LOS ANGELES — UCLA center Riley Robell’s aura is felt whenever he steps into any room at Westwood or the multiple wrestling mats he frequented growing up near the Pennsylvania state capital of Harrisburg.

“It’s at ease and it’s we are going to step on these guys’ necks,” UCLA offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy said. “Every single play we are going to kick their (butt).”

Being the tone setter has been the modus operandi since Robell began playing sports as a 6-year-old when his father Frank put him in wrestling and he embarked on a journey that would allow him to become of the greatest multi-sport athletes Pennsylvania has ever produced.

Robell was a two-time state champion wrestler at 285 pounds and led Bishop McDevitt High to a 41-18 victory over Aliquippa in the PIAA Class 4A state championship football game in 2022. Robell was the difference-maker on the defensive line on a night when temperatures dipped to 32 degrees, recording seven tackles, including 3½ tackles for loss, and forcing two fumbles.

Longtime friend and youth football coach Don Dinello, who is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, recalled the night that became Robell’s pivot into local football stardom.

“Anyone you talk to from Aliquippa about the game and they’ll tell you Riley single-handedly led them,” Dinello recalled. “He wrecked their offensive line. In Western PA, everyone that follows Alquippa will know what you’re talking about. This is the same school Tony Dorsett, Mike Ditka attended, and they’ll tell you what Riley Robell did to them.”

For all the strength and leadership that Robell possesses, it took one humiliating loss on the wrestling mat to unlock the athlete he has become today. He went from an athletic 182-pounder to transforming his entire body in one summer. He went from a star at Bishop McDevitt to an original afterthought of James Madison coach Curt Cignetti, who went on to win a national championship last season at Indiana. He found value in Bob Chesney, following him from James Madison to UCLA, adjusting from small-town America in Pennsylvania to embracing the Hollywood culture of Los Angeles.

UCLA offensive lineman Riley Robell prepares to snap the ball in a game against Purdue on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, at the Rose Bowl. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)Loss leaves a memorable sting

The usually quiet Robell was unusually confident heading into his wrestling matchup against Nathan Wickersham on March 6, 2020. Wickersham was a tactician, but Robell had overpowered him easily a week prior at the state regionals, pinning Wickersham at the 1:12 mark of the first period.

So when Robell saw Wickersham again at the state meet, he came in feeling cocky.

“I was very arrogant going into that match,” Robell said. “As soon as we stepped on that mat, that kid came to wrestle. He wrestled his match and I was a deer in the headlights. That showed through the whole thing that I came up short.”

Wickersham, who went on to wrestle at West Virginia, took the match to him, scoring points as Robell was caught flat-footed. He eventually lost, 5-3.

“It felt crushing,” Robell said. “It felt like the end of the world and thankfully it was not the end of the world. I was able to teach myself a valuable lesson. I try to remember now through football and through life to always get better. Never find yourself stagnant because you find some success somewhere.”

Robell went from placing first at the sectional and district meets and placing second at regionals to not placing at state.

“That was a pretty defining moment in my life,” Robell said. “Am I going to be average or am I going to go get it? As soon as that offseason hit, I was going to go get it. I kept carrying myself through a pretty tough time and I was able to luckily come off the back half of that sprinting where I feel like a lot of people might have lost themselves in that period of time. I feel like I found myself.”

In that moment of defeat and disappointment, a new version of Robell emerged. A man who would become almost unrecognizable in one summer as the COVID pandemic swept across America and killed 384,536 in 2020. As the world lay in panic, Robell went indoors.

Who is this guy?

Robell made the most of his time as the world attempted to correct itself. With school classes held online in March 2020, Robell stewed over his loss to Wickersham by hitting the weight room and began eating.

He would lift and eat. Lift and eat more. And inside the home of Frank and Erin Robell, the oldest brother of four grew and grew. More weight eventually equated to more muscle and size for Robell, who had played running back and linebacker during his freshman year.

“I was working out and eating as much as I could,” Robell said. “It wasn’t as much the training regimen as much as I was just a hungry guy.”

He returned for his sophomore year looking sculpted and husky. A man among boys. His coaches, including head coach Jeff Weachter, couldn’t tell who he was.

Robell had packed on 80 pounds in one spring and summer.

“Weachter came up to me and asked who I was and how I was doing,” Robell said. “I told him it was me, your running back. He told me I wasn’t a running back anymore.”

Robell moved to the offensive and defensive lines. Despite his massive weight gain, Robell was still considered undersized at 6-foot-1. Not big enough to be a Division I blocker or defensive lineman, he was told. He wasn’t the physical specimen college scouts fawned over, but whatever Robell lacked in size, he made up for with technique and discipline.

He was silent but knew how to aptly speak up. Watch film, attack through action and hold his teammates accountable through a stern but broad presence that eventually endeared himself to his teammates, coaches and administrators at Bishop McDevitt.

“He’s one of the kids who you talk about with wrestling in football,” Bishop McDevitt athletic director Connor Marsico said. “His mindset is the kind you want to have and that’s why it’s carried to the college level. It’s why he’s dominating at the top of the game.”

