Sports
From zero stars to leading Big Ten in tackles: The rise of UCLA's Carson Schwesinger
Often it’s his awareness in the seconds before the snap that has turned Carson Schwesinger from zero-star prospect to hero of the UCLA defense.
Scanning the players across the line of scrimmage, he examines body positioning and mannerisms that can provide a tipoff.
Does the offensive tackle place both hands on his thighs? It’s probably going to be a pass.
Does the quarterback lick his hands? He’s probably going to throw the ball.
UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger tackles Penn State quarterback Beau Pribula while defensive back Bryan Addison runs forward on Oct. 5 at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pa.
(Gregory Fisher / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Does the running back stand a certain way? He’s probably going to take a handoff.
Down and distance enhance the likelihood of one play call over another. Schwesinger runs through the possibilities in his mind. Then he runs to where he thinks the play is going to develop.
“Once the play starts,” Schwesinger said, “you really only have one or two play options that are possible and then you react based off those.”
His instincts are usually right.
In the first five starts of his career, the redshirt junior linebacker has led the Bruins with double-digits tackles each game. Twelve against Louisiana State. Thirteen against Oregon. Fifteen against Penn State. Thirteen against Minnesota. Ten against Rutgers.
“He’s a heat-seeking missile,” fellow Bruins linebacker Kain Medrano said, “just going in there and causing havoc in any way he can.”
Along the way, the former walk-on has emerged as the Big Ten leader with 6.4 solo tackles per game as the Bruins (2-5 overall, 1-4 Big Ten) prepare to face Nebraska (5-3, 2-3) on Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. He’s also the first UCLA player to log double figures in tackles in five consecutive games since current Dallas Cowboys veteran Eric Kendricks did so in 2014 on the way to winning the Butkus Award that goes to the nation’s top college linebacker.
His unlikely rise, combined with a perfectionist approach and wholesome demeanor, prompted one teammate to call him “Captain America.” Another went with “Sunshine,” a nod to the similarly blond-haired hero of “Remember the Titans.”
“He’s just one of those guys who does everything right, who does everything for the team,” said UCLA safety Bryan Addison, who came up with the “Captain America” nickname, “and then he comes out here on Saturdays and plays even better.”
It’s what Schwesinger does on every other day of the week that impresses most. Showing up at practice with the attitude that he must prove himself anew every time he steps on the field, Schwesinger reintroduces himself to teammates with another highlight play.
“In his mind, he starts from ground zero every single day,” said defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe, who has made Schwesinger the centerpiece of his scheme. “That’s a skill set that’s very rare and he understands that the way he made it through this path, it ain’t from taking a day off.”
Maybe that’s the only way to go about things when you’ve been forced to prove yourself from the start.
The brothers had long goofed around playing football in the backyard, even devising creative games while bouncing on the trampoline.
Now it was time for the younger sibling to get serious.
His brother Ethan already enrolled in a flag football league where the minimum age requirement was 6, Carson was only 5. At least that’s what it said on his birth certificate.
Carson Schwesinger, left, stands beside his older brother, Ethan, during a youth football game.
(Courtesy of Schwesinger family)
Representing the younger son as a year older than he was so that boys could play together meant that Dennis Schwesinger would get to coach them simultaneously.
“I don’t know if this is OK to say or not,” Dennis said with a laugh, “but we weren’t altering his birth certificate to make him younger, we were making him older.”
Carson continued playing with older kids even when he progressed to tackle, no one ever questioning his size or toughness. As he moved from linebacker to defensive end to guard to running back to safety, his father’s words always reverberated in his head.
“You’ve got to get in there and outwork them, outthink them, outperform them,” Dennis had told his son, “until there’s no doubt in anybody’s mind that you should be in there.”
By the time he arrived at Oaks Christian High after a year at Santa Clarita Christian, Schwesinger was almost impossible to keep off the field. He played both ways, starring at safety and slot receiver. He also tended to play hurt, forcing coach Charles Collins to keep a watchful eye on whether the gutsy guy was trying to hide an injury.
