Duck Dive: UCLA Football 2026 Preview
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 29, 2025: UCLA Bruins quarterback Nico Iamaleava (9) scampers for a first down against USC in the first half at the Coliseum on November 29, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) | Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesSpecial thanks to Michael Hanna for joining me on this weeks podcast to discuss UCLAs roster: View LinkUCLA hired Coach Chesney, the head coach at James Madison for the last two years, for the 2026 season. Chesney brought with him nearly his entire staff from JMU as well as a major part of the two-deep from the 2025 Dukes team, and after talking with Michael, I believe UCLAs offensive and defensive schemes and gameplan philosophies will largely resemble JMUs as well.As it happens, Ive recently been engaged in an extensive film review and analysis project of James Madisons last several seasons going back to Chesneys predecessor there, Curt Cignetti. The most relevant video documentation, podcast interview, and charting breakdown of Chesneys team is in my analysis of JMUs 2025 season in anticipation of Oregons first round playoff matchup last December. I will briefly re-introduce concepts from that article in this one as necessary, but for space reasons I wont duplicate the far more detailed explanations here. I would encourage the interested reader to review that JMU analysis first.OffenseUCLA returns starter #9 QB N. Iamaleava from last season. Like his 2024 season at Tennessee which I reviewed for another project, I thought he had more potential than his poor passer rating at 123.5 (more than a full standard deviation below FBS median) indicated. His throwing mechanics are solid and his arm strength is excellent, Michael and I agreed he just needs more work on accuracy and consistently throwing with touch. I dont think its helped that he went from a shaky offensive line situation at Tennessee to a terrible one at UCLA and has virtually never had a clean pocket in which to operate.To date, the biggest asset Iamaleavas brought to the game has been his scrambling ability, which in my opinion resulted in wins or close defeats for perhaps half the games on UCLAs schedule last year which otherwise would have been losses by multiple scores. Despite UCLAs steadily declining situational passing efficiency rates across virtually every category for every season for going back to 2017 (an effect of the slow-motion train wreck that was Chip Kellys offensive line management and a switch in QB styles from 2022 through 2024), last year was a local high point in 3rd & long conversion rates for the Bruins at 36%, coming pretty close to FBS median. The major driver of the leap was Iamaleavas effective scrambles and improvised plays.JMUs 3rd & long conversion rate was two standard deviations below median. The major thrust of my analysis of OC Kennedys offense and our discussion with the Purple Antics podcast last December was how deceptive the Dukes offense was it presented all the hallmarks of an efficiency, ball-control, grinding approach, but in both play- and drive-based efficiency they were absolutely terrible at marching the field methodically, and worse, could not get out of trouble once they fell behind the chains. They were almost totally reliant on super-explosive plays to move the ball and score points, and ironically, defenses made this easier by crowding the line trying to stuff harmless efficiency plays.All indications to me are that the structure of the offense and OC Kennedys playcalling philosophy are likely to be similar but Iamaleava might help on both ends of the equation. Hes already shown the ability to salvage drives in 3rd & long situations which were the biggest vulnerability for JMU last year and UCLA in the couple years prior, and he has a higher athletic ability to generate the super-explosives which Kennedy relies upon.I didnt get to see it very often, but it also strikes me that Iamaleava is a dangerous runner on designed carries. Excluding QB sacks and scrambles, Iamaleava only had 31 called run plays in 2025, and the majority were in short-yardage / goal-to-go situations, but his success rates were the best on the team at 58.1%. Thats in contrast to JMUs starting QB in 2025, who was the second-leading rusher with about 75 designed carries. The guess between Michael and I is that 2026 will see a compromise on QB designed carries on standard downs between the two extremes, maybe three or four a game.All of the backups except the starters younger brother #10 QB M. Iamaleava transferred out, including last years primary backup who started one game and large stretches of others, Luke Duncan. The younger Iamaleava is probably the primary backup in 2026, due to what Michael called political matters, though he allowed that experienced FCS transfer #14 QB Dieffenbach might go in for a short absence. I think its worth noting that the two brothers have fairly different builds and the younger is three inches shorter and 20 lbs lighter, though he redshirted last year so Ive yet to see him play.Running BacksChesney brought his primary running back #3 RB Knight to UCLA. He got far and away the most work of any skill player for the Dukes last year 174 carries (and thats with the QB getting 75 and backup RBs combining for over 100) prior to garbage time, plus 50 receptions out of the backfield.Given how much of it went through Knights hands, the inefficiency of