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UCLA TEs coach Jeff Faris is on the move to become a head coach

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Airing right now on ESPN. Laiatu Latu is a finalist for the Bednarik national defensive player of the year.

Villanova announced a little while ago that second-leading scorer and guard Justin Moore has been ruled out for tomorrow’s game against UCLA.

The Bruins, of course, will also be shorthanded as forward Berke Buyuktuncel sits out with an ankle injury.

With UCLA losing a pair of assistants, both director of leadership Ken Niumatalolo and defensive analyst Greg Burns were out on the recruiting trail this week.

Something to keep an eye on if UCLA decides to go in-house to fill a spot (i.e. if Norton is moved to defensive coordinator permanently and they stay internal with a hire).

Andrew Azzopardi, a redshirt freshman offensive tackle with three years of eligibility, was offered this morning by UCLA

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Taylen Green announced today he’s in the portal. His dual-threat abilities helped Boise State’s run game rank 10th in the country.

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Laiatu Latu won the Ted Hendricks Award given to the top college defensive end.

Three days, three different awards for Latu after winning the Lombardi and Pac-12 defensive player of the year honors earlier.

Still waiting on the Bednarik (defensive player of the year) and Lott IMPACT (best defensive player on and off the field) to be announced.

Is anyone else surprised there hasn't been a mass exodus of players in the transfer portal from UCLA? It seems most schools are having a bunch of transfers but UCLA isn't. Why do you guys think this is?

In case anyone wants to watch the presentation:

who is the former Bruin who needs help?
https://x.com/latbbolch/status/1732063497327128798?s=46&t=GPuati3Wa_cwfPa03oolqQ
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He loved his weekend visit to UCLA:

Gabriel and Grayson Murphy’s father was on a “Spaces” chat on social media and mentioned his sons are still “50/50” on deciding to return and will want to see how NFL teams look at them before making a decision.

It sounds like if the round projection is right, they are gone. Said nothing has been decided for sure at this moment.

In addition to the award, he was UCLA’s lone first-team all-conference selection.

On the second team were linebacker Darius Muasau and center Duke Clemens.

Honorable mentions honors went to defensive backs Kenny Churchwell III and Alex Johnson, edge rushers Gabriel and Grayson Murphy, linebacker Kain Medrano and tight end Moliki Matavao.

A little surprised the league’s best defense didn’t have more first- or second-team honorees.

A formal story to come a bit later, just got back from Westwood.

Mick Cronin said Berke Buyuktuncel (ankle) is already ruled out against Villanova, Sebastian Mack (toe) is day-to-day

Bill Plaschke lands the interview we all made attempts to get.

Gets him to talk about his evaluation of Chip’s performance, NIL and its importance, and more: https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla...ootball-chip-kelly-martin-jarmond-explanation

“We want to compete at the highest level and graduate student athletes at the highest level, recruit and develop young people that are great representatives of UCLA, that’s the goal,” said Jarmond. “If you look at our football program, we have great young men in our program, Chip has created a strong and phenomenal culture, it shows when we have so many guys that return and want to go for their masters degrees … the culture is very strong and the young men that come out of UCLA, out of this program, are great representatives, that’s important.

“Continuity and stability are bedrocks of a successful program. We have so much change coming, we’re going to get a new chancellor, we’re going into a new conference, and so you really want that continuity and stability to usher you into a new era.

“I’ve had conversations with Chip … we both understand that we’re not satisfied, especially with the way the regular season ended. No one in that Wasserman [athletic department] building is satisfied … we know that we’ve got to improve in some areas … we’re going to work together to address those areas where we need more focus and emphasis.”

On the fan backlash:

““I take that a lot into consideration. We need our fans and our booster and our alumni’s support. I appreciate the passion of Bruin nation. I completely understand why fans aren’t satisfied with the outcome of the regular season. No one is satisfied.”

will close as UCLA says goodbye to the Pac 12 forever....not with a bang but a whimper and thoughts of what might of been.

Just as we suspected, he did not have a great season, probably because it was too green, and he had no offensive line to protect him or any of the other quarterbacks.

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UCLA has extended an offer to TJ Crandall, who spent his freshman year at Colorado State this season.

He made 19 tackles with an interception and two pass break-ups in 10 games in 2023.

Crandall was a two-star prospect from the state of Washington out of high school.

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I don’t think I have ever seen such mismanagement of a football program outside of scandals.