Whenever he wasn’t practicing or playing, Schwesinger could often be found immersing himself in another film session.
“He’s what I call a football junkie,” Collins said. “He loves ball — not just football but he the loves the actual part of scheme, so that comes from film study and understanding scheme and anticipation. Being on the other side of the ball, he has a unique advantage because he understands splits, spacing and down and distance and those type of things, which takes him to the play.”
Carson Schwesinger, left, and his older brother, Ethan, pose for a photo on a football field.
(Courtesy of Schwesinger family))
While Schwesinger was indispensable for his high school team, some bad timing limited his college opportunities. His senior year came during the COVID-19 pandemic. College coaches weren’t exactly flocking to campus.
When Chip Kelly, then UCLA’s coach, inquired about linebacker Ethan Calvert, Collins told him to consider Schwesinger. Eventually, Calvert went to Utah and Schwesinger became a Bruin as a walk-on after his only other offer — to a school he can’t remember today — would have required him to pay more in tuition.
“Sure enough it ended up happening that Chip brought him in there,” Collins said, “and right away he saw exactly what I was talking about.”
First impressions were made far away from the spot where he stars today.
As a member of the scout team for special teams, Schwesinger kept making plays.
“He was blocking kicks [in practice] and it was kind of like, what is he doing on the other side?” said Malloe, then the Bruins special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach. “I should bring him on my side instead of him embarrassing my special teams.”
Working in the shadows, Schwesinger felt encouragement when strength and conditioning coach Keith Belton learned his name and kept tabs on how he was doing. He was also championed by Malloe, who made a similar rise from walk-on to starting safety and linebacker on a Washington team that won a share of the Pac-10 title in 1995.
After never playing as a freshman, Schwesinger had dazzled enough in practice to earn a promotion before his redshirt freshman season in 2022. Near the end of fall training camp, Schwesinger was one of six players whom Kelly called in front of the team before making an announcement.
UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger (49) pressures LSU quarterback Max Johnson at the Rose Bowl on Sept. 1, 2021.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
They were now on scholarship.
In addition to the excitement he felt, Schwesinger also realized the importance of doubling down on his determination.
“When it’s a goal that you’ve worked for and it finally gets there,” he said, “you feel a sense of accomplishment, but also I wanted to keep going.”
Schwesinger appeared in every game in 2022 as a reserve linebacker and on special teams, making a combined 15 tackles. Last season, he reprised that role, making two tackles for loss among his 12 tackles.
A year later, he’s matched or exceeded his 2023 season tackle total in four different games. His ability to predict the play has led to the exponential rise in production given that Malloe said “60% to 70% of the game is won presnap.”
Schwesinger’s special talent is equaled by his capacity to make the tackle once he meets the ballcarrier. This requires knowing the player’s moves — will he try to run him over, spin around him or beat him with a burst of speed?
“He understands not just the fundamentals that we work on,” Malloe said, “but how it applies to a particular guy.”
Malloe’s scheme revolves around his 6-foot-2, 225-pound playmaker, the defensive coordinator doing his best to funnel plays to wherever Schwesinger is on the field. That trust, Schwesinger said, has allowed him to play freer and faster. It also has also helped make the most plays on the team, including two sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss.
“You just kind of get out of his way,” Malloe said. “If you let him be him, then we’re really, really good.”
One of the few times Schwesinger didn’t make the play this season, allowing Minnesota’s Darius Taylor to leak out of the backfield for a last-minute touchdown catch to give the Golden Gophers a victory at the Rose Bowl, Malloe apologized to the linebacker. Malloe said it was his play call that doomed the Bruins.
At the next practice, Schwesinger wanted to work on correcting the play so that it wouldn’t happen again.
