The Berkeley-to-Westwood connection is humming.
Burl Toler III, a Berkeley native who represents the third generation of his college football family, spent the past seven seasons assisting at Cal.
He is the new wide receivers coach for UCLA, as well as its passing game coordinator and recruiting coordinator, the latest in a line of Golden Bears to Bruins like former linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo, who is preparing for the NFL draft, and ex-wide receiver J.Michael Sturdivant, who has since transferred to Florida.
A short time after Toler joined the Bruins, Mikey Matthews, who played receiver at Cal for Toler during the 2024 season, landed at UCLA via the transfer portal.
“He’s a great coach. He’s very personable, and he’s a great human. … He’s teaching me how to be a better man. It’s always bigger than football,” Matthews said of Toler.
The admiration is mutual.
“He brings leadership and motivation. He brings energy. He’s a fire starter,” Burl said of Matthews. “He’s another coach in the room for me.”
Within days of Matthews hitting the transfer portal, the coach knew he had to act quickly.
“Right away, I knew his impact in the room and saw we needed someone to change the culture at UCLA and a light a fire here,” Burl said. “He wants to go and win games.”
Matthews, at his third school in three years, snared 32 receptions for 272 yards and one touchdown at Cal last fall. He added seven carries for 29 rushing yards, and he racked up 67 punt return yards.
He spent the 2023 season at Utah, racking up 29 receptions for 261 yards with kick and punt return duties. From slot receiver to punt returner to running back, Matthews wants to make a big impact with the Bruins, regardless of position.
“I always wanted to come out to UCLA out of high school,” Matthews said. “I took a different route, but now, I’m here. I’m excited for the season.”
He’s not wasting any time. Matthews said he was given the playbook in the middle of March. “I stay on top of it every day,” he said.
Matthews wants to complement his friend and teammate Kwazi Gilmer (“That’s my dog,” Matthews said of Gilmer), who started the last five games of his freshman year while posting 31 receptions for 345 yards and two touchdowns in a promising 2024 campaign.
Toler, who played college football with quarterback Aaron Rodgers more than 20 years ago at Cal, hopes his enthusiasm and ability to motivate will spur the Bruins to great heights this fall. He would not put a name on his offense.
“‘Confusing For The Defense’ is how I call it,” he said. “We want to put guys in the right spot. We challenge them a lot and challenge ourselves a lot.”
Toler might be the busiest man in Westwood with the recruiting wars heating up, but he understands it will take an entire network of coaches and colleagues to bring the best football players to Westwood.
“It’s all hands on deck,” Toler said.
Bruins bring the energy
On the other side of a hallway where donuts huddled in boxes and coffee steamed on a folding table, second-year head coach DeShaun Foster quietly sidled up to a podium in a cavernous room deep within the Wasserman Football Center.
The coach donned a black “42” hat – an homage to legendary trailblazer and Bruins great Jackie Robinson – and a black UCLA hoodie festooned with Michael Jordan’s eponymous likeness, the famous “Jumpman” logo.
Foster is of the Teddy Roosevelt school of football: Talk softly and carry a big stick, or at least a hefty playbook.
He succinctly answered a handful of questions from the press corps before returning to the two practice fields near the heart of the UCLA campus.
“The energy level has been there,” Foster said quietly before the Thursday morning practice, the team’s fifth during this spring session.
The Bruins are working hard trying to erase the memory of last year’s 5-7 overall record, including 3-6 in the Big Ten Conference.
Bill Cowher once bemoaned to NFL Films that he’d like 75 degrees and sunshine all the time but that’s not football – don’t tell that to the Bruins.
Ninety-three UCLA student-athletes hit the field on a magnificent Los Angeles morning while hip-hop music blared on loudspeakers. Jay-Z’s rapped “Bring ‘Em Out!” hammered eardrums, and on cue and in rhythm of the song, Bruins rumbled to the next station.
“We are working! We are working!” an assistant coach bellowed to players running station to station.
“Yes, sir!” one Bruin responded.
Seven quarterbacks took turns throwing during Thursday’s practice. The gunslinging hopefuls are Henry Hasselbeck, Nick Billoups, Robert McDaniel, Colton Gumino, Joey Aguilar, Luke Duncan and Dermaricus Davis.
Practice was a more subdued affair for injured Bruins. Wide receiver Titus Mokiao-Atimalala, tight end Hudson Habermehl, offensive lineman Marquise Thorpe-Taylor and defensive lineman Keanu Williams gingerly went through meticulous exercises away from their teammates, at least during the first 30 minutes of practice open to the media.