UCLAs

Fox College Football tweeted that “The Jerry Neuheisel Era has begun with the Bruins.”

ESPN personality Pat McAfee added to the chorus of adoration for UCLA’s new playcaller, tweeting that Neuheisel “just might be a football wizard.”

Other media and sports betting sites tweeting about the Bruins’ turnaround from 0-4 to darlings of the college football world prominently featured pictures of the blond-haired assistant coach.

It was enough to prompt the sports media website Awful Announcing to ask: “Does anyone know that Tim Skipper is actually UCLA’s interim head coach, not Jerry Neuheisel?”

Having been preoccupied with saving a season, Skipper acknowledged being blissfully unaware of any narratives about who’s done what to spark his team’s turnabout.

“I guess it’s good that I don’t get on social media and all that stuff right now because I don’t feel that way,” Skipper said Monday when asked about the notion that he wasn’t getting proper credit. “But I don’t really know what’s happening in the outside world [because] I’m in this [practice] building so much.

“But I love what I’m doing, I’m just working, man, and I just try to put us in the best position to be successful on Saturday.”

Part of any credit distortion might be associated with Skipper having presided over the Bruins’ 17-14 loss to Northwestern after replacing DeShaun Foster. The next week, Neuheisel was elevated to playcaller, helping the Bruins (2-4 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) revive a dreadful offense and roll up a combined 80 points during victories over Penn State and Michigan State.

In truth, there have been enough fingerprints on UCLA’s resurgence to leave countless smudge marks.

UCLA coach Tim Skipper stands on the sideline during the Bruins’ win over Penn State on Oct. 4.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Skipper has provided energy, meticulousness and drive, and his motivational tactics — including leaving printouts asking “ARE YOU A ONE-HIT WONDER?” on players’ seats on the team plane last week — had their intended effect during a runaway victory over Michigan State.

Neuheisel has undoubtedly elevated an offense that struggled mightily under predecessor Tino Sunseri.

Kevin Coyle, the de facto defensive coordinator who was brought in before the Northwestern game to replace Ikaika Malloe, has unleashed an aggressive, disciplined style that has largely compensated for shortcomings that were previously exposed.

There’s also been a host of other contributors, from the scouting staff that helped identify the weakness leading to a successful onside kick against Penn State, to the security guards outside Drake Stadium who continually encouraged players walking into practice amid loss after loss to start the season.

And, of course, don’t forget the players — quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s leadership and poise alongside a slew of others who have risen to the moment after so much early struggle.

The Bruins are favored against Maryland (4-2, 1-2) on Saturday at the Rose Bowl for the first time since they faced New Mexico, and it might be easy to envision their success snowballing. But Skipper said he wasn’t going to introduce the idea of making a bowl game as his next motivational device.

“I’m all about the moment that you’re in, man,” Skipper said. “… This week, kind of, [the mantra] is the standard is the standard and don’t get bored with success. We have to keep doing what we’re doing and always be on the rise, you know?”

As he neared the one-month mark since his Sept. 14 promotion, Skipper acknowledged having initially worried about keeping his roster intact since players could enter the transfer portal or redshirt.

“When I first took over, it was, like, every time I talked to you guys, everybody was asking about who’s redshirting, who’s going to the portal?” Skipper said. “That was the theme that was, like, the No. 1 question. And we’ve been able to keep the team intact, you know, and that’s an everyday thing. I think we’ve shown them that, hey, we can make it, make it a good environment here, even though we have all this change and stuff, just stick with us and we’re going to be all right.”

A clean locker room and the smiles and excitement that come with winning have been among the big changes in the aura around the team that Skipper said he’s noticed since taking over.

“It looks like the guys are in good spirits and things like that, and they know that tomorrow’s gonna be a work day and they better be ready to go,” Skipper said. “But I think we’re giving the guys the ‘why’ and the reasons why we do things, and that’s helping them know what to expect.”

Put me in, coach

UCLA unveiled a sturdy offensive weapon late in the third quarter against Michigan State.

It was Siale Taupaki, a 337-pound defensive lineman used as a blocker when the Bruins reached the red zone. Going in motion on a direct snap to running back Jaivian Thomas, Taupaki flattened a defender as Thomas scored on the second-and-goal play.

