Experience and veteran leadership will steer the Bruins through a season of new beginnings.

Redshirt senior Ethan Garbers’ role as UCLA football’s first-string quarterback has provided UCLA football and coach DeShaun Foster with both stability and familiarity under center.

And though Garbers’ role has been firmly secured for weeks now, Foster said redshirt sophomore Justyn Martin will assume backup responsibilities after seven quarterbacks were vying for the role.

“It’s huge to have a veteran quarterback that has been here and has played in big games as well as a backup quarterback that has been here for a while too,” Foster said. “Being able to have a familiar face and someone that you can trust and can keep the offense on track.”

After transferring to UCLA from Washington, Garbers spent his first two seasons in Westwood as a reserve quarterback and the holder for place kicks. In 2023, Garbers got his first real taste of signal-calling duties, notching 1,136 passing yards and 11 touchdowns.

Despite the absence of a full season starting, Garbers has built a rapport and comfort with the program.

“Confidence is almost 90% of the quarterback position, and if you believe you can do something, you can really do it,” Garbers said. “It really helps when there are 10 other guys looking at you in the huddle and you’re confident. … The offense goes as I go, and that’s really true for every quarterback in the country.”

The greatest question mark surrounding the Garbers-led offense, however, is how it will fare under associate head coach and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. The former NFL coach brings 16 years of professional coaching experience and two Super Bowl rings.

Garbers will have weapons all around the field, with a receiving corps that ushers both testified talent and promising potential.

“Those guys (receivers) have worked their tails off throughout spring and fall camp,” Garbers said. “We put a lot on their plate, and this offense requires the receivers to do a lot, but they’ve all stepped up. They’ve all done what they need to do, and they’re doing a great job.”

UCLA returns its two most productive pass-catchers in redshirt senior Logan Loya and redshirt junior J.Michael Sturdivant. In 2023, Loya contributed 655 receiving yards and five touchdowns while primarily working in the slot. Similarly, Sturdivant added 597 yards and four touchdowns on 16.6 yards per catch.

The new addition to the wide receiver room, and potentially the offense’s biggest wild card, is sophomore Rico Flores Jr. The former four-star recruit and Notre Dame transfer notched 392 receiving yards and one touchdown on 27 receptions last season.

The wide receiver room also returns redshirt junior Titus Mokiao-Atimalala, who missed all of last season because of injury but has quickly forged a strong connection with Garbers. The Ewa Beach, Hawaii, local last played in 2022, when he played in all 13 games and logged 290 receiving yards and one touchdown on just 17 receptions.

Mokiao-Atimalala will return near home ground for his first appearance since injury against Hawaiʻi on Saturday. There, he will have the chance to play against his brother and Rainbow Warrior wide receiver Tamatoa Mokiao-Atimalala.

“Him being my little brother, facing him is going to be a lot of fun,” Tamatoa Mokiao-Atimalala told the media after Hawaiʻi’s practice. “We’re already talking trash over the phone, telling each other things, and so I love that environment.”