Bob Chesney was already feeling the heat on his first day of training camp.
It was by design.
His forehead glistening with sweat as he stepped in front of reporters, the new UCLA football coach said everything the Bruins do over the next few weeks would be geared toward pushing players in trying conditions.
“Pay no attention,” Chesney said, “to a virtue that has not been tested in fire.”
That includes afternoon practice sessions like the one held Thursday in balmy conditions. The same goes for drills, including a punt return in which Mikey Matthews caught the ball and was immediately surrounded by three defenders within bad-breath distance.
Matthews voiced his displeasure that he wasn’t granted a penalty.
“I don’t get a halo?” he griped.
Nope. Not here.
In another drill, Chesney lofted a spiral high into the air to a receiver as four players raced to converge on him, showing they understood proper positioning in coverage.
With less than a month before Chesney’s first game against California on Sept. 5, there’s no easing anyone into anything. Maximizing their practice time, the Bruins positioned two different teams on the same field at the same time going in opposite directions.
UCLA is scheduled to hold several practices next week at Great Park in Irvine, which Chesney said would provide a road environment and “bowl-game vibe” while also allowing the team to bond.
Chesney said it helped that the bulk of the team participated in spring practice, accelerating its pace early in training camp.
“This is all language they’ve heard before,” Chesney said. “They’ve heard it through the winter and through the spring and then they heard it all summer long, so there were a lot of things we were able to do at a decently high level today.”
While quarterback Nico Iamaleava overthrew Matthews streaking toward the end zone on his only deep pass during the portion of practice reporters were allowed to observe, Chesney said he liked what he saw from the team’s biggest star.
“A lot more comfortable in his leadership, a lot more comfortable in his mastery of the playbook,” Chesney said, “and I think he just continues to grow within this day in and day out.”
In a sign of heightened interest in the program under Chesney, there were 15 reporters and photographers — triple the number that often showed up in previous years.
They got to see linebacker Drew Spinogatti serve as a hype master during stretching, yelling “Are you ready?” before his teammates responded in the affirmative with a collective roar.
There was also plenty of activity involving the Chesneys — the head coach and his father, Bob Chesney, who often goes by Senior. While the elder Chesney offered plenty of encouragement, fist-bumping one player and patting another on the shoulder, the younger Chesney was a blur of activity, running from drill to drill and constantly offering instruction while pushing his players.
It’s the only way they’re going to get to where they need to be by the season opener.
“Ultimately,” Chesney said, “something that we’ve got to be able to do is put them in situations where we’ve tested them in fire, we know how they’re going to react and how they’re going to respond when the moment’s on the line — that’s the most important thing that we can do out here.
“That’s what this whole entire thing is ultimately about.”
