LOS ANGELES >> The UCLA football team emerged on Wednesday morning in full pads for the first time in fall camp as the summer heat tightens its grip on Southern California.

“It brings out a mindset that you’re gonna have to have during the season,” linebacker Kain Medrano said. “We’re gonna play at 11:00 in the Rose Bowl. It’s gonna be hot out there.”

The August crucible is affecting the linebackers, especially. Inside linebackers coach Ken Norton and defensive coordinator Bill McGovern are new additions to this season’s fall camp and both bring NFL experience and a hard-nosed style.

“You see him yelling at us out there. He’s hard on us,” Darius Muasau said of Norton, a UCLA alumnus. “He’s the old-school coach, he’s been here, played here, been in the league, coached in the league. We’re loving every second of him.”

Muasau is in his first fall camp with the Bruins as well after transferring from the University of Hawaii. He left the Rainbow Warriors as the team’s leading tackler in 2021 with 109 total tackles (64 solo tackles and 14 for a loss).

The senior balances the ferocity of camp’s daily physical regimen with film. After three to four hours of film with the team, he unlocks his iPad and starts watching even more on his own.

“Just things I can get better at and just not in our own film, but also like NFL film as well,” Muasau said. “I’m picking out specific things that they do in the league that I can implement to my own game.”

Although he spends a lot of time focusing on his own game, Muasau said there’s a deep connection among the linebackers. They’re always texting each other and, of course, Muasau said he’s always willing to spend extra time on film with a less experienced teammate.

“But it’s not that I know everything. I’m still learning myself,” he said. “So I’m just learning, teaching them what I know already.”

On the sweltering field, new coaches like McGovern are imposing and vocal as each linebacker finds his role in camp.

“Whether it’s raining, snowing, hot, whatever it is, we just got to come out with the same mindset of we’re just out here to work and we’re just out here to get 1% better every day,” Medrano said.