Once UCLA lost to USC, erasing the possibility of a winning season and a bowl game, the most important date on the Bruins’ calendar shifted to Dec. 9.
That’s the day the transfer portal opens.
More than anything else, DeShaun Foster’s success as the coach at his alma mater will hinge on his ability to fill holes on the roster and upgrade talent.
UCLA is losing 26 seniors, at least 13 starters — including nine on defense — and maybe a handful of other players via the NFL draft or the transfer portal from a team that finished 5-7 in Foster’s first season.
Among other things, the Bruins need a new starting quarterback, a disruptive edge rusher, several offensive linemen, another go-to tight end and an entirely new starting secondary. Will they have the name, image and likeness funds and persuasive recruiting pitch needed to restock their roster?
Here are five questions facing Foster and the Bruins going into the most critical offseason of his coaching career:
Who will play quarterback?
Justyn Martin’s patience is about to be rewarded … or not.
The redshirt sophomore who has moved his way up from fourth string will be the Bruins’ next starting quarterback unless the team snags a veteran in the transfer portal. Of course, a transfer could also come on the condition that he must beat out Martin for the starting spot in spring practice and fall training camp.
Might that transfer be former USC quarterback Miller Moss? It would be an intriguing story and make some sense given that Moss is a Southern California native with considerable talent, even if he did lose four of his final five games as the Trojans’ starter before being replaced by Jayden Maiava.
Moss’ statistics this season — he completed 64.4% of his passes for 2,555 yards with 18 touchdowns and nine interceptions — were comparable to those of UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers, who completed 64.7% of his passes for 2,727 yards with 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
In his one start this season, Martin played fearlessly in one of college football’s toughest environments. With Garbers sidelined by an ankle injury, Martin completed 22 of 30 passes (73.3%) for 167 yards and a touchdown with no turnovers during a loss at Penn State.
“Justyn Martin played really well,” Foster said Saturday when asked about his future plans at quarterback. “He’s still a Bruin and everything so we’re going to evaluate everything, but when you have a backup quarterback that can come in and play well like that, you know everyone is excited about him and his future is bright at UCLA.”
Who might leave besides the seniors?
In making his case for the Butkus Award, which goes to the nation’s top college linebacker, Carson Schwesinger also enticed NFL scouts.
The redshirt junior’s professional stock might never be higher than it is at the end of a season in which he made 136 tackles, including 8½ for loss, to go with two interceptions and a blocked punt. Forgoing his final season of college eligibility might make financial sense given his soaring NFL draft prospects.
A few other Bruins with remaining eligibility could also head for the NFL — or another college team offering more NIL riches.
Freshman wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer is certainly in line for a raise after a season in which he often looked like the most explosive target on the team, making 31 catches for 345 yards and two touchdowns.
The case of J.Michael Sturdivant continues to be curious. Given all of his NFL measurables, the redshirt junior wide receiver has generated a few huge games — and not much else — in each of his first two seasons at UCLA. Might Sturdivant want to go to a team vowing to make him a centerpiece of its offense?
Slot receiver Logan Loya, maybe the most sure-handed player on the team, could also be an attractive target on the open market.
Can the Bruins show them the money?
UCLA’s coaching staff doesn’t just feel inflation when it goes to the grocery store.
It’s going to have to pay more than it did last year just to retain players with remaining eligibility given the value of talent in the college game just keeps going up, up, up.
Acquiring a proven quarterback through the transfer portal could cost $1 million or more. The Bruins started a new NIL collective — Bruins for Life — midway through the season as part of Foster’s fundraising efforts.
“It’s trending in the right direction,” Foster said last week without providing any specifics. “I know for a fact we’ve raised more money than we had previously, so I’m just excited for this and as long as it keeps going in the right direction, I think a lot of the alumni and donors see how the program, see how these guys play and they want to be involved in it, they want to invest, so I’m just glad that we have the type of people that they want to help us be great.”
UCLA’s 18-member high school recruiting class, which includes a pair of four-star prospects in edge rusher Epi Sitanilei (St. John Bosco) and quarterback Madden Iamaleava (Long Beach Poly), is ranked No. 37 nationally by 247Sports heading into signing day this week.
Does the coaching staff remain intact?
Not wanting to lose their defensive coordinator for the second time in as many years after D’Anton Lynn moved across town a year ago, the Bruins might need to pull out their checkbook and write the following:
“Pay to the order of Ikaika Malloe, $1 million.”
Doubling Malloe’s salary after he salvaged what might have otherwise been a mediocre defense could be the only way to keep him. Malloe made two key personnel moves — switching Oluwafemi Oladejo from linebacker to edge rusher while elevating Schwesinger to a starting role — that had a ripple effect on every other player on the field, increasing their disruptiveness.
Some fans might wish Eric Bieniemy headed elsewhere after a debut season in which the offensive coordinator’s running game produced just four touchdowns and an average of 86.6 yards per game, the latter statistic ranking No. 130 out of 133 major college teams.
Bieniemy’s pro-style scheme is known to be wordy and complex, meaning there might be a prolonged learning period if the Bruins decide to go with a transfer quarterback as their starter next season.
How does the 2025 schedule look?
Let’s put it this way: It doesn’t get any easier for Foster and his team.
UCLA’s nonconference games will be at the Rose Bowl against Utah — remember those guys? — and New Mexico and on the road against Nevada Las Vegas.
The Big Ten road games will be against Indiana, Michigan State, Northwestern (hello, Wrigley Field?), USC and Ohio State (hello again, Chip Kelly). The conference home games will be against Maryland, Nebraska, Penn State and Washington.
If all goes well, the Bruins will have something more to sell than potential when the transfer portal reopens a year from now.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.