Beyond a conference swap, it’s a new era of UCLA football in 2024
Of the four teams heading into the Big Ten this fall, UCLA is by far in the worst shape. An offseason of change has left the Bruins with an almost entirely new coaching staff and a depleted roster on the defensive side of the ball. To make matters worse, they lost much of that talent and coaching to their new Big Ten foes.
Let’s recap the offseason and take a look at where the Bruins are headed in 2024.
The Basics
2023 record: 8-5; 4-5
2024 projected wins: 5.5 (DraftKings Sportsbook )
Roster Moves
Key NFL Draft Losses: DE Laitu Latu (Indianapolis Colts ) and LB Darius Muassau (New York Giants
Key Returners: CB Elijah Jackson, LB Alphonzo Tuputala, Edge Voi Tunuufi
Key True Freshmen: WR Kwazi Gilmer
Key Transfer Portal Additions: Edge Collins Acheampong, QB Dermaricus Davis, OT Michael Carmody, CB KJ Wallace
Key Transfer Portal Subtractions: QB Dante Moore, WR Kyle Ford, S Kamari Ramsey, CB John Humphrey
For a complete list of every transfer portal addition and subtraction click here .
State of the Program
For much of the 2023 season, the UCLA Bruins hovered around the top-25. In the final season of the Chip Kelly era, the defense atypically carried the Bruins for most of the year. The unit ranked 14th in the country, allowing only 18.4 points per game, which was why the team went 8-5 with a mediocre at best offense.
Five-star freshman Dante Moore struggled mightily, causing an unexpected quarterback controversy in Los Angeles that saw Ethan Garbers becoming the starter by the season’s end. Eventually, Moore entered the transfer portal and all signs point to Garbers being the starter again in 2024.
In a stunning offseason move, Kelly was hired as Ohio State ’s offensive coordinator. Along with the move, defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn went across the street to take the same role at rival USC.
UCLA was suddenly in need of an entirely new coaching staff and promoted DeShaun Foster, a former All-American running back for the Bruins, from running backs coach to head coach. It will be Foster’s first time being a head coach, and he’ll be thrust right into the heat of one of the two best conferences in college football.
Foster hired Eric Beiniemy to be his offensive coordinator, an experienced offensive mind with two Super Bowls under his belt with Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. He’ll coach an offense with quality weapons, as Garbers comes back for his senior season, junior running back TJ Harden is coming off an almost 1,000 total yard year, and the team’s two leading receivers in J. Michael Sturdivant and Logan Loya return.
Defensively, UCLA lost two of their starters to the portal. Former Washington co-defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe will now be the signal caller for the Bruins. Only three defensive starters return for UCLA, so it will be largely a new group and new system for the team with a unit that probably won’t match the accomplishments of last season.
It’s going to be a tough season for the Bruins, as they start the Big Ten season in Week 2 against a hungry Indiana squad hoping to prove a point in their first conference game under Curt Cignetti. Then they go to LSU , host Oregon and travel to Penn State their next three games. UCLA also has another brutal four-game stretch at Nebraska, a night game against Iowa, at Washington, and then vs. USC to round out conference play.
It’s unlikely this program is much better than .500, if they even get there, in their first season in the Big Ten with a first-time head coach.