UCLA Football: Bruins Eyeing Former NFL Player As New Defensive Line Coach

With a couple of vacancies still on the coaching staff, UCLA head coach Chip Kelly went through his Rolodex and landed on a familiar name for help. 

According to a report from David Woods of Bruin Report Online, UCLA is set to hire Oregon Graduate Assistant Tony Washington as its Defensive Line/Outside Linebackers coach. 

If the name sounds familiar to UCLA fans, it's because Washington coincidentally has preexisting ties to the coaching staff -- namely Kelly himself. 

Washington was once a prep prospect from Southern California. He earned a scholarship to Oregon during Kelly's era in Eugene. He starred on two of Oregon's Rose Bowl-winning squads. He was also a fixture on the team that won the 2013 Fiesta Bowl. 

An edge rusher/outside linebacker, Washington latched onto the Houston Texans roster after being undrafted. Once his spell with Houston ended, Washington played briefly for the Tennessee Titans before his professional career as a player came to an end in 2018. 

He's since gone into the field of coaching. Washington was a graduate assistant at Nebraska before coming back to Oregon as the Director of Player Development. Under Dan Lanning, Washington was a defensive grad assistant.