The cupboard was not bare for the UCLA football team, especially on defense. Chip Kelly might have been using a plethora of freshmen to get his side of the ball going, but Jerry Azzinaro has been using veterans to jump-start his defense.
Last season, UCLA had one of the worst defenses in the country, just look at these numbers:
Total Def: 483.7 yards | Rush Def: 287.4 | Pass Def: 196.3 | Scoring Def: 36.6 pts
This needed to change and we saw glimpses of an evolution through the spring and fall.