Notebook: Braun preps for UCLA after coaching change, continues to endorse Stone
Head coach David Braun detailed the unusual task Northwestern faces as they prepare to host winless UCLA out of their bye week.
The Bruins fired head coach DeShaun Foster and mutually parted ways with defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe in the aftermath of a 35-10 home loss to New Mexico in their last game on Sept. 12. Tim Skipper, who UCLA hired as the special assistant to the head coach after a 2024 season as the interim head coach at Fresno State, has been promoted to the interim head coaching job.
Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. matchup with Northwestern at Martin Stadium will be the Bruins’ first game with the new coaching staff.
“With the transition at head coach at UCLA, that presents some unique challenges for us in terms of [wondering] what adjustments will Tim Skipper make?” Braun said. “…The adversity that they’re going through right now will be an opportunity for them to come together and be at their best.”
With UCLA on a bye week of their own last week, the Wildcats coaches have no direct frame of reference for what this Bruin team, and especially the defense, will look like under Skipper.
UCLA has been connected to Kevin Coyle, a longtime defensive coach and currently a senior analyst at Syracuse, as a possible defensive coordinator to support Skipper. The new coach has said that his defensive play-calling will be a collaborative process.
“The thing that Zach [Lujan] and the offensive staff have to be careful about is not going down rabbit holes, chasing things and letting your mind wander in terms of what could they do?”
Skipper has an extensive resume. He’s coached for six different programs since 2014 as a linebackers coach, defensive coordinator or interim head coach (Colorado State, Florida, UNLV, Central Michigan, Fresno State and UCLA). He even spending two seasons coaching running backs for Florida in 2015-16.
Braun remembers working one of Skipper’s Colorado State clinics in the early 2010s. He doesn’t want Lujan and his staff to dive so deeply into Skipper’s past tenures that they lose sight of what’s soon ahead.
“I’m confident that Tim Skipper is a great football coach,” Braun said. “He’s a very good mind in all three phases… I think the thing we need to understand is take tangible things we’ve seen from their defense specifically, be wise about making sure our offense is adjustable and put our guys in a position to play really fast. But it certainly presents challenges.”
Braun continues to endorse Stone
This time last year, Northwestern had already made a change at quarterback, going from grad transfer Mike Wright to redshirt sophomore Jack Lausch. Wright split his opening two games, a tight 13-6 win over Miami (Ohio) and a devastating 26-20 double-overtime loss to Duke. He threw for one touchdown and committed three turnovers.
On the grounds that they needed more trustworthy play at quarterback with fewer turnovers, Braun and Lujan made the difficult decision to elevate Lausch to the starting role.
The Wildcats are in a similar situation this year. New grad transfer quarterback Preston Stone has been struggling with turnovers, with six interceptions to his name. He threw for three touchdowns in a 42-7 romp over FCS Western Illinois, but he has yet to throw a touchdown and has turned the ball over seven times against FBS competition in Tulane and Oregon.
On Monday, coming off of a bye week, Braun was adamant that Stone would continue to be his starting quarterback. He described the difference in his thought process season to season, and why Stone’s turnover problems haven’t raised alarms the way Wright’s did.
“I think overall it’s different because what we’ve seen out of Preston in practice,” Braun said. “The Tulane game is an extreme outlier throughout Preston’s career… The two interceptions he throws against Oregon, one is on him trying to force the ball on a third-down situation. The other one ultimately wasn’t on him. Our back has to break out or break across the face of the linebacker…
“It’s coming back to the objective piece of it: what we have seen out of Preston in practice, the consistency, and then him knowing that he does have to do a better job of valuing the football and not trying to force things that aren’t there.”
It’s also objectively true that Wright was under more pressure than Stone. There was a pre-existing battle in training camp between Wright and Lausch, and Lausch was in his third season with the program. Stone was named the starter in the summer, while his primary competition is current backup Ryan Boe, a redshirt freshman whose only game action has been 4-for-13 for 42 yards and an interception against Illinois last year, and an electrifying 58-yard touchdown run against Western Illinois this season.
Braun has consistently sung Boe’s praises but also knows he’s a last resort at this young stage of his career.
“Preston Stone is our quarterback,” he said. “Are we really excited about Ryan Boe, and are there potential opportunities to utilize Ryan at some point? [Yes], and we saw what he did against Western Illinois carrying the football.
“Those are things that we as a coaching staff, we’d be silly not to evaluate. But there has never been a consideration of making a change at the starting quarterback.”
More work coming for Wagner
Northwestern has been desperate for production from wide receivers other than Griffin Wilde. Wilde, a transfer from South Dakota State, has 15 catches for 213 yards this season; no other receiver has more than four catches.
Special teams ace Drew Wagner made an impact in the Oregon game with a 40-yard reception, making the catch in traffic despite his 5-foot-10, 185-pound frame. Braun said that we may see more of the former walkon in the future.
“Drew just continues to make plays, right?” Braun said. “We have got to find ways to get the ball in Drew Wagner’s hands. He’s a playmaker. Still excited about Frank [Covey IV], still excited about Ricky [Ahumaraeze], Hayden [Eligon II]’s continued to develop…
“Excited for that group to continue to make progress and ultimately, when you got a guy like Drew Wagner that’s making as many plays and has shown when the ball is in the air and it’s 50-50, he’s going to come down with it. That’s something that you have to find ways to get on the field more frequently.”
Injury updates
Braun gave his typical enigmatic rundown through the team’s current list of injuries. The focus was on the defensive secondary, which was extraordinarily depleted by the end of the Oregon game, with top safety Damon Walters out since the start of the season, plus backup safety Garner Wallace and top corner Josh Fussell leaving the game with injuries.
Walters’ injury continues to nag at him and Braun didn’t seem optimistic he could make his debut against UCLA.
“Damon is anxious to get back, we’re certainly anxious to get him back. We’ll know more as the week goes along,” Braun said. “It’s just finicky, it’s soft tissue. When we get Damon back, we need to make sure we have him back for the rest of the season.”
‘Finicky’ is the same term Braun used last season to describe Carmine Bastone‘s injury recovery, when the captain missed the first five games of the season.
Wallace got the best diagnosis of the trio.
“Garner, we’ll know more as the week goes along. Really hopeful that Garner is back [for UCLA] and optimistic that he will be,” Braun said.
Fussell, who has played impressively as a starting cornerback this season, is unlikely to return this week, according to Braun.
“Josh, again, we’ll know more later this week,” Braun said. “Don’t see it as a long-term deal but he’s definitely more questionable in terms of this weekend.”
I also asked about the health of edge rusher Anto Saka, who went into the season as the team’s premier pass rusher but is currently the third defensive end on the team in snaps, behind Aidan Hubbard and Michael Kilbane, per PFF. He played just 26 of 57 possible snaps against Oregon.
Braun said that Saka is healthy, and that he is happy with the senior’s play thus far this season.
“Anto is starting for us and starting for a reason,” Braun said. “Really pleased with the progression that we’ve seen out of him as an every-down player and we need to get Anto in a situation [to succeed]…
“Anto is someone we anticipate being a starter for us, someone that’s taking on a heavy load whether it be first, second or third down, and his snaps are not a reflection of a question mark of whether or not he can execute in those situations.”
