Ryan Gunderson<\/strong> said he saw things out of Thompson-Robinson physically that he had never seen other quarterbacks do. The work, Gunderson said, was between the ears, with the decision making process.<\/p>\nKelly said he sees Thompson-Robinson becoming more of a student of the game. \u201cI think the one thing that I love about Dorian is his thirst for knowledge. He constantly is working on his game, whether it’s the physical stuff, whether it be the weight room, speed work, film watching, decision making, how to become a better leader. Those are questions where he’s like, \u2018Coach, you got 10 minutes?\u2019 I’ll pop up, he has a notebook out, a list of questions he’s rattles off. He’s always trying to improve. That’s the one thing I love about him, he never stands pat on what he is,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n
Mo Money Mo Problems?<\/h3>\n
The off-season has also provided UCLA with many of the same topics all programs are grappling with like the new Name\/Image\/Likeness rules, or NIL. Thompson-Robinson has turned over the handling of his social media-based apparel and marketing efforts from his mother, Melva, to a professional marketing firm.<\/p>\n
As is the case with any team, there are going to be the haves and the have-nots. There is inherent value for many firms in a young, well-thought-out quarterback who has a high-profile public image. The back-up left tackle? Not so much. Is a split in the locker room inevitable when some players are able to financially capitalize on the game more than others? \u201cI think the biggest thing is keeping the main thing, the main thing, which is football\u201d Thompson-Robinson said. \u201cThat\u2019s what is going to provide all your money for you. So, I tell everybody, and all the guys in there, It\u2019s not what you do off the field, it\u2019s what you do on the field. Nobody\u2019s going to pay you if you\u2019re not playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sentiment was echoed by Kelly later the same day. \u201cWe have a mature team. I really don’t think — first and foremost they know part of their image is they have to be doing the right things in the classroom and on the football field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gotta Look Sharp<\/h3>\n
The other news, specific to UCLA, was the introduction of the Jordan-brand Nike Apparel. The players got their first look at it earlier in the week, and the reviews have come back very positive, not just in the appearance but the practicality of the new design. Kelly says it pays dividends in a couple of ways. \u201cI always have been such a big fan of the product. And I think sometimes that gets glossed over, what a good product it is,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cI had a chance to be in the office yesterday. Spent a little time with our equipment guy, checking all the new stuff that came in.\u201d And the second advantage? \u201cIt’s going to be help us with recruiting, because everybody wants to be associated with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the players wearing the new brand of Nike, well they have made their crosstown rivals, who don the traditional Nike gear take notice of what is new in Westwood. \u201cI make sure the USC guys see it,\u201d Knight said with a committed laugh.<\/p>\n
And for the fans who like the alternative uniforms that get used by schools occasionally during a season? Kelly said that will not be happening with the new Jordan look. \u201cThere’s a couple football programs in football that have iconic football uniforms, UCLA is one of them. I call it the airport test. If you walk in an airport, you look out the corner of your eye, you can tell who’s playing. You know when Alabama is playing, Penn State, UCLA is playing. That’s working really well for this program and I’m not going to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Main Image: UCLA head coach Chip Kelly at Pac-12 Media Day in Hollywood, CA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The 2020 college football season was too sporadic for too many teams and fans alike. Now, a clean Spring camp is in the books for UCLA. New Nike Jumpman logo uniforms have been delivered. Summer workouts are done. Now, with hopes that the new Covid variants can be held at bay, Fall camp starts for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1534,"featured_media":37210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-pac12"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1534"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}