Kennedys offense and Knights mediocre success rates are impossible to disentangle statistically, but from watching tape Im confident it wasnt on Knight. Still, the most telling was the big split in Knights efficiency vs explosiveness scorces 52.9% success given the down & distance as a ballcarrier and 50% as a passing target, which are basically rookie efficiency figures.Knights chunk yardage rates are slightly below FBS median at about 13.5% in both rushing and receiving. But his rate of generating 20+ yard plays is over 9% of all touches, more than double FBS median thats entirely responsible for pulling his YPC figure up to 5.6 and means that Knights rushing graph looks like a hockey stick, a whole lot of nothing and then a massive spike in the final tranche. (Knights 6.5 adjusted YPT are so low compared to the actual receiving corps, and his value as an explosive running back so high, that the opportunity cost of Knight being the leading target on the team constituted a drag of more than ten points on the scoreboard each game in my predictive algorithm. On our podcast with the Purple Antics guys, they werent too broken up about Kennedys departure.)UCLA had three main running backs last year. There was a significant split in the efficiency rate for Jalen Berger, the redshirt senior who graduated he had a 56.9% success rate, the only one above water and clearly capable of being his own blocker, though for a perfectly FBS median 4.5 adjusted YPC. The two who return, #21 RB J. Thomas and #6 RB A. Woods, were underwater, though it seemed UCLAs staff last year (as well as Utahs staff in 2024, who got Woods after a spectacular career at Idaho and then stupidly didnt use him at all) got backwards which of those two was the better back as Woods outperformed Thomas 46.2% vs 40.9% success and 4.52 vs 4.02 YPC yet Thomas got the ball more. Woods was also the only one of UCLAs backs to be trusted with a significant receiving target share as well as an excellent 8.2 YPT for a back.Theres a wrinkle to iron out with how Knight will fare with what will probably be a lower quality offensive line and against tougher defenses something Thomas and Woods have already had built into their numbers though unless hes getting absolutely thrashed I doubt he gets supplanted as the staffs top back and even that wouldnt be until late in the schedule. Theres good depth in the unit with a couple of guys to take the load off in short yardage and a talented freshman coming up so fatigue shouldnt be an issue.Tight EndsI was at sea trying to figure out this unit from the transfers. UCLA lost the productive pair from last year (and TE use has been on a decline for the last couple years), leaving just two 2025 recruits on the roster who had no receiving production and I didnt have any blocking grades prior to garbage time. JMU in 2025, however, had a secret weapon in the form of a TE with an incredible catch radius, Lacota Dippre, and it seemed like Kennedy had finally figured out he was the key to their 3rd down conversions towards the end of last season. I was sure that Dippre would wind up at UCLA.Instead Dippre transferred to Florida (the backup TE, who also had above-water receiving numbers, ran out of eligibility as a covid super senior). UCLA got JMUs third in the rotation, #89 TE Phifer, but he wasnt used as a receiver even as a junior, he was a blocker in heavy sets. The two other transfers UCLA got are even older than Phifer, also with pretty unproductive careers.Michael told me that the plan is just to use Phifer as a sixth offensive lineman, essentially a blocker only (though maybe an occasional surprise reception as a gadget), and that UCLA will probably wait for #82 TE Fox-Flores to mature into the pass-catching role whenever that happens, possibly by the end of the year but maybe not till 2027 and another round of transfers.Assuming hes right about that, and I have no reason to doubt it from looking at the history of the players here, this is a step back in capability compared to both JMU and UCLAs offenses in the recent past that is likely to have measurable impacts by the end of the year. Neither of them made TE pass catching the centerpiece of their offenses exactly, but the strategic ambiguity and situational clutch factor of a good tight end is something that very few teams voluntarily surrender.Wide ReceiversThe superior roster management ability of Chesneys staff is evident in some of the larger units, and when we got to the wideouts on the podcast it really became remarkable. Even though I dont really think WRs have been the pinch point for UCLAs offense recently, in 2025 they were down to three WRs the previous staff was willing to play while Rico Flores was still recovering from his ACL injury at the beginning of the season.The room has been almost totally turned over at this point. Again, while I think the bottom-line value this adds is restricted since, unlike some programs I examine where studs are replacing slouches, the playable guys for UCLA were pretty talented theres a lot to be said for the much bigger diversity and depth of options. This unit could handle some misfortunes or miscalculations in stride, in a way that previous iterations of the Bruins wideout unit probably couldnt have.On the outside, they bring in one of my favorite receivers to watch from all of my film review projects last year, #11 WR Ellis from JMU. His efficiency and adjusted YPT numbers were a step-change better than everyone else