Bob Chesney will play it coy about who will ultimately start this week for the UCLA Bruins this Saturday when they face the 4-1 Wisconsin Badgers but the first-year head coach did speak about his team’s quarterback options.
During his media availability on Tuesday, Chesney spoke about Madden Iamaleava and Ty Dieffenbach, who will be taking over at quarterback after the season-ending injury to Nico Iamaleava.
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“He [Dieffenbach] did a great job today. So did Madden. The most important thing about this right now is that they’re good football players. They can read coverages, they can throw the ball, they can extend plays with their legs,” Chesney said of his quarterbacks. “We all understand how good they are as football players. So that’s not up for debate. The most important thing they can do right now is be there for each other.”
The two players have competed all season for the second-string quarterback position. Now the competition continues, this time it’s just for first-string.
“You have a team that’s ready and doing this. They have to be on that same wavelength with everybody else and they have to accelerate and advance us, just like everyone else has to do,” Chesney said. “It can’t be anything other than that. The biggest fan of Ty today was Madden and Madden’s biggest fan today was Ty. For the team to see that and understand that, that’s a real big big deal for where we’re trying to go.”
We’ll see which (or perhaps both) quarterback Chesney rolls with this Saturday, as the Bruins take the field at the Rose Bowl for the first time as a ranked team since 2023.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA’s Bob Chesney speaks about his two options at quarterback
