UCLA's Ethan Garbers, J.Michael Sturdivant & Jay Toia Preview the Season | 2024 Football Media Days

back here on Big 10 Network as Big 10 media days rolls on from Indianapolis big story of the day here at Lucas Oil Stadium all the excitement for UCLA's Big 10 media debut this team coming off their first Bowl win in a decade but it's going to look a lot different than it did a year ago Deshawn Foster longtime terrific running back coach he takes over as head coach he brings in Eric benmy as his offensive coordinator so much to talk about with the Bruins Ethan garbers J Michael Stant Jay Toya three of the returning stars and the familiar faces for the Bruins joining us here on set gentlemen it's great to have you and I J Mike I love your energy you're like this is cool this feels good yeah you just hold that mic right up yep yeah there you go this is great yeah thanks for having us awesome it's awesome for to have you guys here and I I will say we were talking to the USC guys were up here a little bit ago and Miller said it this feels more real being here seeing the logos seeing our you know uniform with everybody else's does this feel a little bit different feel a little more real 100% you know uh it feels like the real deal for now uh we start camp on Wednesday and we're going to start preparing for different opponents and you know we're excited and it's going to be a lot of fun it is going to be a lot of fun it's going to be fun to watch and we'll talk about each of your stories in a minute because they're all terrific but there there was a great viral video that went around when you guys find found out that deshun was going to be named head coach did did you really J did you really not know like was that moment when you first found out uh yeah I I didn't know at all I had a feeling when Martin was introducing that it was him but uh before that no I had no idea tell me about that moment what what was it that caused the reaction cuz it was clear that that was exactly who you guys wanted I mean it was real we were all in the dark as players we had no idea who was about to walk around that corner so I know me my heart was racing when he said when he was doing the speech and interview and what who our new coach was going to be so it was it was really fun when uh F came around the corner this was a guy who obviously is a UCLA Hall of Famer he played in the league and he just he's he's one of the terrific coaches and this is now his first year as a head coach what have you seen as he's made this transition cuz it's not becoming a head coach there's a lot of things that you never had to deal with as a position coach I mean yeah you could just see that the energy around uh practice and around our building is just different now uh we got a a a different vibe and a different feeling you know we're ready to work and we we're really taking each day at a time and really uh just submitting ourselves you know I think about your journey Ethan and you didn't start the LA Bowl last year but you finished it as the M MVP you transferred in from Washington you sit behind Dorian Thompson Robinson maybe a year longer than you thought you were going to and you started six games last year but now this year this is your team you are the guy so tell me about from a mental standpoint what it feels like to be here repping this team at media day and know that it is your team yeah you know it uh it feels great uh but just one thing I'm just more importantly focused on is uh just winning every game and and just just being the best person I can be and and being the best teammate I can be he was a pretty good teammate to you in at B game you guys had a couple of nice connections including I think it was a 41 yard touchdown in the fourth quarter something like that who's counting uh you guys have good rapport it's clear you could see that from the games that you've played tell me about him as your quarterback what's unique uh it's just very easy to play with garbs you know he tells you exactly how he wants it on the on the field and in the Huddle he's very calm you know it gives everybody a lot of confidence when we break the Huddle so playing for garbs is very easy and he he he throws dots so it's really it's really fun to play with a guy like him it's also nice to have a guy like him catching unable yes guy is unbelievable he's got some speed you didn't even know though that his mom is a Hall of Famer I did not I just found that out but I'm not surprised at all best athlete in the family yeah she might be she might be Jay let's talk about your story because you thought about leaving you put your name in the Porter and ultimately you decided to come back you made so many Bruin fans happy when you made that announcement on social media what went into that decision and what ultimately does it mean to you to be a UCLA bruan uh what what went into the decision was just you know it wasn't it wasn't long until I found out that us was the place to be was home um so it was a pretty quick decision from uh entering the portal and then coming right back uh and USA means the world to me just all of my teammates here you know I didn't want to leave them I I wanted to be with my brothers uh that I've been with for the past three years so uh yeah it's it's a big deal to be back one of those Brothers is no longer on the team latu latu who is now going to be playing football on this field for the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday just one of the best stories in college football honestly he's you know medically retired from football and then came back got a second chance UCLA and and became a firstr draft pick you were with him on draft night as we see here in these pictures tell me about that what was it like man it was like no other it was it was definitely an experience of a lifetime uh it was just great just being there uh just being able to say that I know I know him I played with him it just a it was a crazy experience overall you know he he said that you were instrumental in his growth as a leader as his own growth as a leader because you listened to him and the other guys in that position group saw you listening and falling in line and so then he started to believe in himself more and he talks about how proud he is of you for taking over that leadership role so how comfortable are you in that role and what did you learn from him uh I would say I'm pretty comfortable like like you said uh L was saying all those things about me but I can say those things right back to him uh he's just inspirational he's easy to follow you know cuz everything he does is just right so it's it's not hard to follow a guy like that although it is hard to keep up with him in NCAA is that are we not going to bring that up last night you were with him last night and he told me that he was cooking you yeah I was with him last night and he beat me I think 38 to Zer in the new NCAA game you know he's he's an NFL guy now yeah yeah all right we'll give him that um and I think when this Brewing offense right so we know what