Femi Oladejo soaking up knowledge in NFL-type system under Chip Kelly

UCLA linebacker Femi Oladejo has drawn praise from Chip Kelly during spring camp. But Oladejo has praise for Kelly, too.

The former California linebacker said playing in Kelly’s system is very similar to what he did with the Golden Bears.

But one major difference is going against his offense everyday in practice. Those reps are valuable to his improvement as a player.

“I think it’s very similar,” Oladejo said after a recent spring practice. “Being able to practice against coach Kelly has been awesome. Very great coach, seeing more of an NFL-style playbook. Then the guys in the room are making me so much better, being able to compete and learn from everybody else, just soaking up the knowledge.”

Kelly coached in the NFL for four seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers. After being fired by San Francisco, he spent a year off before returning to the college game with UCLA.

Oladejo — who is one of 13 players to transfer in to the program since the end of last regular season — was a starting inside linebacker for the Golden Bears last season, finishing the year with 91 tackles. He is practicing at the position with the Bruins.

What Chip Kelly had to say about Femi Oladejo

Chip Kelly had great things to say about Femi Oladejo, including highlighting his worth ethic since joining the program for the start of the winter quarter at UCLA.

“Yeah, Femi’s been tremendous since we’ve been here. He’s got a great work ethic; (he) loves studying film,” Kelly said. “It always seems like he’s in our building doing something to make himself a better football player. So, his mindset has really fit in very well with that whole group and how Cam teaches.”

The linebacker room is one that has stands out with the Bruins right now because of the depth at the position.

But it sounds like Oladejo is carving out a role for himself on the UCLA defense.

“He’s obviously got some physical qualities that we really like,” Kelly said. “He’s tall, he’s long, covers a lot of space in a short amount of time; he’s got really good movement skills for a guy that big, can get into a lot of passing lanes and disrupt some things because of his length. But I really just think it’s his work ethic and his mindset that have been really, really impressive so far since he got here in January.”