My family and I are heading to UCLA on October 17 for the Wisconsin game at the Rose Bowl, and I’m excited about it for a pretty simple reason: I get to watch offensive line up close.

I want to thank Coach Marshawn Friloux (@CoachMarshawn) and UCLA Offensive Line Coach and Run Game Coordinator Chris Smith (@Coach_Smith61) for the invitation. I posted about it on X when I got the news , and ever since then I’ve been thinking about what I actually want to pay attention to when I’m there.

I'm playing right tackle right now at Orange Lutheran, but I've also played guard and worked at center. I’m 6'2", 295 pounds, so I understand why people look at my build and immediately start thinking about the interior.

I do too.

But I also think playing tackle right now is helping me. There’s a lot of space out there. You can't hide your feet. If you overset, the inside opens. If you stop your feet when you punch, somebody can run through you. If your hands are late against speed, you find out really fast.

Those are the things I want to watch at UCLA.

That's probably how the whole night is going to go.

Coach Ward Made Me Watch Football Differently

A lot of the reason I watch offensive line this way now comes from my coach at Orange Lutheran, Coach Chris Ward (@ChrisWardOL) . He played offensive line at UCLA, so that makes this visit a little cooler for me too.

When I was younger, my grading system was basically this: if the defender was on the ground, good rep. Torta.

I still enjoy that part.

But now I'll finish a rep and Coach Ward can point out three things before I even get to the fun part. Maybe my first step was too wide. Maybe I opened my hips too early. Maybe my hand landed outside. Maybe I won because I'm strong, but the technique wasn't something I should repeat.

That's made film a lot less comfortable sometimes.

I can have a rep I feel good about, and then we slow it down and I see my base get narrow or my second step disappear. Then I have to sit there looking at it like, okay, yeah, he's right.

My freshman varsity film is a good example of where I started. I was playing inside more. This year, being at right tackle has forced me to deal with more space and different kinds of rushers.

My sophomore right tackle film against Junipero Serra shows some of that. There are reps where I have to stay attached, redirect, recover my hands and keep my balance instead of expecting everything to go perfectly from the snap.

That's probably the biggest difference in how I think about offensive line now. A bad first second doesn't automatically mean a bad rep. Sometimes you have to recover.

Why I Keep Looking at Riley Robell

The UCLA offensive lineman I keep coming back to is Riley Robell .

UCLA lists him at 6'2", 284 pounds. I'm 6'2", 295.

That's what caught my attention first.

I'm not saying we're the same player. That would be dumb. He's already playing college football, and I'm still a sophomore in high school. UCLA's bio says he made 11 starts at right guard for James Madison in 2025 and was named Second Team All-Sun Belt before coming to UCLA. He has real college reps.

What interests me is that he's a compact interior offensive lineman who has already played for Coach Smith.

So when I'm watching him, I'm not trying to copy a highlight. I'm looking at boring stuff most people probably wouldn't notice.

How wide is his base when a defensive tackle tries to walk him back? Where are his hands? How low are his pads? When he's part of a combo block, when does he leave the defensive lineman and climb to the linebacker?

I want to watch what happens when the defensive line starts moving too. Twists, games, late pressure, linebackers creeping into gaps. That's where you find out who is really seeing the whole front.

Coach Smith's background is part of why I'm interested in that. UCLA lists him as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator, and he was a four-year starting center at Holy Cross. That position makes you see the game differently because you're responsible for so much before the ball is even snapped.

I like that part of center.

Where I Think I Fit

If you asked me right now where I think my body and skill set fit long term, I'd say guard or center probably makes the most sense.

I'm not fighting that.

I'm also not in a hurry to stop developing at tackle.

Right tackle is teaching me things I want to carry inside later. Pass-set patience. Handling speed-to-power. Recovering when somebody beats my first hand. Protecting more space. Seeing an inside counter before I open the gate and give it away.

Inside, everything happens faster, but the space is tighter. That's where I think my build can work for me.

I'm built more like the refrigerator than the kitchen cabinet.

Gordito Blindado.

Being 6'2" means I can naturally get underneath some taller defensive linemen, but I still have to earn the leverage. If my knees are straight or my base is bad, being shorter doesn't magically save the rep.

I also have 10-inch hands, and I've always had a pretty heavy initial strike. But Coach Ward has made me understand that a hard punch doesn't mean much if my hands land outside or my feet stop.