“That’s the part that people don’t see — how intense he is toward being perfect,” Malloe said. “He understands that he won’t [be] but the intensity level and how much he studies film, to me he practices like a professional.”
Schwesinger’s film studies are rivaled only by his dedication to his bioengineering major. While most of his teammates slept, watched movies or chatted on the five-hour flight back from Rutgers, Schwesinger allowed himself a brief respite to finish watching “The Hangover” before shifting to homework in preparation for a midterm.
If a career in pro football doesn’t work out, Schwesinger said, he might develop the next generation of wearable electronics in sports. Maybe he could even create something to help others develop his instincts before a play.
In the meantime, he’ll continue working to remain a central part of UCLA’s defense, even if it may seem as if there’s no displacing him now.
“It doesn’t matter how good you think you are,” Schwesinger said, “you’ve got to make sure that everybody else thinks you’re that good to where they have to put you in.”
Sports
Olympic legend Kaillie Humphries signs with activist sportswear brand XX-XY Athletics amid political rise
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The most accomplished Olympic women’s bobsledder in history is now an official brand ambassador in the movement to “save women’s sports”.
Olympic bobsled legend Kaillie Humphries has signed with the activist sportswear company XX-XY Athletics, becoming the latest medal-winning Olympian to represent the brand.
“Being able to partner with a brand that believes in the same things I do, that’s willing to stand up and actively work on protecting the women’s space and women’s sports is huge,” Humphries told Fox News Digital.
Humphries first spoke out about her support for protecting women’s sports from biological male trans athletes in a Fox News Interview that went viral after the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February.
Humphries had just returned after winning bronze in women’s bobsled, marking her sixth career Olympic medal. She later revealed that she received backlash for coming out as a Republican with other conservative stances in that interview, but didn’t back down.
Humphries went on to be honored at a White House Women’s History Month event by President Donald Trump in March, and gave her Order of Ikkos medal to Trump, citing his actions to protect women’s sports.
“Being able to come back to the USA after the Olympics and then be able to make connections and meet some people, I was able to, when I went to the White House, I was able to meet people that were connected obviously in working with XX-XY and that’s how the conversation started,” Humphries said.
Humphries, who is originally from Canada and competed in her first three Olympics for Canada, moved to the U.S. in 2016 and then competed for Team USA at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
FEMALE ATHLETES ANXIOUSLY AWAIT SUPREME COURT DECISION TO TAKE UP TRANSGENDER PARTICIPATION IN WOMEN’S SPORTS
Kaillie Humphries, U.S. Olympic bronze medalist bobsled athlete, presents the Order of Ikkos to President Donald Trump during a Women’s History Month event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 12, 2026. (Al Drago/Bloomberg)
Just months after that, America was rocked by the news that male transgender swimmer Lia Thomas was winning championships for UPenn’s women’s swim team.
Humphries, who was following the story in the news, found it startling.
Now, as a California resident and the mother of a newborn son, she is energized to help combat the wave of trans athletes in girls’ sports in the state, as California has become the nation’s biggest hotbed for the issue.
XX-XY Athletics co-founder and former U.S. gymnast Jennifer previously told Fox News Digital one of her biggest goals for the brand was to land high-profile superstar women’s athletes as brand ambassadors, especially Olympic medalists.
Now, with Humphries, the brand has a three-time Olympic gold medalist and six-time Olympic podium finisher across her stints for Canada and the U.S.
Humphries joins Olympic silver medalist gymnast MyKayla Skinner and gold medal swimmer Nancy Hogshead on XX-XY Athletics’ growing roster of Olympians.
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USA’s Kaillie Humphries holds a USA flag after winning bronze in the bobsleigh women’s monobob heat 4 at Cortina Sliding Centre during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Feb. 16, 2026. (Marco Bertorello/AFP)
“Kaillie is the GOAT of her sport. She is the only Olympian to win gold for two different countries. She is an elite athlete and a courageous, fierce woman who has fought for female athletes to have equal opportunities in sport.” Sey told Fox News Digital.
