UCLA QB Ethan Garbers looks ahead to season opener at Hawaii 8/28

doing good doing good big first week how you feeling I feel great excited man you know uh get another opportunity to go play another team new defense and uh we're excited how how well do you feel like the offense has grasp this offense that you're going to run the plays and stuff I feel like we've done a great job honestly you know uh starting in the spring with Coach benamy coming in and then working all the way through fall Camp working till now everyone's real confident and and has a lot of uh lot of good uh a lot of the guys have been studying very well and very hard and and we got a good grasp with the offense for sure how much was the bill you had to pay for your offensive lineman at the barbecue place uh it wasn't it wasn't too bad I'm not I won't get speciic Eric seimer wants to know it wasn't too bad would you do it again I guess is a question oh yeah we're uh we're trying to figure out a thing where we can get something going every week the weekly Thursday thing yeah trying to try and get something going you know bring those guys together do a little bonding get n deal out of it with the restaurant we're trying to figure something out what has Garrett made a right tackle for you Garrett's been awesome you know he's uh he's really improved and especially that's a lot of credit to coach Castillo he does a phenomenal job with those guys uh but yeah Garrett has been putting in the work doing his time and it's really paying off people are going to see this year for sure what's it been like dealing with DB because he can they just when you met him and the now CU he can be an intense guy yeah I mean uh honestly I wouldn't want to have it any other way me personally I I need a coach like that who's going to get after you when you're not doing right and is going to be your biggest fan when when you're doing something uh right so I mean I love coach UB I think he's a phenomenal coach he does a great job and and uh yeah this is your second straight season heading into the year at the starting quarterback how would you compare how you feel this year compared to last year uh I mean I feel great this year you know it's another opportunity to like I said play a new defense play a new team and I couldn't be more happy and more excited to start the year this way talking about playing a new new defense what have you seen on film about Hawaii's defense and how they're going to attack you guys and how you can kind of stop that yeah they got a lot of Playmakers uh on that defense they're very well coached by a coach who's been in the NFL and then uh with uh Deion Sanders for the last couple years but uh you know they they play hard they play fast and and they're physical so uh we're looking forward it's going to be a good match up you mentioned a couple of The Playmakers um anyone in particular maybe flash out a little bit more more unfiled yeah um I'd say you know their their linebackers do a great job uh their safeties do a great job and and I think uh those two kind of working together uh are a good thing for their defense you putting in work I mean you really earned this opportunity you stuck it out here um how do you think that resonates with your teammates that kind of who know you and know your story I mean uh they've all known me for the past 5 years I mean they've seen me work day in and day out and I think just that itself just just speaks for itself you know um that's that's really all I can say can you feel that like yeah definitely no definitely um the friendships I built here will last a lifetime for sure and uh you really create a special bond when you're working together for the common goal with someone and it's it's great you know I can feel exactly yeah even before everything happened with offes and changes and stuff you were after that game that you were you on the in that game and just a second half like yeah I want to do this again uh you know that game was was just uh interesting game you know we were down a little bit and I mean I wasn't going to sit there even if I was 100% I wasn't going to sit there and just let my guys down like that you know so I felt an obligation to kind of go in there and uh and help the team in any way I can because I mean at the end of the day that's my most important job uh but yeah I mean there was no second guess or anything if I was coming back to UCLA I wanted to graduate from here uh give the awesome degree that I got and uh yeah pretty much that how important was that game for your confidence did did it do anything for your confidence the LA B I mean I was already confident before that I knew I I trusted in my abilities and uh and confidence was not lacking at all but I mean yeah it definitely helped in that stage in that moment just uh if anything I would just say just added experience and that was a big thing what kind of development have you seen from Milani since the beginning of fall Camp to now yeah he's been great uh like I said about Garrett coach coach Cas gets a lot of credit for those guys you know he works them super hard every day day in and day out and Alani has done a great job he's he's he's a big guy he's he's going to stand in the way and he's and he's going to do a great job this year for us too you got to the LA you really show your connection thir in that game you know some deep touchdown passes what more can we expect that connection yeah I mean from you're going to see that from all the guys you know we're going to be exposive offense this year that pushes the ball down field and um I mean you can see it from every single one of the receivers Titus Rico Logan J Mike we're going to be uh attacking the ball deep for sure you mentioned the Titus one you guys get him back this year and two he gets to go back home how excited are you for him you know both of those circumstances yeah it's it's awesome I'm super excited for Titus cuz he's one of my good friends and I know he doesn't really get to see his family a lot and it's going to be awesome I think he has like a bunch of people coming to the game I don't even know the exact number but uh yeah I'm super excited for him and it's an opportunity for him to also play against his brother which is which is really cool and uh something special I I I got to deal deal with that a couple years ago my brother at Cal but it's just it's an awesome experience I'm happy for Titus happy he gets to go back home did you notice they called his brother Titus on the broadcast I did yeah I I was listening I said that's not Titus it's funny yeah I I talked to their OC coach um oh yeah and he he to my confidence said you're the kind of guy over a 12ft p no problem is that is that true oh I probably say 10t 10t okay 10 feet I'm doing it how how important is confidence to like your job especially this season I mean confidence is almost 90% of a quarterback position if you if you believe you can do something you can really you can really do it and I mean it I think it really helps when other 10 guys are looking at you in the Huddle and you're confident and you're like hey let's go we got this I mean not really that really speaks coach EB says it all the time the offense goes as I go and that I mean that's really true for every quarterback in the country how much has it benefit you to have a rece veteran receiving even came games got oh it's very beneficial you know those guys have worked their tails off uh throughout spring and throughout fall Camp you know we put a lot on their plate and uh this offense requires the receivers to do a lot but they've all stepped up they've all done what they need to do and they doing a great job and continue to do a great job awesome thank you thank thank you