“He was begging to be able to do something on the offensive side,” Skipper said of the redshirt junior, who has vacillated between the offensive and defensive lines during his seven seasons with the team. “Sure enough, he went out there and did his job, so that gave us some juice on the sideline and it was good to see.”

Etc.

Skipper said the team’s improved tackling in recent weeks was more of a function of fundamentals than scheme. “We do drills when we get [individual] time that are specifically to use your weapons — your eyes, feet and hands,” Skipper said, “and we’re learning how to wrap up and move our feet on contact because the hardest thing to do is re-start your feet when they stop.” … The University of California regents are scheduled to meet in a closed session Tuesday in San Francisco to discuss the compensation package that will be made available to UCLA’s next coach.

They’re still together … for now.

UCLA’s football team appeared to have a full roster of players at its disposal Monday after the Bruins reached the four-game threshold for redshirting and the halfway point of the 30-day window for entering the transfer portal following the dismissal of coach DeShaun Foster.

Interim coach Tim Skipper said no player had informed him of an intention to redshirt or transfer, though there’s still time to mull those decisions before the Bruins (0-4 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) face No. 7 Penn State (3-1, 0-1) on Saturday afternoon at the Rose Bowl.

Once a player participates in a fifth game, he can no longer redshirt.

Giving any player considering such a move pause might be the situation at Virginia Tech. An attorney tweeted that he was representing a redshirting Hokies player whose decision, in the eyes of the school, constituted “ ‘opting out’ and fraudulent misrepresentation under the NCAA’s bylaws, justifying immediate termination of scholarships and revenue-sharing payments under the House settlement. Redshirting is a standard practice to preserve eligibility, not voluntary withdrawal from a program, and schools cannot void revenue-sharing payments on pay-for-play grounds.”

As of last weekend, three Virginia Tech players had reportedly entered the transfer portal and two had decided to redshirt.

What fate might await the Bruins in the coming days and weeks?

“It’s going to be fluid through the rest of the season,” Skipper said. “You know, as far as when you get to your fourth game, you decide [whether] to keep going. But my whole thing on that is that’s the rules, and if guys decide to do that, we’re not holding them hostage. They can go ahead and do that.

“We’re coaching them hard. We’re showing them a blueprint to go win games, and that’s what we’re going to do. And people that want to be a part of it stay, and then guys that choose to go the other way, they go the other way. But right now that’s not been a big emphasis in anything that we’re doing day to day. It’s getting better and trying to get us a win.”

Another fluid situation

UCLA didn’t just change the coach running its defense, it also changed the defense. The in-season overhaul led to only a portion of the playbook being installed in the first game under Kevin Coyle.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean the full playbook will be installed in a matter of weeks.

“Northwestern compared to Penn State, as far as what they do schematically, is totally different,” Skipper said, referring to last week’s opponent versus the next one. “So we’re going to have to have a different plan and do different things. Probably how we are right now, we’ll never just have the whole playbook in. We’re going to game-plan as we go week to week because we’re going to play so many different offenses, so many different looks.”

Penn State uses more pre-snap motion than Northwestern, presenting different challenges. The Nittany Lions also are a lot more potent than the Wildcats, averaging 39 points per game.

Skipper said he was pleased with Coyle’s playcalling debut during UCLA’s 17-14 loss to the Wildcats, noting that the team had given up an average of 36 points during its first three defeats. The Bruins also allowed 314 yards of offense, well below the average of 431 they had given up previously.

Etc.

UCLA moved Garrett DiGiorgio to right guard against Northwestern while using Reuben Unije and Courtland Ford at tackle before Unije went down because of an unspecified injury. The Bruins then put DiGiorgio back at right tackle and used Julian Armella at right guard. The extent of Unije’s injury was not immediately known. … Freshman linebacker Scott Taylor made his first career tackle against the Wildcats while enjoying more extensive playing time. “Scott’s a guy that’s flashed,” Skipper said. “He makes plays every day, whether it’s special teams or on defense, and I think he’s getting better and better and better. I think he can definitely be a guy that will keep having major contributions to the team.”

From the first snap of training camp, DeShaun Foster tightly controlled any narratives about his team.

Reporters never knew how much — or little — of UCLA’s practice sessions they would get to watch, one day being limited to eight minutes of stretching. Mostly they saw individual drills, field goals and — in recent weeks — one snap of the full offense going against the defense.

