A season of monotony has performed out with a numbing sameness on the inside of UCLA’s defensive position.
On virtually each play, two or three offensive linemen converge on Jay Toia, huge our bodies colliding in an try and neutralize the Bruins defensive deal with.
Taken in isolation, it’d look like a win for coaches committing almost 1,000 kilos to counteract an in any other case unstoppable power. Midway via the season, Toia has tallied simply 12 tackles, half a deal with for loss and two quarterback hurries.
These may look like meager numbers for a participant broadly anticipated to be chosen within the NFL draft this spring till you contemplate the ripple impact.
All that open area created by Toia’s block hogging has benefited teammates. Numerous them. Carson Schwesinger leads the Huge Ten with 47 solo tackles. Kain Medrano has notched 5 tackles for loss, spending sufficient time within the backfield to gather loyalty factors. Oluwafemi Oladejo has turn into a fearsome edge rusher partially as a result of he has fewer our bodies to beat on his strategy to the quarterback.
“It just kind of shows you what type of person Jay is — he’s selfless,” UCLA coach DeShaun Foster mentioned. “I’m sure he would like some one-on-ones so he could beat some guys and get some sacks and get some TFLs, but the situation that’s happening … he’s just doing a great job eating the blocks and letting the linebackers roam around and make plays.”
Anticipated to be a weak spot, UCLA’s protection has emerged as its higher half thanks largely to the 6-foot-3, 325-pound senior who has turn into an emblem for a group making an attempt to persevere via a five-game shedding streak. He’s content material to maintain working within the shadows, ready for a breakthrough.
“Whatever I can do to help this team,” Toia mentioned because the Bruins (1-5 general, 0-4 Huge Ten) ready to face Rutgers (4-2, 1-2) on Saturday at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, N.J. “I’ve just got to count on my teammates to make the plays.”
That’s one thing of a job reversal contemplating how a lot his group has leaned on him. He simply might be starring for top-ranked Texas after a springtime dalliance by which he was courted by the Longhorns throughout what he described as “a four-day vacation” within the switch portal.
Exhibiting his allegiance to Foster and defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe, Toia resisted overtures from one of the vital deep-pocketed packages in faculty soccer, bought as an alternative on his coach’s pillars of self-discipline, respect and enthusiasm.
UCLA defensive lineman Jay Toia tackles Stanford working again E.J. Smith throughout a sport in October 2023.
(Scot Tucker / Related Press)
“Going into the process, I told myself that I didn’t want to be bought — you know, I wasn’t going to go somewhere because of NIL,” Toia mentioned. “It was culture and development over everything, which is the ultimate reason I decided to come back to UCLA.”
Amid fall coaching camp, Toia strengthened the respect facet of that tradition by shopping for popcorn and drinks for teammates throughout an outing to look at “The Fall Guy.”
The high-pitched Polynesian rallying cry he often breaks out, which has been in comparison with one thing out of a Moana film, mirrored his enthusiasm.
And there’s no mistaking the self-discipline it takes to point out up and pound the blocking sled every single day when your group hasn’t gained in additional than 1½ months.
“I think we’re getting it together,” Toia mentioned of the behind-the-scenes enchancment, “we’re getting closer and closer every day.”
Doing no matter it takes might be thought of his personal mantra going again to highschool. As a working again, guard and defensive lineman at Grace Brethren in Simi Valley, Toia grew to become what coach Josh Henderson described as “a force of nature.”
“He played both ways, he played hurt,” Henderson mentioned. “This is the kind of guy that you’re afraid that he’s injured, but he won’t come out of the game. Jay is all in to the end on every play, so he’s the kind of guy a coach has to protect because he will have no regard for himself, [play] with reckless abandon.”
A local of Tonga who moved to Southern California, Toia mentioned he felt he was on a quest to be one of the best at all the pieces he does.
“I don’t fear anybody but God and I just have a warrior mindset,” Toia mentioned. “I just want to beat everybody, you know?”
His relentlessness helped him sack future UCLA teammate Ethan Garbers throughout a victory over Corona del Mar on the way in which to the 2018 state championship. Toia didn’t notice Garbers was the identical man he had walloped when Toia joined the Bruins for fall camp in 2021 till UCLA receiver Bradley Schlom, considered one of Garbers’ former highschool teammates, introduced it up.
Toia nonetheless is likely to be making an attempt to convey down Garbers had he caught along with his first faculty alternative. After signing with USC throughout a recruiting course of with visits restricted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Toia confirmed his huge potential throughout spring observe with the Trojans earlier than having a change of coronary heart and saying he would switch throughout city.
The Bruins’ efforts to land Toia out of highschool had paid off, just a bit later than that they had hoped.
“It was really 50-50 between USC and here,” Toia mentioned of his mindset in highschool, “the main part it being home — I’ve never been able to be far from home, especially from my parents, my mom, and it was always between the two.”
After going from a reserve position in his first 12 months at UCLA to a full-time starter in 2022 who made a season-high 10 tackles in opposition to Pittsburgh within the Solar Bowl, Toia understandably grew to become a spotlight of opposing offensive coordinators.
In fact, each sport plan that revolves round him leaves holes elsewhere.
“I know every time he’s in a three-on-one,” Oladejo mentioned, snapping his fingers, “he’s going to spark, he’s going to shoot it and I can play fast behind him.”
UCLA’s protection might be set to pounce on a Rutgers offense that has generated simply seven factors throughout every of its back-to-back losses to Nebraska and Wisconsin. Whatever the consequence, Toia mentioned he felt good about his resolution to stay a Bruin for his ultimate season, a relentless consolation in a season of heartache.
“Oh yeah, 1,000%,” Toia mentioned. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else. You know, it for sure is frustrating to be losing all these games but at the end of the day I’m here with my brothers, I’m here with who I want to be with win or lose — and that’s coach Foster and coach Malloe.”