Heavy hands with dead feet is still bad football.

Guard makes sense to me because I like working in tight spaces. I like staying attached after contact. I like being able to anchor and then re-fit when a defensive tackle starts fighting my hands.

Center interests me because there's more thinking involved.

You have to see the shade. See the linebacker. Understand whether you're working with the guard. Know where the pressure can come from. Snap the football. Then you still have to block somebody.

There's a lot going on in about two seconds.

That's fun to me.

That's also why Riley is a useful player for me to watch. UCLA has a 6'2" interior lineman playing in Coach Smith's room right now. I don't need to pretend that makes me Riley. I just want to study what works for a player built closer to me than a 6'6" tackle.

Coach Chesney Got My Attention Before the Visit

Coach Bob Chesney caught my attention before I ever had this UCLA visit planned.

He wanted to come to Orange Lutheran and meet with Coach Fent and our coaches. The original landing plan didn't work because of the airspace, but he still got there and talked with them.

That's the part I noticed.

My dad, of course, noticed something else.

That's my dad. Every transportation problem can be fixed by leaving before sunrise.

When Orange Lutheran played Servite on October 2, UCLA had coaches there evaluating while Coach Chesney was traveling to other games. I liked seeing that kind of involvement. He seems like somebody who wants to see players himself instead of only waiting for somebody to hand him a list.

I think about football teams almost like that sometimes. The head coach is picking who he wants around him, and the offensive line coach is trying to figure out which five guys can actually function together.

Five big bodies isn't automatically an offensive line.

Somebody has to see the pressure. Somebody has to make the call. Somebody has to come off the double team at the right time. If one guy sees something different, the play can get ugly fast.

What I'm Actually Going to Watch Against Wisconsin

When UCLA plays Wisconsin on October 17, I want to watch the interior offensive line first.

If the center gets a shade, I want to watch his first two steps. I want to see whether he gets his second foot in the ground before contact or reaches and gets stretched out.

On combos, I want to watch the timing. How long does the guard stay on the down lineman? When does the center know he has enough control for somebody to climb?

In pass protection, I'm probably going to watch their eyes more than their hands. If Wisconsin starts moving guys around before the snap, I want to see how UCLA sorts it out.

That's the stuff I'm interested in right now.

My dad will be watching something completely different.

He'll probably shake his head and keep eating.

It's Funny Thinking About Where Football Started for Me

I still think about my first practices in Mexico sometimes.

There was a point where I almost quit. My feet hurt so bad after practice that my dad stopped at OXXO for ice on the way home. We were driving about an hour each way from La Misión, and I remember thinking I didn't want to go back.

Coach Gil convinced me to return.

I wrote the whole story here: how I almost quit football in Mexico .

Now I'm getting ready to sit in the Rose Bowl and study UCLA's offensive line.

That's pretty crazy to me.

The football part still feels the same, though. You're trying to get your feet right. You're trying to get your hands right. You're trying not to repeat the rep you messed up yesterday.

My freshman season at Orange Lutheran gave me my first real varsity film. Later, the Los Angeles Times en Español wrote about my story , which was cool for my family because of the connection back to Ensenada.

I had recruiting opportunities before high school too, including my first Division I offer from Sacramento State .

But varsity film changed the way I look at recruiting.

Now there's film. Coaches can watch it. They can see what I do well and what still needs work.

That's better than me trying to explain it.

And Yes, Torta Power Is Still Torta Power

For anybody reading this because of UCLA who has no idea why I call myself Torta Power, the short version is simple.

Offensive linemen call it a pancake when you put somebody on the ground.

We're Mexican.

We call it a torta.

The nickname stuck.

There's a longer story behind it, including the corrido, and I wrote about that here: the story behind Torta Power .

Putting somebody on the ground is still fun.

But the older I get, the more I understand that the rep usually gets won before that part.

October 17

So that's my plan for UCLA.

Enjoy the game with my family. Meet people. Pay attention. Watch Coach Smith's line. Study Riley. Watch the center. Probably make my dad mad because I'm staring at a combo block while everybody else is celebrating a big play.

Then I'll go back to Orange Lutheran.

I already know how that conversation with Coach Ward will probably go.

I'll start telling him about something I saw at UCLA. Maybe a clean combo block or how the center handled a twist.

He'll pull up my film.

Pause it.

“Cool. Now fix your second step.”

And we're back.

Puro Torta Power.