UCLA Football: Deon Hollins Primed to Be Bruins' Next Breakout Linebacker Star

UCLA football has been home to plenty of standout linebackers over the years, including the recent trio of Eric Kendricks, Myles Jack and Anthony Barr. In 2015, get ready to add Deon Hollins to the list of standout Bruins linebackers. 

Who could be the next Barr? That was one of the burning questions facing UCLA football a year ago at this time. 

Hollins heads into UCLA's 2015 offseason poised to be the sack machine that Barr was for the Bruins in 2012 and 2013, coming off a three-sack night in the Alamo Bowl win over Kansas State. 

His huge outing in the final game was the perfect culmination to the trajectory Hollins rode throughout his sophomore campaign.

Each week was another positive step in the season-long upswing that has Hollins looking like one of the Pac-12's best defensive playmakers for 2015. 

Put simply: "He was our most improved defensive player this year," head coach Jim Mora said in his Alamo Bowl press conference, via ASAP Sports. 

Opponent	Tackles	Tackles For Loss	Sacks	QB Hurries
Virginia	3	-	-	-
Memphis	1	-	-	-
Texas	2	1	1	2
Arizona State	4	1	1	-
Utah	4	1	1	-
Oregon	2	-	-	-
Cal	2	-	-	-
Colorado	1	-	-	-
Arizona	2	1	-	-
Washington	2	2	2	-
USC	4	1	1	-
Stanford	-	-	-	-
Kansas State	4	3	3	2

The void Barr left and Hollins helped fill was glaring early in the season. Though the Bruins' front seven did an adequate job generating pressure on opposing quarterbacks, UCLA managed just four sacks through the season's first month. 

It was a considerable drop-off for a defense that produced 31 sacks in 2013 and 46 in 2012. 

But as the year went on, Hollins made his own adjustments. His play at linebacker sometimes resembled more a defensive lineman's role, as he put his hand down on the turf when the situation called for it. 

"I really have the freedom to stand up or get down," Hollins said in late October. "I just feel like I have a little more exposure when I get down."

Hollins went to the four-point stance on many straight blitzes but did not abandon the upright technique.

"I can stand up," he said, and his ability to do so served him well in containment of zone-read offenses. "From a technical [standpoint]…when you’re standing up, playing in space more; [it's] not freelance, but that’s kind of your mindset. You have a freelance technique."

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Whether keeping a hand on the ground or freelancing, Hollins broke out in the second half of the season. Seven of his 10 tackles for loss came in the final month as well as six of his team-high nine sacks. 

And as he improved, so too did the overall pressure for the Bruins. They finished 2014 with a healthy 29 combined sacks, just two off the 2013 pace with Barr in the lineup. 

It took some adjustment for UCLA to find its groove, both without its star and with a first-year defensive coordinator, Jeff Ulbrich.

There was an initial feeling-out period that paid off down the stretch. 

"Coach Brick did an excellent job mixing up the calls…[Opposing offenses] don’t know where the pressure’s coming from," Hollins said late in the season.

Hollins described a defense that sounded quite a bit like a shark. 

"We smell blood," he said following UCLA's win over Arizona. 

Fitting phrasing indeed, especially for Hollins' own individual style, which is oftentimes frenzied. Plenty of blockers learned firsthand of Hollins' tenacity. 

And that same spirit is what made Hollins such an integral part of the UCLA defense. 

As Barr pursued an eventual first-round selection in last year's draft, Hollins was something of an afterthought in the competition for Barr's starting outside linebacker job. 

He played sparingly in 2013. And, at 6'0", 225 pounds, he lacked the size of teammate Kenny Orjioke, who at 6'4", 238 pounds, is closer in stature to Barr (6'5", 255 pounds). 

But Hollins has excelled through a quality without measurement, which Jack described after the Alamo Bowl via ASAP Sports.

"His level of determination," Jack said. "This year, he really put it all together."

Next year, Hollins will take it to another level on his road to becoming the next in UCLA's lineage of star linebackers.

Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise cited. Statistics courtesy of CFBStats.com.