Bob Chesney hosts his first Spring Game with the UCLA Bruins

The UCLA Bruins held their first Spring Game under head coach Bob Chesney on Saturday and the new Bruins coach looked comfortable. The game came at a good time, as Chesney is in the midst of gathering a Top-Five 2027 recruiting class, landing multiple four-star recruits on both Friday and Saturday.

Chesney’s no rookie, he’s got over 15 years of head coaching experience over various levels of college football but now he finds in the Big Ten Conference. The new stage doesn’t change the process for Chesney, who’s looking to restore the UCLA program back to college football relevance.

“I thought it went well. I wouldn’t say unbelievable, I wouldn’t say terrible. Most of the time it’s somewhere in between,” Chesney said, when asked how the spring games went. “There’s a couple things we got to clean up and take care of, but ultimately, this was bigger than just this spring game.”

What made it bigger? It was the first chance for Chesney and much of the UCLA team to play in the Rose Bowl, taking in the experience of playing on college football holy land.

“The light on the Rose Bowl logo lit up out front when we pulled in was just something that I think a lot of us hadn’t seen at night. I hadn’t seen it ever at night,” Chesney said of the Rose Bowl. We addressed that a little bit last night as a team and made sure we understand the respect that this place deserves.”

The Rose Bowl has seen plenty of iconic games throughout its history, but Chesney and the new-look Bruins will look to add onto that list this season. There’s no doubt that Chesney has won the offseason with UCLA, but his team will have to back it up on the field this fall.