football practice

There were more than 17,000 high school sports transfers recorded last school year in California, and one of the most bizarre involved Chaminade offensive lineman Harout Agazaryan.

On a Monday in January, he checked out of Chaminade. On Tuesday, he began classes and football practice at Burbank High. By Tuesday afternoon, when his mother picked him up after football practice, he told her, “I don’t think it’s the right place for me.”

“You’re probably right,” she said. “How do you feel? Do you want to go back to Chaminade?”

“Yes,” he said.

On Wednesday morning at Starbucks, he met with Chaminade football coach David Machuca and asked to return.

By Thursday, he was back at Chaminade in the same classes. He felt awkward, but his teachers joked, “You missed me already?”

It took courage to ask for a second chance, and what a decision it has turned out to be. Five times this season, Agazaryan has been named a team captain by his coach. The 6-foot-3, 255-pound senior been a standout offensive tackle and defensive lineman.

“He’s been amazing,” Machuca said. “You talk about a kid that did a 360. He’s representing what I believe is important to being a captain — dedication, holding people accountable. He’s doing everything right.”

There’s so many lessons to be learned from Agazaryan’s experiences.

“The grass isn’t always greener where you go,” he said. “I discovered there’s not many places better than Chaminade.”

It was his parents who gave him the green light to transfer even though they wanted him to stay.

“Honestly, at the time, I had a lot of friends [at Burbank],” he said. “They were texting me every day. I wasn’t doing very good academically here. I thought I needed a restart.”

He quickly determined he was wrong. But would he have a chance to return to his old school?

One of the most important decisions he made was to have a conversation with Machuca before he left. So many times, students and their parents don’t even inform the coach they are leaving.

“I feel you have to leave on good terms because I know teammates that left last year that didn’t talk to coach Machuca at all,” he said. “I felt as a man, I had to talk to him.”

That earlier discussion made Machuca open to welcoming Agazaryan’s return as long as parameters were followed.

“I actually told him when he was leaving I’m really happy we’re at the point of having a conversation,” Machuca said.

The second chance has not been wasted.

“It’s been way better,” Agazaryan said. “I feel when I came back, my head switched. I was a way better person, better in the classroom, better on the field. I felt I was controlling my emotions more.”

Coaches have been complaining that it’s harder to coach players these days, because they know if someone takes something they say the wrong way, they immediately think about transferring to another school.

Agazaryan warns, “Don’t ever burn your bridges because you never know what will happen. Just because one thing bad happens doesn’t mean you should take your stuff off and leave. You have to build a relationship with everyone on the campus, then you’ll really be happy.”

A winless football team went bowling. It’s true.

With his players in need of a refreshing change that would still allow them to compete, UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper took the Bruins to a bowling alley last week on one of their days off from practicing.

“I also wanted to get out of the [football practice] building, to be honest, even for me and the coaches’ sake,” Skipper said Monday. “We’ve been locked in working and grinding and all that stuff, so we needed to get away and just kind of take a deep breath and compete in a different way.”

While it was the sort of team bonding exercise usually carried out in the offseason or during training camp, throwing a few strikes together could be the thing to help spare players from walking out on the rest of the season after an 0-3 start that led to the dismissal of their coach.

A week into the 30-day transfer portal window that opened for players, Skipper said no one had left the team. Additional incentive to stay could come Saturday.

A victory over Northwestern (1-2 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) in UCLA’s conference opener at Martin Stadium in Evanston, Ill., could be doubly important for a team that needs a confidence boost — and reason for players with an available redshirt season to keep playing after the four-game cutoff for preserving eligibility.

“I think the discussions might come up a little bit more after the game,” Skipper said of redshirting. “But, to me, it’s always good to win for everything, just morale and every single area that you’re in. You deal with that as it comes, but right now the guys have been attacking and everybody seems like they want to play and are eager to do that.”

Skipper said coaches have commenced a deep dive into the roster to search for players who could provide additional help after the team struggled so mightily in its first three games. As the Bruins shift from what Skipper labeled a mini-training camp last week into game mode, they will see if those new discoveries can handle the opportunity to make a bigger contribution.

UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper is trying to keep his players motivated amid the Bruins’ 0-3 start.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Nobody appears to be giving up given the energy and personal pride Skipper has seen from his players.

“Everybody has a number out there, but you also have a last name on the back of your jersey,” Skipper said. “So, that last name needs to matter and you need to represent it in a positive way, and that’s what this is all going to come down to. I don’t care what we’re doing, whether we’re bowling or playing football, whatever — compete to win.”

A defensive boost

Skipper said Kevin Coyle had arrived on campus after having coached for Syracuse in its victory over Clemson last weekend.

A senior defensive analyst with the Orange who is expected to serve in a similar capacity at UCLA after the Bruins persuaded him to make a cross-country move early in the season, Coyle has been a longtime mentor to his new boss.

Coyle, 69, was Fresno State’s defensive coordinator when Skipper was a star middle linebacker for the Bulldogs from 1997 to 2000. The duo also worked together last season at Fresno State when Skipper was the interim head coach.

Now Coyle will boost a UCLA staff that needs help after the departure of defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe last week in what was termed a mutual parting of ways.

“He is kind of like ‘The Godfather’ to me for football,” Skipper said of Coyle. “Did a lot of teaching me the game. It’s where I originally first started learning how to play sound, good defense. So to have the opportunity to get him here is major.”

Without offering specifics, Skipper said the UCLA defensive staff had simulated the way it would call games as part of a new collaborative approach.

On the first official day for high school football practice in Southern California, few can say they were more excited than University High quarterback Jeremy Pacheco.

In the second quarter of the first game last season, he sustained a season-ending knee injury. After surgery in October, he went six weeks without walking and had to study from home taking online courses.

After months of rehabbing, he’s been cleared to play in his senior season.

“The energy getting back to play football is next-level,” he said Monday afternoon.

No one really knows how good he is, except for University coach Bryan Robinson, who believes he’s ready to show off a strong arm and strong leadership qualities.

At Eagle Rock, where coach Andy Moran began his 29th season of coaching, the optimism is valid, because Moran has a quarterback in Liam Pasten coming off a season in which he passed for 3,602 yards.

“It’s like Christmas,” Moran said before sending his players to the weight room. “Everyone is excited for that first day.”

Pasten has grown to 6 foot 1 but weighs a slim 145 pounds. Don’t worry about hits.

“I have a good understanding of having to take hits or avoid hits to protect myself,” Pasten said.

Eagle Rock All-City quarterback Liam Pasten is 6 foot 1 and 145 pounds.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Pasten is also known for being one of the best high school barbers. He’s up to giving 40 to 50 haircuts a month.

As for what’s the most popular cuts, Pasten said, “Lower and mid tapers.”

He might have to offer his linemen free haircuts for no sacks as an incentive to protect him at all costs.

The first three days of practices for City Section teams are conditioning days. Then helmets and shoulder pads go on.

Southern Section teams with Week 0 games also began practices on Monday.