With the 2022 UCLA football season on the horizon, Daily Bruin Sports will preview the Bruins’ outlook at each position group as the countdown to football begins. Next up, Sports editor Sam Settleman breaks down the secondary.

Personnel

While the Bruins lost a lot of experience in the secondary, they have a wealth of young talent to compensate.

Former defensive backs Qwuantrezz Knight, Quentin Lake, Jay Shaw and Obi Eboh – a large part of UCLA’s leadership on defense – all will no longer be donning the blue and gold in 2022. Knight and Lake are now in the NFL, Shaw transferred to Wisconsin, and Eboh exhausted his collegiate eligibility.

Knight was the top tackler for the Bruins, while Lake and Shaw tied for the team lead in interceptions and combined for 10 pass breakups. Suffice to say, there’s no shortage of production lost in UCLA’s secondary.

That being said, help is on the way. The Bruins found a gem in sophomore Devin Kirkwood, who is poised to immediately slot in as CB1 for the blue and gold in 2022 after a standout true freshman year. UCLA also added a pair of cornerbacks through the transfer portal in redshirt senior Azizi Hearn out of Wyoming and redshirt freshman Jaylin Davies from Oregon.

Opposite Kirkwood, junior defensive back John Humphrey is expected to get significant time on the outside. The former four-star recruit has seen action in 14 games across two seasons, but his snap count should increase considerably with a spot open out wide.

Meanwhile, Hearn will likely slot into the nickel back role that Knight made a name for himself in with the Bruins. Despite not yet having a collegiate interception to his name, Hearn plays fast and physical and can play all over the field – just like Knight.

Between the 6-foot-3 Kirkwood, 6-foot-2 Humphrey and 6-foot-2 Hearn, UCLA boasts one of the tallest cornerback trios in the country.

Despite losing a standout safety in Lake, the Bruins still have veterans on the backline of their defense. Redshirt senior Stephan Blaylock has started 31 straight games at safety for UCLA and should tack on at least 12 more this season if he stays healthy, while fellow redshirt senior Mo Osling III should also become a regular starter at safety after making the switch full-time from cornerback.

Behind Blaylock and Osling, redshirt junior Kenny Churchwell III also figures to be a consistent presence on the Bruins’ defense. Churchwell stepped in seamlessly last season when Lake went down with an injury, even notching his first career interception against Fresno State.

There’s certainly opportunity for development down the line too. Kirkwood is undoubtedly the top prospect among the crop of young talent, but a trio of former four-star recruits in Davies, redshirt freshman Isaiah Newcombe and freshman Kamari Ramsey provide optimism for the future of UCLA’s secondary. With limited depth at cornerback, Davies and Newcombe will likely see reserve action this season.

Between a mix of young stars and experienced veterans, the Bruins have the personnel at secondary to achieve a much-improved passing defense.

Predictions

It could be argued that no facet of the game has been more detrimental to the Bruins in recent years than their pass defense.

UCLA ranked 122nd in the country in passing yards allowed per game in 2018, 129th in 2019 and continued to trend among the bottom third of the nation in that category in both 2020 and 2021. It’s more likely that was a product of mismanagement by former defensive coordinator Jerry Azzinaro than poor execution by personnel, but either way, that should change in 2022.

If the Bruins are to turn it around on that front, new defensive coordinator Bill McGovern will need to play a large role. But make no mistake, this group of defensive backs could certainly turn heads this year.

Kirkwood has the talent to be an All-Pac-12 caliber cornerback that can shut down opposing teams’ top receivers, Hearn will be the replacement for Knight that UCLA needed, and Blaylock’s experience on the last line of defense should limit some of the coverage breakdowns that plagued the blue and gold in 2021.

This secondary looks to be in solid shape heading into the 2022 season and should be more reliable than Bruin secondaries in years past. Expect this group of defensive backs to bring UCLA back into the top half of the country in pass defense metrics.