“The women’s monobob event exists because of Kaillie’s leadership, and she has gold-medal proof that women have the skill, strength, and speed to compete at the highest level. She has driven meaningful change and expanded opportunities for women at the Olympic level — more female athletes represent Team USA because of Kaillie. And that’s exactly why we’re leading with her as we grow in how we support female athletes.”
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Sports
Cancer left him blind. When his son was diagnosed, ex-USC long snapper found Trojans had his back again
Former USC long snapper Jake Olson made college football history at the Coliseum in September 2017 as the first completely blind player to compete in a Division I college football game.
Eight years later, his not-quite-8-month-old son was having the time of his life crawling around on the same field.
The significance of the moment was not lost on Olson.
Rowan Olson plays with a football Sept. 5 on the field at the Coliseum.
(Courtesy of the Olson family)
“Watching Rowan crawl around out there on that grass, in that stadium that shaped so much of my story, was emotional in a way I didn’t expect,” Olson told The Times during a series of interviews over the phone and via email. “It felt like a full-circle blessing.”
It wasn’t the only blessing Olson, his wife, Audrey, and their son experienced during that trip to Los Angeles in September.
“We were actually out there for Rowan’s first checkup after finishing his last round of systemic chemo,” Olson said, “so the whole trip already carried this sense of celebration and relief.”
Rowan was born Jan. 17, 2025, with bilateral retinoblastoma, the same rare childhood cancer that had caused his father to lose both of his eyes by age 12. Since his diagnosis at 6 days old, Rowan has made monthly trips with his parents from their home in Jacksonville, Fla., to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the same place his father had been treated decades earlier while growing up in Huntington Beach.
During those hospital visits, Rowan underwent systemic and intravitreal chemotherapy and laser treatments designed to shrink the cancerous tumors in each of his eyes, stop the cancer from spreading and preserve his vision.
After six months of treatment, the tumors had become small enough that the systemic chemotherapy could stop. And now, according to Dr. Jesse Berry, chief of ophthalmology and director of the retinoblastoma program at CHLA, the laser treatment and injections into Rowan’s eyes are no longer needed as well.
“I think right now he is cancer-free,” Berry said. “We have no evidence that he has active cancer anywhere in his body, but he’s a kiddo that we will always watch closely.”
Rowan celebrates his first birthday in January. His doctor says he has “excellent vision” after months of chemotherapy.
(Courtesy of the Olson family)
The monthly visits to CHLA will eventually be spaced out, but Rowan will have to be monitored the rest of his life in case the cancer returns.
“There’s always a chance that small tumors pop up here and there over the next couple of years, which is normal for retinoblastoma. That’s why constant monitoring is so important,” Olson said. “As long as we stay on top of it, any tiny spot that appears can be lasered immediately and taken care of.”
Unlike Rowan, Olson was not diagnosed until he was 8 months old. His left eye was removed two months later, while the remaining cancer was treated with systemic chemotherapy. Olson was 12 when doctors decided his right eye needed to be removed.
“Retinoblastoma is very treatable — you know, you catch it early, it’s very treatable,” Olson said.
“I just don’t want [Rowan] to have a 12-year battle with this. Dr. Berry made that very clear up front that his situation is a lot different than mine, that we’re going to knock these things out, and he’s going to grow up with sight in both eyes and really never probably remember a lot of it.”
According to Berry, Rowan has “excellent vision.”
Olson’s ophthalmologist at CHLA was the late Dr. A. Linn Murphree, a pioneer in ocular oncology who later served as Berry’s mentor.
After Rowan was diagnosed, the Olsons didn’t hesitate in choosing a hospital more than 2,400 miles from home for their son’s treatment, both because of its reputation as a leading retinoblastoma center and because of the special care Olson received there throughout his childhood.
Dr. Jesse Berry holds Rowan Olson while standing between the newborn’s parents, Audrey and Jake, in early 2025.
