It’s funny how college football turns role players into unlikely heroes. Not just on the field, but off it too. Bruins TE Hudson Habermehl entered with a lunch box and a laugh that summed up the Bruins’ chaotic but inspired turnaround. Because when Jerry Neuheisel got his big break calling plays for UCLA, he was so buried in schemes that he forgot to eat. Quite literally!

“Hey, can you please bring food up to Jerry? He hasn’t eaten all day.” Habermehl said Jerry Neuheisel’s wife, Nicole, asked him to do it. Ever the loyal soldier, like Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge, he didn’t hesitate. “So I go in that staff room and they’re scheming up plays and I would just joke, ‘Here’s your Uber Eats.’” he recounted.

That delivery was unvarnished and a figurative fuel for UCLA’s rebirth. It simply portrays the stretch for the Bruins in recent times – a complete rebirth.

For years, Jerry Neuheisel sat in the shadows, the son of former UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel, a legacy name with plenty of pressure but few chances. When his number was finally called, the moment he stepped into the play-caller’s chair, it was as if decades of family football DNA kicked in.

“Jerry, he’s been waiting for this opportunity for a while,” Hudson Habermehl said. “It’s kind of a weird timing, and weird situation for him to get the opportunity, but he’s ran with it.” That’s putting it mildly. Jerry Neuheisel’s approach has been part genius, part nostalgia. Players say he tells stories about his dad quizzing him as a kid on fourth-down calls and coverage reads.

Against Penn State and Michigan State, he aced them. The Bruins have piled up 1004 rushing yards in six games and are within touching distance of the entire rushing yards of 1039 last season. QB Nico Iamaleava has gone from media punchline to Westwood’s new golden boy, showing poise, pace, and precision that UCLA fans have been begging to see. Are the Bruins rising in the post-Foster era?

UCLA Bruins back in the fast lane via Jerry Neuheisel

When DeShaun Foster received the sack after a string of lifeless performances, including a blowout at Utah and a disaster against UNLV, UCLA football looked like it was circling down the drain. Then came interim coach Tim Skipper, who steadied the ship. Since that narrow loss to Northwestern, they have looked like a team possessed. 

UCLA shocked Penn State 42-37 at the Rose Bowl and steamrolled Michigan State 38-13 in East Lansing. Suddenly, a program that looked cooked averages 40 points per game in its last two outings. In fact, Jerry Neuheisel’s fingerprints are all over it. The Bruins (2-4 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) still have a mountain to climb with games ahead against Maryland, Indiana, Nebraska, and powerhouses like Ohio State and USC. 

But after weeks of doubt and disarray, Jerry Neuheisel and Tim Skipper lit a spark that spread fast. So when Hudson Habermehl jokes about being Jerry’s “Uber Eats guy,” it’s more than just a laugh. It’s a metaphor for a team rediscovering its hunger, and this time, it’s not just the coach who’s eating.