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There was a time when Carson Schwesinger had zero stars, zero college scholarship offers, seemingly zero hope to amount to much in football.
His high school coach pitched UCLA counterpart Chip Kelly on taking Schwesinger as a consolation prize after the Bruins lost out on fellow Oaks Christian linebacker Ethan Calvert, who was headed to Utah.
“I went up to coach Kelly and I said, ‘You might want to consider this kid Carson Schwesinger as a walk-on — he’s a poor man’s Ethan Calvert,’” Charles Collins told The Times last fall. “And what I meant by that was, he didn’t have all the hype but he was a football junkie, he had a passion for the game.”
Over the next few years, that passion propelled Schwesinger from walk-on to scholarship player to the Big Ten Conference’s leading tackler and a finalist for the Butkus Award that goes to the nation’s top college linebacker.
UCLA coach DeShaun Foster says everyone competes for their jobs every year, so it was natural for the Bruins to sign talented transfer Nico Iamaleava.
On Friday it made the Bruins’ standout a second-round pick of the Cleveland Browns at No. 33 overall, the first player from UCLA or USC selected in the NFL draft.
Schwesinger’s rise was rooted in something his father, Dennis, once told him.
“It doesn’t matter how good you think you are,” Carson said last season, repeating the message, “you’ve got to make sure that everybody else thinks you’re that good to where they have to put you in.”
That mantra drove him to block so many kicks as a member of UCLA’s scout team that Ikaika Malloe, then the Bruins’ special teams coordinator, promoted him to all four special teams units. Schwesinger earned a scholarship before the 2022 season and became a part of the rotation at linebacker for the next two seasons.
His full potential wasn’t unleashed until the third game of last season, when he became a starter as part of a lineup change that involved moving fellow linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo to edge rusher. Schwesinger went on to lead the Big Ten with 136 tackles, logging double digits in nine games. His 90 solo tackles were the most by a Big Ten player in more than two decades, leaving his coaches in awe.
“He’s beating running backs to the holes at times,” Malloe said, “or what looks like he’s slipping blocks, he’s actually moving one block over from the guy that’s supposed to get him, so his instincts are really, really good.”
Oladejo’s position switch not only helped the Bruins but also boosted his NFL stock, which enticed the Tennessee Titans to draft him in the second round with the No. 52 pick overall. The hope is that he can be the same kind of disruptive force that he was for UCLA last season, when he made a team-leading 13½ tackles for loss, 4½ sacks and had six quarterback hurries.
If it seemed like Schwesinger knew what the offense was going to do before the snap, it’s because he often did; his ability to diagnose presnap movement and tendencies helped him know where to go to make the play. Having previously played running back, wide receiver, offensive line, defensive line and safety meant that he knew what almost everyone else on the field was trying to do.
“I played a lot of running back in youth ball,” Schwesinger said, “so you just kind of end up getting a feel for where the backs are going to go.”
In his first season as UCLA’s defensive coordinator, Malloe designed his scheme so that plays would be funneled toward his top playmaker.
UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger, a former walk on, has never stopped working to prove himself. That focus has made him a force for the Bruins.
“It’s kind of funny to me,” Malloe said during the season, “because as the special teams coordinator he was the focus of the special teams and now as the defensive coordinator he’s the focus of the defense.”
Making the big time never prompted Schwesinger to big-time anyone because of a humble, hard-working nature that led teammate Bryan Addison to call him “Captain America.”
“He thinks of every rep at practice as the reason why he’s successful in the game,” Malloe said, “and I think his mindset, the fact that he wants to do that, is the reason he’s so successful in this game.”
On Friday, Schwesinger’s journey took another storybook turn.
“When you look at Carson’s story,” Collins said, “it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish. You know, you don’t have to be a five-star, you don’t have to be the guy that’s in lights. Hard work, it does pay off, and character pays off even more, so I think he’s a testament to hard work, faith and determination and character.”
UCLA’s Kain Medrano, a converted wide receiver who went on to star at linebacker in his six seasons with the Bruins, was selected in the sixth round by the Washington Commanders. Medrano was a strong complement to Schwesinger last season, making 72 tackles — including 11 for loss — to go with two interceptions and three forced fumbles.
Defensive tackle Jay Toia, another centerpiece of UCLA’s defense, was selected by the Dallas Cowboys with the first pick of the seventh round (217). Toia’s 25 tackles and two tackles for loss did not tell the story of a player who often commanded double and triple teams, allowing his teammates to make plays for a defense that ranked sixth nationally in rushing yards given up per game.
Continuing UCLA’s tradition of top-flight tight ends that goes back to Marcedes Lewis being taken in the first round of the 2006 draft, Moliki Matavao was picked by the New Orleans Saints in the seventh round (248). At 6 feet 6 and 263 pounds, Matavao combines good size and speed with an ability to shed defenders, helping him make 41 catches for 506 yards and two touchdowns last season.
Cornerback Jaylin Smith became the first USC player drafted when the Houston Texans took him in the third round at 97th overall. A four-star recruit out of Bishop Alemany, Smith recorded 59 tackles and two interceptions in 10 starts last season to earn third team All-Big Ten honors.
Smith will have a USC teammate joining him in Houston. Woody Marks was selected by the Texans in the fourth round at No. 116. Marks became the first Trojans player to rush for 1,000 yards since Ronald Jones II in 2017 after finishing the season with 1,133 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground.
USC offensive lineman Jonah Monheim also was drafted, going to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the seventh round (221), after a season in which he earned third-team All-Big Ten honors following a move to center.