(Courtesy of the Olson family)
“I texted [Berry] — at what was 6:30 in the morning her time — and she responded within two minutes, encouraging us and confidently telling us that she will take the best care of Rowan,” Olson said. “That’s just a glimpse into who she is and the culture Dr. Murphree built.”
At the time, Berry was dealing with hardship of her own. She and her family had just lost their Altadena home in the Eaton fire and were considering leaving the Los Angeles area to rebuild their lives. She said a call from Olson about his newborn son helped her decide to stay.
“Jake called and said, ‘I just had a baby, and I’m sitting in a doctor’s office and they think he has RB, and I want to come see you.’ And that was the same week as the fire,” Berry said. “And so I said, ‘OK, we’ll see you next week.’ He and his family were a real anchor to keeping us set in L.A. and really focused on the greater mission.”
Once back at CHLA, Olson experienced an intense feeling of deja vu.
“We walked into the same waiting room I used to sit in, the same exam rooms, hearing the same vocabulary I hadn’t heard in years. It was like being thrown straight into the deep end of my past,” Olson said.
“The hardest moment was going to the part of the hospital where my last surgery — the one that took my eyesight — took place. Even though I couldn’t see it, my body remembered. I had to fight back panic I didn’t even know I was capable of feeling. But I had to stay steady for Audrey and for Rowan. That was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
But the location of the monthly treatments came with an extra benefit.
“When we found out that [Rowan] had this tumor, we immediately flew out to California and were surrounded by Jake’s family, who had gone through this and had the experience, the wisdom and knowledge around the disease,” Audrey Olson said.
Audrey, Jake and Rowan Olson take a family selfie after a long travel day from Florida to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in May.
(Courtesy of the Olson family)
“So I really leaned on the support of the family we were surrounded by. And then I also just leaned on Jake, who I know lived a major life after losing his sight and battling his cancer. We definitely leaned on each other a ton and could not have done it without each other.”
USC football has been a major part of Olson’s life since childhood. Upon learning he would be losing his eyesight, Olson became determined to watch as much of the Trojans as he could before his surgery. Then-coach Pete Carroll heard about Olson and allowed him to hang out with the team in meetings, in the locker room and on the sideline. His last day with sight was spent at a USC practice.
It wouldn’t be Olson’s last time in that environment. Not even close. After years of learning the techniques of a long snapper, Olson earned a first-string spot at the position for Orange Lutheran and joined the Trojans in 2015 as a walk-on player.
Two years later, on Sept. 2, 2017, then-coach Clay Helton called on the 20-year-old long snapper for an extra-point attempt following a USC touchdown against Western Michigan. Olson’s snap, as described by The Times’ Bill Plaschke at the time, was “perfect” and the kick was good, sealing a 49-31 Trojans victory.
USC long snapper Jake Olson conducts the marching band after the Trojans’ 49-31 win over Western Michigan on Sept. 2, 2017, at the Coliseum.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
“You just never know what’s going to come from adversity and from situations, like the miracles that can come from what we think are tragedies. And that miracle for me was playing football at SC,” said Olson, who played in a total of three games during his time with the Trojans. “Honestly, I don’t know if I ever would have done that if I kept my eyesight or never had cancer. So for me, being able to play at that school was a pinnacle of everything I’d gone through that had led me there.
“I don’t know what Rowan’s pinnacle is going to be, but there’s going to be miracles that come from this. … There’s a level of excitement to that, just hope and knowing there’s going to be something special that comes from this. For me, it was playing at USC, and I think that’s just indisputable evidence of that. And we’ll see what that is for Rowan.”
As news broke about Rowan’s recovery in recent weeks, Olson said he received a text from current USC coach Lincoln Riley.
“He sent a really, really special message that just let us know he’s praying for us,” Olson said. “Trojan football has helped me get through so much in life. It did last year, is going to this year and for every year to come. And if, Lord willing, Rowan will one day wear that helmet too.”
