UCLA’s Zach Charbonnet rushes past 1,000-yard milestone

Running backmost Zach Charbonnet was tasked with moving successful a backfield arsenic the superior moving enactment for the archetypal clip successful his UCLA career.

He usually shared the workload successful a two-back strategy on with Brittain Brown, who was questionable each week with an undisclosed injury.

Charbonnet had a season-high 28 carries 167 yards and a touchdown. His full enactment him implicit the 1,000-yard milestone (1,031) for the season.

He has been an interaction subordinate for the Bruins aft transferring successful from Michigan during the offseason. The inferior has six 100-yard rushing games this season, tied for the astir since Joshua Kelley successful 2018.

Charbonnet’s effort helped the Bruins decorativeness with 260 full rushing yards. UCLA has rushed for astatine slightest 200 yards successful each of its 7 wins this season.

Coach Chip Kelly mentioned aboriginal successful the week that they’d person to ticker however Brown progressed but besides prepared receiver turned moving backmost Kazmeir Allen passim the week to instrumentality connected that backup role.

Kelly was told Saturday greeting that Brown wasn’t going to play and Allen ne'er had a transportation retired of the backfield. Allen inactive played a important role, scoring 3 touchdowns.

It’s unclear what Brown’s presumption volition beryllium for the last 2 games of his vocation arsenic a Bruin.

Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson contributed successful the tally game, scoring 2 rushing touchdowns successful summation to passing for 4 more.

Running backmost Ethan Fernea, a sixth-year subordinate for the Bruins, besides contributed to the rushing onslaught with a 42-yard touchdown tally precocious successful the 4th quarter, adding to the largest constituent full the Bruins person scored successful a azygous crippled against the Trojans.

“(Ethan has) fixed everything to this program,” Kelly said. “He was truly playing good for america and past wounded his wrist.”

Fernea missed 2 weeks this play aft suffering the wounded and returned to signifier with a club-like formed astir his manus and wrist pursuing surgery.

“I thought helium was done for the season, but helium wasn’t,” Kelly said. “He elected to person the country and travel backmost and play this year, and to decorativeness it disconnected that way, for that kid, was conscionable awesome.”

The erstwhile walk-on dilatory worked his mode back, participating connected peculiar teams portion wearing the formed and yet worked his mode backmost into the offense.

“Nobody expected that,” Thompson-Robinson said astir Fernea’s touchdown. “Fern is ever moving hard and moving his process disconnected adjacent erstwhile nobody’s watching.”

This is Fernea’s archetypal winning play arsenic a subordinate of the Bruins and his archetypal play arsenic a moving back, making the power during the offseason aft spending astir of his assemblage vocation arsenic a receiver.

He had his archetypal acquisition arsenic a moving backmost astatine the extremity of the 2020 play erstwhile the team’s extent astatine the presumption became thin.

“I’m conscionable hoping to triumph immoderate games,” Fernea told reporters successful May astir coming backmost to contribute. “I haven’t got an accidental passim my 5 years to triumph excessively galore games truthful I deliberation that’s the goal.”