WATCH: UCLA OC Tino Sunseri gives early fall camp assessment
COSTA MESA, Calif. — An offseason reset at quarterback presented UCLA offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri with the task of getting a handful of new players up to speed.
Among them is Tennessee transfer Nico Iamaleava, who, like Sunseri last season at Indiana, comes with College Football Playoff experience.
Prior to Saturday morning’s practice, the playcaller shared his first thoughts on Iamaleava, his younger brother, Madden, and Pierce Clarkson. None of the three took part in spring camp.
Nico Iamaleava, the unquestioned starter, impressed his new position coach early with his mentality and daily approach.
“He’s been great,” Sunseri said. “I’ll tell you what, the thing about Nico is that he’s a self-driven person. He has a certain standard of how he wants to be able to operate each day. And, the great thing about my past is I’ve been around a lot of guys that have this same kind of feel and thought process. So, the only thing you gotta do with these guys is you gotta be able to give them the information. And, you gotta keep being able to stimulate them to be able to make sure that every single day there’s something that they’re being able to attack and chase.”
Sunseri talks plan at running back
The quarterbacks aren’t the only new pieces. The Bruins also have California transfer running back Jaivian Thomas in the fold.
UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster called Thomas a “home run threat” in the backfield last week. Thomas making his way to Westwood this offseason was important. However, Sunseri believes it will take contributions from multiple players each game to have success on the ground.
“Whenever you have it to where you can be able to have a bunch of guys that are being able to split the carries, it allows those guys to be able to stay fresh,” Sunseri said. “As those defensive linemen are playing 40, 50, 60 snaps in a game and you get into the fourth quarter, those guys are a little worn out.
“So, then whenever you put in a guy with fresh tires he can have it where maybe he runs through a couple of those tackles. Maybe he’s able to play at a different speed than those guys in the game. That’s what we want to do.”