Former USC long snapper Jake Olson holds son Rowan on the football field at the Coliseum on Sept. 5, 2025.
(Courtesy of the Olson family)
During his family’s visit to the Coliseum last fall, Olson introduced his wife and son to Helton, now the head coach at Georgia Southern, whose team was practicing ahead of its game against the Trojans the next day.
“That alone felt special,” Olson said of meeting up with the coach who had helped change his life. “But then, we were able to walk out onto the exact yard line where I snapped from.
“Standing there with my wife and son, on the very spot where I had shown so much resilience myself, felt like seeing the fruits of ‘Fight On’ in real time. It acted as a reminder and encouragement for why I was still fighting on now through this new cancer journey. It was surreal and sacred at the same time.
“If it weren’t for the Coliseum and USC football, I genuinely don’t know if Audrey or Rowan would be in my life. And if it weren’t for me learning how to fight on through all that it took in order to get to that 3-yard line, I don’t know how I would be fighting on as a father or a husband now. So to have both of them there, on that field, taking it all in for the first time, it meant the world.”
The Cleveland Browns, rumored to be willing to trade down from their No. 6 overall selection in the 2026 NFL draft, did just that Thursday evening when the traded the pick to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Cleveland traded the sixth overall pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft to the Chiefs, in exchange for the ninth overall pick, as well as pick No. 74 in the third round and No. 148 in the fifth round.
The Browns now hold the No. 9 and No. 24 picks in the first round of the draft. They have a total of 11 picks in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Quarterbacks Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns watch from the sidelines during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, Ohio, on Sept. 7, 2025. (Jason Miller/Getty Images)
So the Chiefs gave up three picks in making the first trade of the first round.
BROWNS EXECS RAISE EYEBROWS WITH REACTIONS AFTER DRAFTING SHEDEUR SANDERS FOLLOWING HISTORIC SLIDE
And we know what the fan bases of both clubs were thinking prior to the selection:
Chiefs fans were thinking we know something they don’t. And then the Chiefs selected cornerback Mansoor Delane from LSU — a move no doubt forced by the club’s trade of Pro Bowl cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams earlier in the offseason.
So, the Chiefs fill a major need, assuming Delane is indeed the quality corner they believe.
LSU Tigers CB Mansoor Delane celebrates a defensive stop against the Clemson Tigers at Memorial Stadium in South Carolina. (Ken Ruinard/USA TODAY Network)
GREG OLSEN’S ADVICE FOR NFL DRAFT FIRST-ROUND PICKS ON HANDLING HIGH EXPECTATIONS
ESPN’s Mel Kiper didn’t like the pick, by the way. He had Delane as the 14th best player in the draft.
“It was a necessity,” ESPN analyst Louis Riddick, a former NFL defensive back, responded.
Browns fans weren’t thinking that way.
BROWNS MAKE STUNNING KENNY PICKETT TRADE TO RAIDERS AS BACKUP QUARTERBACK ROLE REMAINS WIDE OPEN
They were probably thinking something akin to “We screwed up.”
This is understandable because they’re Browns fans and this could have been the Browns Browning.
Well, the Browns, moving down three slots, gave up a shot to draft linebacker Sonny Styles of Ohio State to the Washington Commanders, receiver Jordyn Tyson to the New Orleans Saints and then the Browns got their chance with the newly acquired No. 9 pick:
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Offensive tackle Spencer Fano of Utah.
Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry speaks at the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Ind., on Feb. 24, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
Fano is good. And he makes the Browns offensive line instantly better because he’s going to likely start at left tackle for them.
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So what will Browns fans think of this pick?
They’ll probably wonder why the Browns didn’t pick Miami’s Francis Mauigoa, who went with the No. 10 pick to the New York Giants and promised “to die for” Jaxson Dart if necessary. They’ll wonder this because Browns fans expect the worst.
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