Photography and video were banned, even at a Rose Bowl practice open to spectators who faced no such restrictions. Foster preferred to let the team’s social media posts and internally produced video series suffice as the story of his team.

As of late Saturday night, the story could no longer be kept secret.

The Bruins don’t appear to be any good.

In a clunker of a season opener, they couldn’t tackle on defense or consistently move the ball on offense behind new quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

While it’s important to throw in the caveat that it’s just one game, UCLA’s 43-10 loss to Utah at the Rose Bowl represented a giant step backward after the Bruins had closed their first season under Foster with four wins in their final six games.

Eleven NFL scouts, including representatives from the Rams and Chargers, probably won’t be returning to watch anyone on a UCLA defense that missed a slew of tackles and failed to put any semblance of pressure on Utah quarterback Devon Dampier, whose fingerprints and footprints could be found all over this game.

Dampier completed 21 of 25 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns while running for 87 yards. He basically put the game out of reach late in the third quarter when he ran untouched into the end zone on fourth and goal from the UCLA two-yard line. Utah rolled up 492 yards of offense while converting 14 of 16 third downs.

Utah quarterback Devon Dampier scores a touchdown against the Bruins in the third quarter Saturday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Meanwhile, Iamaleava enjoyed only a few pockets of success during his first game running new offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri’s scheme. Iamaleava completed 11 of 22 passes for 136 yards with one touchdown and an interception midway through the fourth quarter that sent large swaths of fans headed for home. He ran for 47 yards in 13 carries, proving to be his team’s best option on the ground.

UCLA’s running backs weren’t nearly as productive. Tailbacks Jalen Berger, Jaivian Thomas and Anthony Woods combined for just 37 yards, averaging 2.5 yards per carry. Wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer compounded his team’s inability to move the ball by dropping a pass while cutting across the field on third and four.

UCLA’s preseason secrecy appeared warranted by halftime, when the Utes outclassed the Bruins on the way to a 23-7 advantage.

The Bruins’ inability to get any pressure on Dampier was the big story. Dampier had all the time he needed to throw and run while accounting for 170 yards (including 78 on the ground) and completing 10 of 13 passes. The only way to stop him appeared to be having his helmet come off in the second quarter, which would have forced him to come out for a play had the Utes not smartly called a timeout so that he could return.

UCLA coach DeShaun Foster runs onto the field before Saturday’s loss to Utah at the Rose Bowl.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Utah converted its first six third-down attempts, including a third and four in which Wayshawn Parker ran off tackle for a 13-yard touchdown and a third and three in which UCLA safety Key Lawrence missed a potential tackle for loss, allowing Smith Snowden to run for an eight-yard touchdown.

Everything was tilting in the Utes’ favor when Dampier found linebacker — you read that right — Lander Barton in the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown. Utah led 20-0 and it was fair to wonder if UCLA could mount a sustained drive.

Iamaleava answered emphatically, showing some slippery moves on a 21-yard run and later completing a 21-yard touchdown pass to running back Anthony Woods on a wheel route that finally put the Bruins on the board midway through the second quarter.

There wouldn’t be many positives for UCLA the rest of the way.

With a sudden burst, Donovan Dent accelerated toward the basket for a layup while absorbing contact that sent him tumbling to the baseline.

With an outstretched hand, Dent blocked a shot to trigger a fast break that he ended with his own long jumper.

With a flick of the wrist, Dent made almost every three-pointer he took.

Everything UCLA’s point guard did Tuesday during a roughly 80-minute summer workout open to reporters showed his ability to elevate his new team.

“It just changes things,” coach Mick Cronin said of having the veteran transfer from New Mexico, “and it makes life easier on his teammates.”

It could also quicken the pace of Bruins basketball.

UCLA point guard Donovan Dent says of his ability to make no-look passes to teammates: “Everyone’s starting to recognize that.”

(Jan Kim Lim / UCLA Athletics)

Dent said part of Cronin’s recruiting pitch after he entered the transfer portal was playing faster, helping the team convert turnovers into transition points.

“He felt like I could fit right into that system and he just needed someone he could trust with the ball in their hand,” Dent said, “and I feel like that was what I could bring to the table. So we talked about that, we talked about playing a lot of pick and rolls, and he’s been doing that a lot in practice. So I’m excited to see what we’re gonna get going during the season.”

