UCLA Football: Bruins loses third player to grad transfer in a week

The UCLA football program continues to lose players with three more separating themselves from the program in this past week alone. Should Bruins fans be concerned?

Last Friday, WR Audie Omotosho announced his intention to transfer as a graduate from the UCLA football program. On Monday, RB Brandon Stephens had the same plan.

On Thursday, DB Colin Samuel announced that he was also leaving as a grad transfer, making him the third player to do so in a week. This is in addition to the four players that have announced their intentions to transfer from UCLA.

More from Go Joe Bruin

Back in December, after getting a sixth year of eligibility with the help of UCLA, OL Justin Murphy announced he was transferring as a graduate. A few weeks ago, DL Chigozie Nnoruka indicated his intent to transfer and just this week committed to Miami.

Tight end Matt Alaimo, who did not see the field in his first season at UCLA, is looking to transfer to Rutgers. Defensive end Jaelan Phillips had announced that he was retiring from football and looking to transfer from UCLA to pursue a career in music, but it seems that he has changed his mind about football and is currently visiting other programs.

Is this a problem? Why are there so many players transferring?

Since Chip Kelly has taken over the program just over a year ago, 28 players have left the program and this is not counting those that have declared early for the NFL Draft. That is an innumerable amount of players taking their exit, but when you consider how they fit (or did not fit) with the program, the reason for the exodus becomes a lot clearer.

Let me put it this way, the majority of these players were all recruited by Jim Mora. He was the epitome of a “player’s coach”. Unfortunately, he was not exactly an “Xs and Os” coach, which is what the Bruins have with Chip Kelly. Because of this, several players, to no fault of their own, have not been compatible with Kelly.

The thing about Chip is that he runs his program like a business and if someone does not fall in line with the way he runs his business, then there is not going to be a lot of participation for that individual in his gameplan.

Yes, losing an excessive amount of players will negatively affect depth, but the upside is that it opens up room for Kelly to bring in more players that will abide by his strategy.

Next. The 30 Greatest UCLA Football Players of All-Time. dark

Looking at the big picture, these early exits should benefit the UCLA football program, though Kelly does have to step things up in regards to recruiting players in to the program. And to those former Bruins looking to finish their college football carers elsewhere, good luck and godspeed!