” and if Saturday’s “Oklahoma” drill ““ a full-contact one-on-one duel between offense and defense ““ during UCLA’s first padded practice was any indication, the enthusiasm will be there.
Breckterfield, hired as UCLA’s defensive line coach on Feb. 18, was right in the middle of the huddle, as vocal and demonstrative as he could possibly be.
The former All-American defensive lineman at Oregon State knows a thing or two about playing the position and is carrying that into his new job.
“A fanatical effort, that’s what I want,” Breckterfield said. “I want guys just flying around.”
First to line up for the drill was Jones.
The man nicknamed “Sackman” was a backfield terror in 2009, finishing the year with four sacks and 11 tackles for loss.
Many were expecting a big junior year out of the 6-foot-4-inch, 272-pound end, but that was put on hold after he broke his foot on the first day of fall practice and was forced to redshirt the year.
There probably wasn’t a player on Spaulding Field more excited to get pads on than Jones.
“I love playing this game, so to sit out a season is just horrible, because I never sat out a practice or a game in my life,” Jones said.
“I’m already comfortable. I’m flying around, I’m seeing everything faster, and I’m ready to go.”
Breckterfield and new defensive coordinator Joe Tresey will be pleased to have Jones’ athleticism and experience back on the line to complement the talented but raw youngsters.
But rising sophomores Odighizuwa and Marsh might not even have gotten a chance to play if Jones hadn’t gone down in the first place.
“You never wish injury on someone for someone else to build their talent, but I feel like the young guys … definitely showed their true colors,” rising redshirt senior defensive tackle Nate Chandler said.
“This year it’s going to make us that much better having experience on the D-line.”