Rolling through Aliquippa

While the failure on the wrestling mat during Robell’s freshman year was personal, the disappointment of losing to Aliquippa in the state championship game was felt throughout Harrisburg in 2021.

Aliquippa won, 34-27, in a tightly fought back-and-forth game that had been tied at 20 at halftime. Aliquippa opened with former Penn State and Nebraska running back Tiqwai Hayes (now at Livingstone College) scoring two unanswered touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

As Robell headed into his senior year, Bishop McDevitt was on the clock, having not won a state title in 27 years. The pressure was on Robell as well, not only to lead Bishop McDevitt back to the 4A state final, but do so knowing Aliquippa would likely be waiting.

“I wasn’t going to let that happen again,” Robell said of losing to Aliquippa.

And then there was meeting the last Bishop McDevitt state championship team, of which former athletic director Tommy Mealy had been a member.

“There was a lot that season,” Robell said. “I was very close with (Mealy) and me talking with him helped me understand how important that state championship game was.”

Robell wouldn’t be denied twice. He rushed the quarterback and broke through the line of scrimmage on nearly every play. Robell forced the first of two fumbles from the Aliquippa 25-yard line, and McDevitt led 20-6 at halftime and eventually secured the state championship it had longed for.

“I went to that game head down, focused knowing that if it was going to come down to anything, it was going to come down to how well I could get through the offensive line,” Robell said. “I got the team hyped and it was a statement game. I know every guy in that locker room wanted that one as much as me.”

Robell went from being a much talked-about player in Harrisburg to college coaches quickly wanting to find a spot for this undersized game wrecker. He eventually landed at James Madison and found himself playing for Cignetti.

James Madison offensive lineman Riley Robell walks off the field after a game against Washington State on Nov. 22, 2025. in Harrisonburg, Virginia. (Photo by Brien Aho/Getty Images)Cignetti to Chesney and UCLA

Quitting football to focus on wrestling almost came true for Robell.

Robell was a defensive tackle on the scout team for Cignetti and didn’t seem to be climbing any depth charts.

“I thought Cignetti was a very smart man, but I don’t think his coaching style or leadership style lined up with me,” Robell said.

The thought of giving up football nearly came to fruition until Robell met Chesney at the JMU practice facility. Chesney had just been hired to replace Cignetti after coaching six years at Holy Cross, having racked up a 44-21 record and a 28-4 mark in the Patriot League.

Chesney spoke with Robell and a bond was formed. Robell opted to stay and became one of the bedrock offensive linemen who helped the JMU program to continue thriving after Cignetti left for Indiana in 2024.

“He knew my full name, knew where I was from, knew my high school and he knew the people I was with as well,” Robell said of Chesney. “It was the fact that this new coach showed up and knew so much about me.”

James Madison reached the 12-team College Football Playoff in 2025, with Robell helping Chesney compile a 21-6 record over two seasons.

“It’s clear he cares and that’s something I could not turn my back on in the moment,” Robell said. “I wanted to see what that was about and understand where that came from. It’s proven true how much he cares and it’s something you can’t fake.”

Following Chesney to UCLA felt natural for Robell. After taking James Madison to unprecedented heights, he’s now at UCLA – a program that calls the historic Rose Bowl home but hasn’t won a conference title since 1998, when it was a member of the Pac-10.

UCLA hasn’t been ranked in The Associated Press poll’s Top 10 since September 2015.

The man who spent nearly six months growing quietly before reaching primed success in Pennsylvania has found a new challenge. His trips to the west prior to arriving were minimal. Having traffic and Hollywood stars being thrown at him wasn’t originally on Robell’s radar.

His goal was simply to play football and win. And now UCLA has started 3-0 before its first Big Ten road trip of the season to Maryland on Saturday, with subtle reminders of what Robell has accomplished and everything he’s yet to achieve.

That one loss as a high school freshman is the reminder of how fragile and easy it can be to fall off the mountain after weeks of success.

UCLA offensive lineman Riley Robell blocks a Purdue player Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, at the Rose Bowl. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)

The transition to playing for a power conference program haven’t changed Robell one iota. Those solitary days of lifting weights and freezing nights at practice have led to him hoping to bring a piece of his winning background and infuse it into the new UCLA culture being built by himself, Chesney and the several other former JMU stars like running back Wayne Knight.

“I like to believe, especially with the class that came (from) James Madison, the players, the staff that came with Chesney, that we bring our own culture,” Robell said. “Ches likes to say ‘bring your own juice.’ I think we do. That shows up time and time again through practice and through games.”

When asked if this current team can be called JMUCLA, a mantra created by fans of Chesney who have crossed over from purple into the Bruin powder blue of Westwood, Robell shook his head.

He ended with another Chesney-ism that speaks to the mission at UCLA.

“He likes to say that the blue looks a little different when you go someplace a little different,” Robell said. “Maybe the blue looks a little gold or the red looks a little blue. But it’s always going to be our colors.”

In coming from Harrisburg, Pa., to Harrisonburg, Va., and now to California, Robell is embracing Los Angeles as his own.

“With guys coming from all over the place, we got here and this is our home,” Robell said. “We live here and we are going to let everyone know that this is our home. And we are going to show them we are UCLA football.”