Toledo Puts His Stamp on Bruin Football

No, Bob Toledo is not going to change the school colors.

“Hey, those powder blue helmets will look good,” he said, laughing.

No, they will still be gold and the jerseys, presumably, will still be blue, but not much else about UCLA football will be recognizable when he is finished with his first spring practice as Bruin coach.

Sessions begin today and end April 25.

“The biggest thing is that everything will be different, and it’s going to take time [for the players] to learn everything,” said Toledo, who took over on Jan. 4, after Terry Donahue’s retirement.

“We’ll have different coaches, and different offense and defense, even a different way to huddle,” Toledo said.

New offensive coordinator Al Borges has reworked the offense to feature the short passing game, with an emphasis on short, at least until an offensive line with four new starters matures.

New defensive coordinator Rocky Long has reworked the defense to create a moving, stunting unit that will try to overcome a lack of size with speed.

And the Bruins will have players lining up at different positions, at least at first. Toledo has called each player to his office and asked questions. Sometimes the answers were, “I want to play somewhere else.”

So Phillip Ward and Danjuan Magee will move from defensive end to linebacker, and Abdul McCullough will move from linebacker back to strong safety, where he believes he can eventually earn a living in the NFL.

“I told them that we will take a look at them and, if they’re better there, they can play the new positions,” Toledo said. “If the team needs them to play somewhere else, they will have to play somewhere else. Sometimes a happy camper just plays better. I was a quarterback, and I know I wouldn’t have been happy if somebody had tried to move me to wide receiver.”