One of the primary beneficiaries of playing alongside Dent on Tuesday was small forward Eric Dailey Jr., who routinely found himself receiving passes that he turned into points. Almost everyone on the roster has had the joy of being set up for easy baskets depending on how the team is divided on a given day.

“I don’t have to work a lot on offense,” Dailey said of playing with Dent. “I can just cut, I can spot up, in transition I can run and be his finisher.”

Dent said his strong showing was preceded by a frustrating session Monday that drew Cronin’s wrath, something that was again on display a day later when the coach told forward Tyler Bilodeau that he would be playing in Uruguay if he didn’t learn to set a satisfactory screen.

“I got hollered at pretty bad,” Dent said, “because I would make some silly plays, sloppy turnovers. So I wanted to respond the right way and I think I did that today. So seeing it firsthand, being a part of it, I think it does nothing but better the players.”

Reducing mistakes will be an emphasis for the 6-foot-2 senior who averaged 20.4 points, 6.4 assists and 3.1 turnovers last season on the way to becoming the Mountain West Conference player of the year and an honorable mention All-American. Dent said his new teammates are still learning that they need to be ready to receive a pass at all times.

“I may not be looking at you,” Dent said, “but it might still come to you, so everyone’s starting to recognize that.”

Cronin said Dent’s shooting — the reason he was not recruited by any Pac-12 Conference schools coming out of Corona Centennial High — continued to improve after he made a career-high 40.9% of his three-pointers last season at New Mexico.

A faster offense is just one anticipated change with the season opener against Eastern Washington on Nov. 3 a little more than two months away. Bilodeau has moved from center to power forward and Dailey from power forward to small forward in moves that could help maximize their skills.

“I think I can get to the glass a little easier not fending off bigger guys, just space the floor more, can post up smaller four men,” the 6-9 Bilodeau said, “so I think it’s going to be good.”

Dent is one of five veteran transfers, joining redshirt senior center Steven Jamerson II, junior center Xavier Booker, redshirt senior guard Jamar Brown and redshirt senior forward Anthony Peoples Jr. Cronin identified Jamerson, a transfer from the University of San Diego who previously played for coach Steve Lavin, as “a huge steal for us” based on what he’s shown in summer workouts.

An early positive evaluation by assistant coach Darren Savino was supported by Cronin’s conversations with Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett, who regularly faced Jamerson in the West Coast Conference and called him the most underrated big man on the West Coast.

“He can screen, he can defend, he can rebound,” Cronin said. “And he’s got legitimate size — he’s every bit of 6-10.”

Jamerson showed good instincts around the basket Tuesday, something Booker is still learning as part of his transition from being more of a wing player during his two seasons at Michigan State. Playing alongside Dent will undoubtedly help in his bid to become more of a rim-running post player.

“We’re trying to figure out some stuff for lobs and all that,” Dent said, “but we’re getting it down a lot.”

Their medical research focuses on potentially lifesaving breakthroughs in cancer treatment, and developing tools to more easily diagnose debilitating diseases. Their studies in mathematics could make online systems more robust and secure.

But as the academic year opens, the work of UCLA’s professors in these and many other fields has been imperiled by the Trump administration’s suspension of $584 million in grant funding, which University of California President James B. Milliken called a “death knell” to its transformative research.

The freeze came after a July 29 U.S. Department of Justice finding that the university had violated the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli students by providing an inadequate response to alleged antisemitism they faced after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack.

The fight over the funding stoppage intensified Friday after the Trump administration demanded that UCLA pay a $1-billion fine, among other concessions, to resolve the accusations — and California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state will sue, calling the proposal “extortion.”

Amid heightened tensions in Westwood, thousands of university academics are in limbo. In total, at least 800 grants, mostly from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, have been frozen.

UCLA scholars described days of confusion as they struggle to understand how the loss of grants would affect their work and scramble to uncover new funding sources — or roles that would ensure their continued pay, or that of their colleagues. While professors still have jobs and paychecks to draw on, many others, including graduate students, rely on grant funding for their salaries, tuition and healthcare.

At least for the moment, though, several academics told The Times that their work had not yet be interrupted. So far, no layoffs have been announced.

