And we’re not.
Congrats to Aztecs for holding up west coast honor, but I’m still sick that it isn’t us.

Story to come

The UCLA football program announced Wednesday morning the addition of eight transfers: RB Anthony Adkins (Army), PK Blake Glessner (Montana State), RB Carson Steele (Ball State), QB Collin Schlee (Kent State), DE Jake Heimlicher (Penn), TE Moliki Matavao (Oregon), Oluwafemi Oladejo (Cal) and LG Spencer Holstege (Purdue).

Their announcements signal their arrival prior to spring camp, with punter Will Powers (Princeton) and safety Jordan Anderson (Bowling Green) yet to be announced.

Still waiting on a release of the spring roster ahead of the start of tomorrow’s camp, but UCLA did announce uniform number changes for edge rusher Carl Jones Jr. (from 35 to 4), DB Croix Stewart (from 18 to 22) and LB Hayden Nelson (from 96 to 52)

Looking at the decisions to be made, who will be back and the class coming in:

The final position preview before camp opens April 4 looks at the pass-catching options that once looked bleak in late December:

UCLA signee Sebastian Mack took second in a four-man 3-point shooting contest during a national high school showcase in Houston.

Mack made 34 3-pointers in the first round and another 13 in the finals. Wake Forest commit Parker Friederichsen made 35 in the opening round and 17 to win the title.

Kenneth Nwuba announced on Instagram he will be back for a fifth season at UCLA

UCLA hires Ken Niumatalolo, Navy's all-time winningest coach, as advisor to Chip Kelly​

By Barrett Sallee

5m ago•1 min read
UCLA hired former Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo as the new director of leadership, the team announced Friday. It's an advisory role -- both on and off the field -- for the Midshipmen's all-time wins leader, who earned 11 bowl berths and won nine straight over Army during his 16 years in Annapolis. The run ended following a 4-8 effort in 2022, punctuated by a double-overtime loss to Army, that marked the program's third straight losing season.
Niumatalolo and Kelly have never worked together in an official capacity, but Kelly spent a week with Navy during the spring of 2017, exchanging ideas with the staff following his dismissal from the San Francisco 49ers.
"Some of the things he did at Oregon revolutionized football," Niumatalolo said then. "Everybody's doing no-huddle, one-word concepts. His offseason stuff, his up-tempo stuff, a lot of the things that he implemented, literally high school, college and pro guys are doing it. He's definitely a trendsetter."

The second-to-last installment is now up with UCLA spring camp just around the corner next week:

He posted it on Instagram.
Of course he can still decide to return.
Even if he comes back, probably not available until January (no information on extent of his Achilles injury, but he should not rush to return).

Judging by the photo, it looks like Jaylen Clark and Amari Bailey will be making decisions soon.

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Previewing the depth of the RB position:

With the uncertainty of Bona going pro does Cronin go after Ware??

Included in this are the early enrollees and transfers, but I’ll have something on the inside linebackers in a separate preview.

So, for that reason, you won’t see Cal transfer Oluwafemi Oladejo included until that story.

The IOL from San Diego State. He’s in the Portal and UCLA offered him in HS. At 6’6” and 310 lbs he’s worth a hard look

Can't wait to see Moore and Steele.

Texas is now the lone remaining 1 or 2 seed (and they haven’t played their Sweet 16 game yet)…. We missed out on a prime opportunity.

Crazy tourney this year… go KSU… I guess?

for next season?? If seems like Campbell, Jacquez, and Singleton may be gone to the NBA or ?? and Bailey and Bona could be gone as well. Are there enough pieces left to be competitive in their final year in the Pac 12? Or does Cronin look at the transfer portal to find his players?? Intriguing questions for the off season to ponder

The third installment in the UCLA football spring camp preview looks at the offensive line, which returns two starters with a key transfer from the Big Ten.

Depth and the other two starting jobs will be among the questions for the Bruins when camp opens.

In another thread there was talk about the decisions Tiger and Jaime have as to whether they come back. I used Bacot as an example of someone who has limited NBA prospects but great NIL prospects. He could have left last year but decided to take advantage of his NIL opportunities. And now he's running it back again! I think Tiger and Jaime are in the same spot and if I was advising them I would say they should follow his lead and come back. Their best earning potential currently is at UCLA, not the NBA or overseas, especially if we can go far in the tournament. JMO.