on the team and he shared with the tight end Dippre the magic hands extra catch radius to bail them out in 3rd & long (when he had his role reduced in the last few regular season games due to injury but Dippre didnt see his targets get a commensurate spike, it was murder on the Dukes drive efficiency). They also got the big Z-receiver from San Jose States trio of super productive targets, #0 WR L. Smith.If theres any issue in translating their games to Big Ten play, theres quite a few alternatives. #1 WR Mizell has a very high ceiling and it looks like Florida just forgot about him, and Michael mentioned #12 WR J. Brown, #15 WR Harris, and even #81 WR K. Moore (who I hadnt considered as a prep and a shorter guy, but apparently was being used in Spring practices on the outside) as potentially viable options. Between Ellis and Smiths proven production and that many raffle tickets on depth, the odds they wind up shorthanded are astronomical.Inside looks even more competitive, even though the actual on-field production hasnt been much to write home about for any of these guys. The one returner is #7 WR Matthews, who had pretty awful per-target numbers last year, but Michael and I agreed from watching tape that this was structural and not Matthews fault he was the dumpoff guy when Iamaleava was running for his life and got hung out to dry a lot. Ive seen Matthews be productive on a per-target basis before at Cal and Utah. They got Semaj Morgan from Michigan, a receiver Ive been baffled about because, on the one hand, his numbers have been bad for three straight years, on the other hand Ive also thought he had an excuse every year, but on the first hand again, its getting real fishy that its three straight years and I cant think of anyone else about whom thats been so.Michael told me the likely winner is South Carolina transfer #2 WR Rowe based on local medias rave reviews of him in practice. I was a little surprised since he was competing with Jayden Sellers last year in the slot, who was much more productive on far fewer opportunities, but I dont have a better suggestion for the slot and its entirely possible the Gamecocks just messed up their WR rotation (its also possible LA media is highly credulous). At any rate, depth is good with three experienced options plus Moore and some young players so its virtually impossible UCLA doesnt get good slot production even if it requires some experimentation, which they have time to do with the non-con.Offensive LineFor reasons that Michael and I have been discussing for a while now, and described in precise, down-to-exact-numbers terms in last years podcast, the offensive line room has now been cleared out of all but eight returners. Of those eight, at least four and probably as many as six are totally unplayable and remain on the roster to, I dont know, keep them out of trouble on the mean streets of Westwood.So it was inevitable and highly predictable since, we predicted it that this unit would need to be rebuilt almost entirely from the transfer portal in 2026. Including Jucos, there are ten new linemen who were at other schools last year, plus five preps. Im impressed with how balanced the construction is, theres a wide variety of backgrounds, experience levels, and remaining eligibility. With a little luck they should be on normal footing and not need to raid the portal nearly as hard, perhaps not even at all, by 2027 (the recruiting class currently has five OLs in it; theres a longer discussion on the podcast about UCLAs reversal of fortunes in institutional investment and the recruiting uptick).The immediate upshot of this returners vs transfers dynamic for 2026 is that, while UCLA returns three starters from last years line, one of them absolutely needed to be benched (and effectively was, a few games into last season, again, as predicted), and theres a pretty strong argument to replace a second starter as well. Michael told me, to my surprise, that the new staff is going for it and will make this a four-transfer line in 2026.The cupboard the staff inherited was so ridiculously empty that it was close to unavoidable, and as we talked through the logic, its probably the best long term option even though it might not be pretty in the short-term. Since they lost all their tackles except one potential developmental LT, and because continuing to play the least effective of last years guards would have been at least as catastrophic as any damage to cohesion a transfer in his spot would do, they were already on the hook for two transfers. They only inherited a single possibly playable developmental returner: #66 LT Somerville, who I saw in on four drives against UW as a redshirt freshman. If he isnt ready for primetime not a bad bet then they almost certainly have to play three transfers simply as a matter of course.At that point, the transfer portal effect Ive been documenting for many years now becomes such a severe impediment each additional offensive line starter directly out of the portal not only has a dip in his blocking grades compared to his performance at his prior school, but the effect is multiplicative across the entire line for each additional transfer starter that I think the staff figured they might as well rip off the bandaid and go for four. Theres an even more massive negative effect with four (I shudder to think what would happen with a five-transfer line, it might crash the simulation) but I dont think itll matter to the bottom line, and