Sydney Campbell, a UCLA cancer researcher whose grant funding has been cut, stands inside the Biomedical Sciences Research building at UCLA.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Sydney Campbell, a pancreatic cancer researcher and postdoctoral scholar at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, said her work — which aims to understand how diet affects the disease — is continuing for now. She has an independent fellowship that “hopefully will protect the majority of my salary.” But others, she said, don’t have that luxury.

“It is absolutely going to affect people’s livelihoods. I already know of people … with families who are having to take pay cuts almost immediately,” said Campbell, who works for a lab that has lost two National Institutes of Health grants, including one that funds her research.

Pancreatic cancer is among the most deadly of cancers, but Campbell’s work could lead to a better understanding of it, paving the way for more robust prophylactic programs — and treatment plans — that may ultimately help tame the scourge.

“Understanding how diet can impact cancer development could lead to preventive strategies that we can recommend to patients in the future,” she said. “Right now we can’t effectively do that because we don’t have the information about the underlying biology. Our studies will help us actually be able to make recommendations based on science.”

Campbell’s work — and that of many others at UCLA — is potentially groundbreaking. But it could soon be put on hold.

“We have people who don’t know if they’re going to be able to purchase experimental materials for the rest of the month,” she said.

Fears of existential crisis

For some, the cuts have triggered something close to an existential crisis.

After professor Dino Di Carlo, chair of the UCLA Samueli Bioengineering Department, learned about 20 grants were suspended there — including four in his lab worth about $1 million — he felt a profound sadness. He said he doesn’t know why his grants were frozen, and there may not be money to pay his six researchers.

So Di Carlo, who is researching diagnostics for Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, took to LinkedIn, where he penned a post invoking the Franz Kafka novel “The Trial.” The unsettling tale is about a man named Josef K. who wakes up and finds himself under arrest and then on trial — with no understanding of the situation.

“Like Josef K., the people actually affected — the public, young scientists, patients waiting for better treatments and diagnostic tools — are left asking: What crime did we commit?” wrote Di Carlo. “They are being judged by a system that no longer explains itself.”

The LinkedIn post quickly attracted dozens of comments and more than 1,000 other responses. Di Carlo, who has been working to find jobs for researchers who depend on paychecks that come from now-suspended grants, said he appreciated the support.

But, goodwill has its limits. “It doesn’t pay the rent for a student this month,” he said.

Di Carlo’s research is partly focused on developing an at-home test that would detect Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, which are on the rise. Because no such product is currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, he said, people who’ve experienced a tick bite have to wait for lab results to confirm their infection.

“This delay in diagnosis prevents timely treatment, allowing the disease to progress and potentially lead to long-term health issues,” he said. “A rapid, point-of-care test would allow individuals to receive immediate results, enabling early treatment with antibiotics when the disease is most easily addressed, significantly reducing the risk of chronic symptoms and improving health outcomes.”

Di Carlo lamented what he called “a continual assault on the scientific community” by the Trump administration, which has canceled billions of dollars in National Institutes of Health funding for universities across the country.

It “just … hasn’t let up,” Di Carlo said.

Scrambling for funds

Some professors who’ve lost grants have spent long hours scrambling to secure new sources of funding.

Di Carlo said he was in meetings all week to identity which researchers are affected by the cuts, and to try to figure out, “Can we support those students?” He has also sought to determine whether some could be moved to other projects that still have funding, or be given teaching assistant positions, among other options.

He’s not alone in those efforts. Mathematics professor Terence Tao also has lost a grant worth about $750,000. But Tao said that he was more distressed by the freezing of a $25-million grant for UCLA’s Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics. The funding loss for the institute, where Tao is director of special projects, is “actually quite existential,” he said, because the grant is “needed to fund operations” there.

Tao, who is the James and Carol Collins chair in the College of Letters and Sciences, said the pain goes beyond the loss of funds. “The abruptness — and basically the lack of due process in general — just compounds the damage,” said Tao. “We got no notice.”

A luminary in his field, Tao conducts research that examines, in part, whether a group of numbers are random or structured. His work could lead to advances in cryptography that may eventually make online systems — such as those used for financial transactions — more secure.

“It is important to do this kind of research — if we don’t, it’s possible that an adversary, for example, could actually discover these weaknesses that we are not looking for at all,” Tao said. “So you do need this extra theoretical confirmation that things that you think are working actually do work as intended, [and you need to] also explore the negative space of what doesn’t work.”