the defense has got a lot of stars back and there's some question marks but you're with anchor of that on offense Eric benmy what was your reaction when you found out that he was coming in to be the offensive coordinator just a legend I mean we were all so excited you know having the opportunity with someone like that coming in and uh being our offensive coordinator I mean as a football player you couldn't you couldn't be more excited for for an opportunity like that you know same guy who coached Patrick Mahomes is going to be coaching us so it's it's pretty special I mean that when you say that it is again it's it's unbelievable to think about who he's coached and the positions that he's been in picking up the pro style offense the verbage what how would you describe it how's the learning curve um for for the receivers we got to listen to a couple words so it's a little different from what uh garbs and the quarterback have to learn but learning this offense he's made it very easy on the field he's very vocal about what what he wants and makes it a lot better to to learn the offense in person and and not have to just look at it on the on film so EB has made it very easy to learn this offense and I'm really excited for what this offense is going to look like how's the learning curve for you uh it started off a little difficult but you know once it was it's like basically like learning a new language you know once you get into it and and once you really see the ins and outs and understand why it it makes a lot of sense and I'm at that point where it's starting to make a lot of sense now do you know any other languages uh I know a little bit of Spanish okay right nothing I'm not fluent but but as long as you're fluent in uh verbage then that's all that matters what have you learned from him when you when you think about what he wants to do on the field and the way that he wants to pick apart defenses how would you describe it um I mean he wants to take shots and he wants to uh just exploit defenses and areas that they need to be exploited at you know uh he's a really intelligent guy and has a lot of a lot of plays that we can run and a lot of different things and a lot of different ways to get different guys the ball so I mean he's he's really just a genius on and off the field and uh he's going to be a great coach yeah another great coach is your defensive coordinator who was your dline coach before IA Malloy your relationship with him and and what he brings because you had a you know you knew him better than most on this team and now he's taken over as a defensive coordinator yeah uh our relationship has been great especially because a latu as well uh laatu played with him at udub and uh yeah latu pretty much set an example for us that coach Malloy is that guy and he's there to to help us become better every day which he did and uh I'm I'm pretty sure our tape last year as the defense was evident of that yeah it was impressive to see what you guys were able to do last year I heard you spent a lot of time on the jugs machine this offseason is that yeah we got a new monarch machine which is outstanding now I'm so glad that F made that move to get it um it's it's like another quarterback to be honest and our whole receiver room has been on it a lot get catches every day after our lift and it's it's been a real blessing to have something like that and allow us to catch a lot more balls I don't know the Monarch machine like describe it tell me ini me basically it's like a it's like an arcade machine really you can you load it up and then you can there's like a little button that you can put on your hip and then it'll shoot it to yourself so you don't even need anybody out there with you wow so it's I feel a little bit like you're being cheated on a a little bit but I'm he's getting the work in but yeah that machine is so cool they can point to a spot on the field and where he's standing and the ball knows to shoot it right there wow amazing it's amazing what you have at your disposal and and I think about again for Big 10 fans who aren't familiar with UCLA's campus is one of the most beautiful campuses that I've ever stepped on in my life your facilities are our second to none it's truly a special place okay we got a couple minutes left we're going to do a little rapid fire nonf football questions are you guys good with that um if you could win a gold medal in any Olympic sport obviously opening ceremonies are on Friday I'm sure you guys will all be watching if you could win an Olympic medal a gold medal in any sport what would it be would it be helpful if I named some yeah I would go with the 100 meter dash okay that seems like a good answer for you and then your mom would like that take a little Victory lap after I win there you go I I would want to win a golf gold medal for sure that' be cool I'd see that I would want to win a a shot put go yeah that's good I thought you were going to say archery for a minute but I shot put would I did a little shop put in high school and it was pretty fun love that okay favorite NFL player growing up uh Tom Brady Michael Vic that was the first jersey I ever had uh Troy palalo love all great answers all right uh if you could be any animal you be killer whale and you answered that right away You' thought about this they're intelligent and uh they're beauti creatures what a good answer are we doing like real or like whatever how you can answer this however you like I probably do a phoenix a phoenix is tough a Phoenix Rising yeah I'll do one of those wait do I know what a phoenix is it's like a big bird like big fiery bird oh yeah okay all right that's again terrific answers Jay I don't know what you're going to go with but you can't go with like a bear or a lion now no I would probably want to go with a with a monkey yeah yeah just swinging from trees to trees just lot of good potassium in the DI yeah I could see that those are all those are better answers than I expected someone who has impacted your life and don't overthink it it can be a coach a friend a family member my brother your brother Chase uhhuh how is he doing by the way he's doing great you know looking for an opportunity but uh he's doing great former Cal quarterback knew him well how about you U my mom and my dad have been my inspiration my whole life so I love them and I'm they're a great role model for me shout out I would also say my parents as well just everything that they taught me and just teaching me not to take any moment for granted so yeah I was going to have you guys teach everyone the eight clap but I'm told that we're out of time so you get out of that right now unless you'd really like to do it as we go to the as we go to break we out of time you think yeah think we're out of time Chase like I got to go I got another interview uh awesome to see you guys here excited for this season and this new leadership under deshun Foster and we'll be out for training camp in just a couple weeks so we look to see thank you for having us thank you for having go Bruins go Bruin br