it might even be worth it to get next years group a head start.The shame is that I think the roster management is very good, and that any one of these transfers, in a world where the other four guys were competent homegrown linemen so hed be the only transfer and the effect was minimal, would make this a pretty solid group for 2026. But four competent homegrown linemen wasnt anywhere close to what the new staff walked into, and extensive, universal, no-exceptions data collection shows that a line with this many transfers, even good ones, is going to take until late November to even begin to gel.Other than the surprise move at center, which I hadnt anticipated since I hadnt seen either of the JMU transfers play center before (and to be honest, it remains a question until proven that this will be an upgrade), each of the transfer inserts Michael told me about were what I figured #68 LT J. Davis has been a quality three-year starter at South Alabama, while #51 OG Robell and #52 OG Sweazie got good marks on my tally sheet as the two most played guys from a four-guard rotation last year at JMU (thats a long story). They then fired the spaghetti cannon at the wall at right tackle with four guys whove played RT before, two whove rotationally played a little LT, and a JMU redshirt freshman who Michael thinks will win the whole thing. Each one of those seven has a reason to doubt him, and if they had a good player in mind like Davis they wouldnt have gotten seven, but with that many bites at the apple its impossible they wont find somebody to at least lace up.DefenseJames Madison DC Hitschler ran a 4-2-5, with two essential elements that were quite different from UCLAs recent defenses. The first is that it actually had a structure, unlike what the Bruins were running for the last several years which I think was best characterized as a 2-4-5 run with gap-filler bodies from an odd-surface defense, ad-libbed and constrained because of their decade-long shortage of interior defensive linemen.The second is that JMUs defensive philosophy was bold and risk-taking: they played man coverage with the corners and nickel isolated and getting virtually no safety help, because the safeties were commited to run support or additional pass pressure. Their leverage over their Sun Belt (and like non-con) opponents was a strong comparative advantage along the defensive line which kept the backers and safeties clean to kill the run without having to overcommit early as well as generated early-down pass penetration bringing only four. UCLA was the reverse of this in every way much more conservative, almost a non-existent defensive line they were so short-handed, with the strength shifting from the second to the third levels over the last couple years, and most recently an athletic and depth advantage at defensive back.To me, the most interesting question about this squad is if and how that qubit is flipped. Michael and I both agreed on the podcast that Hitschler was going to make a bet that UCLA could play defense the way that JMU did that is, shore up the front well enough to make man coverage work, and then really take advantage of the secondary talent and depth and that if that bet pays off for UCLA they could really do some damage to the Big Ten teams on their schedule because of the way such an approach would hammer those offenses where theyre weakest (needing to pass when theyre behind the chains or cant control the clock).But Im really curious what might happen if the bet isnt paying off, which happened to Hitschler twice last year when his front couldnt get home fast enough and his DBs in man were getting torched. He backed off into a more conservative zone on those occasions, but this roster might present different alternatives. And its totally uncharted waters how he might deal with interior rush defense springing a leak thats whats been sinking UCLA for a long time.Defensive TacklesLosing both of the eligible tackles to the portal Keanu Williams and Siale Taupaki, who followed former DC Ikaika Malloe to Penn State really stings here. The one returner from last years rotation is #55 DT Fuimaono, who got the least of the reps but is still the most experienced player in the room. Two other returners have never played, mid 3-star freshman #29 DT R. James who redshirted last year and redshirt junior #44 DT Sanders who hasnt played since his 2023 recruitment by Oklahoma, Michael had nothing to say about either.They got #92 DT DeNgohe who was a developmental backup at JMU a couple years ago, then transferred to Rutgers last year but was hurt early, too soon for me to get good data on him against Power opponents (I believe he qualified for a medical exception, for what its worth). Hes the second most experienced tackle, as hard as that was for me to believe, and I think hell be the other guy on the first line.At Texas Tech last year, #90 DT A. Washington was a part of the third unit on the interior who got a bump up in playing time midseason when one of their excellent starters, Skyler Gill-Howard, was injured but it wasnt a significant bump, instead the remaining first unit DT and the two second unit DTs took on much bigger shares and made it essentially a three-man rotation instead of four (one of the second-unit guys essentially played ironman in the back half of the season, locking Washington out of reps prior to garbage time). #95 DT T. Ford was a mid 4-star in the 2022 cycle at Notre Dame but didnt play for his first three years, only surfacing at Cal last year to get three tackles.