Tao said he’s been heartened by donations that the mathematics institute has received from private donors in recent days — about $100,000 so far.

“We are scrambling for short-term funding because we need to just keep the lights on for the next few months,” said Tao.

Rafael Jaime, president of United Auto Workers Local 4811, which represents 48,000 academic workers within the University of California — including about 8,000 at UCLA — said he was not aware of any workers who haven’t been paid so far, but that the issue could come to a head at the end of August.

He said that the UC system “should do everything that it can to ensure that workers aren’t left without pay.”

What comes next?

A major stressor for academics: the uncertainty.

Some researchers whose grants were suspended said they have not received much guidance from UCLA on a path forward. Some of that anxiety was vented on Zoom calls last week, including a UCLA-wide call attended by about 3,000 faculty members.

UCLA administrators said they are exploring stopgap options, including potential emergency “bridge” funding to grantees to pay researchers or keep up labs such as those that use rodents as subjects.

Some UCLA academics worried about a brain drain. Di Carlo said that undergraduate students he advises have begun asking for his advice on relocating to universities abroad for graduate school.

“This has been the first time that I’ve seen undergraduate students that have asked about foreign universities for their graduate studies,” he said. “I hear, ‘What about Switzerland? … What about University of Tokyo?’ This assault on science is making the students think that this is not the place for them.”

But arguably researchers’ most pressing concern is continuing their work.

Campbell explained that she has personally been affected by pancreatic cancer — she lost someone close to her to it. She and her peers do the research “for the families” who’ve also been touched by the disease.

“That the work that’s already in progress has the chance of being stopped in some way is really disappointing,” she said. “Not just for me, but for all those patients I could potentially help.”

Tino Sunseri is spending the next two weeks in Costa Mesa while a large chunk of his heart resides on the East Coast.

That’s where the new UCLA offensive coordinator’s wife and 3-month-old son are living with one set of grandparents, allowing Tino to focus the best he can on training camp with the Bruins.

The first-time father is buoyed both by what he’s seeing with his team and reports about his infant, who giggled for the first time the other day. Santino Michael Sunseri Jr. already has a nickname — “We’re calling him Sonny, like ‘The Godfather,’ ” Tino cracked, referring to Santino “Sonny” Corleone from the movie — and curiously studies his father in FaceTime sessions.

“Right now,” Tino said Saturday morning, “he’s kind of giving me that look, like, ‘Hey, I know your voice, but who are you right here?’”

There’s also plenty of getting to know you between Sunseri and his new quarterback.

Nico Iamaleava enrolled in June after transferring from Tennessee, making this the fifth consecutive season that Sunseri will be working with a new quarterback. In 2021, Sunseri’s first season as quarterbacks coach at James Madison, veteran quarterback Cole Johnson led the Dukes to the semifinals of the Division I-AA playoffs.

A year later, Sunseri worked with Todd Centeio, a transfer from Colorado State who led James Madison to the Sun Belt Conference’s East Division title. In 2023, Sunseri and Jordan McCloud, a transfer from Arizona, helped the Dukes notch another division title.

Last season might have been Sunseri’s most impressive working with a newbie quarterback. Kurtis Rourke, a transfer from Ohio, led Indiana to a historic season that included an 11-2 record and appearance in the College Football Playoff.

Sunseri’s first impressions of Iamaleava align with the sort of immediate success he’s enjoyed with other quarterbacks.

“He’s a self-driven person,” Sunseri said. “He has a certain standard of how he wants to be able to operate each day. And the great thing about my past is I’ve been around a lot of guys that have the same kind of feel and thought process.

“So the only thing you’ve got to do with these guys is you’ve got to be able to give them the information, and you’ve got to keep being able to stimulate them to be able to make sure that every single day, there’s something that they’re being able to attack and chase, and there’s not one day that he hasn’t come in here that he’s not focused on being able to become the best player that he can be for UCLA.”

In the limited media viewing period Saturday, Iamaleava had more success on the ground than through the air, faking a handoff and cutting to his right for a touchdown run. The only pass he threw, intended for Ezavier Staples, was broken up by defensive back Jamir Benjamin in the end zone.

Iamaleava has impressed Sunseri with a relentless approach — whenever he’s not practicing or working out, he’s studying the offense.

“It’s infectious to him; he can’t get enough of it,” Sunseri said. “And when you have those kind of guys, you can start to be able to see how they can be able to develop, and now you can be able to start to be able to formulate a mindset and starting to be able to see where they think, how they think and start to be able to have it to where you can really understand how to coach them.”

Having such a condensed window to work with Iamaleava before the season opener against Utah on Aug. 30 at the Rose Bowl isn’t a concern to Sunseri.

“It’s not about us being able to install the offense,” Sunseri said, “it’s about being able to make sure that it’s not too much too fast to where he can be able to grasp it, because we’re not playing next week, we’re playing in three weeks — it’s still a ton of time for us to be able to utilize.”

Those wondering what UCLA’s offense will look like might have to wait until the season opener because Sunseri isn’t divulging much besides its goal to stretch a defense so that it must account for “every single blade of grass.” Sunseri did suggest that there will be an ample amount of running the football.

“Let me say this: We’re gonna be a physical football team,” said Sunseri, whose first coaching stops came as a quality control coach at Florida State and Tennessee and a graduate assistant at Alabama. “It’s where I’ve always been raised, coming from the SEC, you’ve got to run that ball, and me being a Nick Saban disciple, that’s just my thought process, right?”

A speedy duo

UCLA running back Jaivian Thomas carries the ball during preseason training in Costa Mesa on Friday.

(Nate Donlevy / UCLA Athletics)

Jaivian Thomas, the transfer running back from California, is so fast that his father called him “The Jet” growing up.

During informal sprints with his new team, Thomas said fellow running back Anthony Woods stayed with him step for step.

So does that make this a twin-jet offense?

“Ant got gas,” Thomas said of his teammate, “but I feel like I’m the fastest in the room.”

The hope is that alongside returners Jalen Berger and Anthony Frias II, the Bruins can spread their carries and wear down defenses. While Thomas and Woods are the speedsters of the group, Berger and Frias might feature slightly more power to their rushing styles.

Berger said he had fully recovered from the sprained ankle he suffered against Iowa last season that hindered him over the season’s final four games. Thomas was the Golden Bears’ leading rusher last season, averaging 6.3 yards per carry while gaining 644 yards and scoring seven touchdowns.

Coach DeShaun Foster called Thomas a threat to score every time he touched the ball. If all goes as planned, multiple running backs will cross the goal line while challenging defenses.

“It allows those guys to be able to stay fresh, and as those defenses align, they’re playing 40, 50, 60 snaps in the game, and you’re getting to the fourth quarter, those guys are a little worn out,” Sunseri said of playing a bevy of running backs. “So then whenever you put a guy in with fresh tires, then he could be able to have it to where he’s running through a couple of those tackles, maybe he’s able to continue to be able to play at a different speed than those [defensive] guys in the game.”

OMAHA — For 12 years UCLA waited to return to Omaha and the College World Series. It waited 15 total hours to play the fourth inning of its game with Louisiana State. Now, the Bruins will have wait several months to play again.

UCLA fell behind in the first inning for the second time on Tuesday and couldn’t complete an improbable comeback. The Bruins’ season ended at Charles Schwab Field in a 7-3 loss to Arkansas.

Starting pitcher Cody Delvecchio showed rust in his first appearance since March 28. Arkansas’ Wehiwa Aloy sent a 2-2 pitch into the UCLA bullpen at 108 mph off the bat to give the Razorbacks a 2-0 lead after two batters. Delvecchio lasted four more innings before coach John Savage went into his bullpen. Six pitchers worked through trouble, with the biggest mistake leading to Logan Maxwell’s two-RBI double to the wall in center field in the seventh. The Bruins’ pitchers received limited support.

UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky throws against Arkansas in the College World Series on Tuesday night.

(Mac Brown / UCLA Athletics)

The Bruins failed to score with runners on second and third with one out in the first and again with two outs in the fifth. They had runners on the corners with one out and Roch Cholowsky at the plate in the eighth. The star shortstop grounded into a 6-3 double play.

UCLA’s ninth-inning rally fell short. Mulivai Levu started the inning with a triple down the right-field line and scored on an error. AJ Salgado scored on the next play, a throwing error after a Payton Brennan single. Brennan eventually scored on a wild pitch.

UCLA hit .167 as a team and went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position before the ninth inning.