#99 DT Roy was a low 4-star recruit to Ohio State last cycle and has really packed on weight, getting up to 320 lbs. He redshirted so I havent seen him yet and was interested to hear what Michael had from practice reports. He said that Roy is definitely heavy enough to play but has questions about his mobility. Theyve taken one prep recruit, mid 3-star #94 DT Almada, whos listed at 294 lbs.They have three guys whove played some football before, three who havent had a chance to yet, and three who enjoy fresh air. Its always possible that someone breaks through here. The number of breakthroughs needed, at least one against very long odds, in order to field a standard four-man rotation of playable Big Ten-level interior linemen, not even to mention playable depth in case theres a problem to maintain the rotation and avoid fatigue issues, means its unlikely this will be a nominal unit. I just dont think the roster management at DT is as good as it is everywhere else on the team, and this is where they needed it the most both because of the long-running problem at the position and how absolutely essential it was to JMUs approach last year.EdgesTheres a bit of confusion here because while Im pretty confident Hitschler will continue to run his 4-2-5 defense, with a hardly unusual arrangement of a fist-down defensive end on one side of the line in the 250 275 lbs range and a stand-up defensive end (or STUD, get it?) on the other in the 235 250 lbs range, the official roster has a couple of curveballs.One of them is that all of the defensive tackles plus almost all of the guys we project for 2026 as fist-down ends are lumped together and simply listed as DL, so we have to make some guesses based on weights and where they played in Spring practices. The second is that they introduced, for the first time at either UCLA or JMU, an OLB designation on the roster which doesnt really make sense for either the way an even- or an odd- surface typically uses that term; instead which seems to be a catch-all category for some (but not all, unhelpfully) of the STUDs, three guys who arent at their final playing weight yet, and someone whos injured and were uncertain about.So much of this will be guesswork, including some assertions which flatly contradict stated claims on UCLAs official roster (though based on past experience, UCLAs official roster is more of a guideline than actual rules) but which I think is logical and verified through film study, media reports, and talking it through with Michael, and well just have to see how it goes in the Fall.The one guy I have no doubts about is #15 DE West, who was absolutely excellent at JMU last year with one of the highest havoc rates I charted last season of any team. The other JMU transfer is #97 DE Gobaira, but despite his 4-star prep rating he wasnt really used often in the regular rotation, instead most of his reps came as the quasi-interior linemen when they went to their racecar package on 3rd & long. I thought his official measurements were fibbing a bit, on tape he looked like classic tweener to me neither massive enough to play inside, nor long and twitchy enough to play off the edge, on standard downs hence the specialist play. Michael confirmed that was Gobairas Spring practice use, and said that experienced FCS transfer #33 DE Havea (who is a bit undersized but has a quick first step) is the likely backup for West playing fist-down.There are seven more returners plus two transfers, but after talking it through I think this group of nine is in a practical sense much, much smaller and far more green. It looks like the only two playable guys will form the two-man STUD rotation (and thus complete the standard four overall at the edges), those are #24 DE Cogshell and #20 OLB S. Taylor, both high 3-stars from the 2025 cycle who burned their redshirts getting some light rotational work last year.Talking about the other seven with Michael was a little like a Vaudville act, with some increasingly novel thing keeping them from the field each time. Two of them are 2025 guys who are so light they should be playing cornerback and could only be in on the most exotic of packages. Then there are two more 2025 guys with weird weight issues youll have to listen to the podcast for since they feel like jokes writing them down. One is a Cal transfer whos hurt, #19 OLB McCulloch, but Michael thinks will play whenever it is hes healthy. Longtime end #88 DE Buckey returns but I never get to see him play because hes always hurt unfortunately, and Michael said his body type doesnt make sense for this defense since hes just an edge-setter. The last is #11 DE Davillier, who didnt play last year for an issue so mysterious Michael wouldnt tell me about it and was surprised he was back.The upshot of this is that I think the edges will be fine as long as nobody gets hurt. West is great, I dont have any doubts about his skill translating, and the other three have enough experience that its low odds any of them are a below-replacement albatross. If someone does get hurt though, this gets weird there are so many bodies in the room they should find somebody to play, but every one has some screwloose story which leaves me thinking its about even odds that they get completely skunked.LinebackersAfter years and years of the LB corps being impractically overstuffed (and to the detriment of the DL units), this is refreshingly straightforward although in terms of demonstrated, quality production I think the staff could have used one more proven guy and theyre going to be crossing their fingers someone steps up late in their career.#10 LB Omosigho comes over from Oklahoma where Coach Venables defensive system uses linebackers so extensively and effectively that this peculiar thing can be said: Omosigho has, for three straight years, been only the fourth most active out of at least five linebackers for the Sooners, and yet, in terms of absolute production was in the top 15% of all FBS tacklers over that time. Both of us figure him as a lock for the starting MIKE.Michael and I agreed that the next two most athletically capable are the two returners, who were backup and depth pieces last year at UCLA, #9 LB J. Woods and #0 LB Pellot (the two starters have both departed, they used a MIKE/WILL system though neither wore the green dot helmet, that was a safety, while Woods and Pellot came in for either position as needed).It would take some time to go through but it suffices to say, for reasons related to how counterproductively overstuffed this room has been Im willing to believe that neither are write-offs yet despite getting pretty late in their careers without major levels of meaningful-time production. This would be the year for a breakthrough for one or both, and as Michael put it on the podcast, the best thing would be for that to happen because they just move better than the second experienced transfer and culture guy.In that hes referring to JMU transfer #56 LB Spinogatti. He took over as starter about two-thirds of the way through last season after playing as a rotational backup at first the guy who was ahead of Spinogatti was something of a wild man who had a great burst and hit brutally, and could take over games one week he had a dozen tackles but could also misread the play or whiff on tackles. Eventually the staff turned the job over to Spinogatti, who was the opposite an athletic cap to be sure, but good diagnosis and sure tackler.Both of us saw this dynamic potentially repeating in 2026 Spinogatti at first kept in reserve as the backup MIKE behind Omosigho where he probably wont be needed that much, to be the opportunistic understudy ready to take over if Woods and/or Pellot dont step up and play at a satisfactory level at WILL. It wouldnt be optimal because of Spinogattis athletic ceiling, but itd be better than counterproductive play and this staff has done it before.SecondaryLast year the peripatetic CB coach Demetrice Martin stuffed the secondary to the gills with talent, so much so that it was inevitable that about half the additions Michael and I discussed as exciting, producting players would barely see the field. That was exactly what happened, and so Im not sure why I was surprised, and yet I was maybe because other than the coachs son and former Duck #4 DB C. Martin, the guys who actually did start were almost precisely the opposite half of the ones I figured would.Its looking like the new staff is going to inherit four starters and yet make some substantial re-arrangements of the secondary. The only one they lose for sure is covid super senior Key Lawrence, the free safety. Martin fils returns to his strong safety role, and another former Duck, #2 CB Pleasant, should return to the corner rotation in a prominent position since he started there last year, though he missed the last two games with injury and there might be a need for him at nickel.Last years scheme was a lot more zone oriented and used the nickel and strong safety to spin up and down in response to motion without crossing the field, or as a response to a formation into the boundary would have the strong safety playing high, so in many ways those positions were more of three-headed safety. JMUs man scheme had the nickel playing more like an inside corner in single coverage, and I think its starting and backup personnel at UCLA will switch to drawing from the corners.Also complicating matters is that the (somewhat unexpected) starter at the nickel safety position last year, #1 DB S. Jackson, has missed the last three weeks of Spring ball, according to Michael, while the staff has brought in two transfers he said the staff is in love with: JMU transfer #32 DB Barksdale who played nickel last year, and Virginia Tech transfer #21 CB Lovett who was a two-year backup in 2023-24 then bounced early when VTs coach was fired a couple weeks into the season. That might endanger Jackson having a job at either the nickel or corner spots, or if he gets one, could put another one of last years starters, Pleasant or #3 CB Stafford out of a job.On the other hand, it gives them absurd levels of depth at the position, as in addition to the five experienced DBs for two spots already mentioned, they have four more: one was a backup as a true freshman at UConn, one replaced Pleasant when he missed the last two games in 2025, one was a quality corner for the Montana State team which won a national title, and the last is real weird and I thought would have started last year. Nine guys for two spots is half again what would be needed for a room made of unproven guys to be comfortable that a team will find quality, playable starters and backups; for all nine to be proven players makes this massive overkill for depth.The same is essentially true for the two safety positions, though with more certainty at the starters and the attendant shorter tail for depth. In addition to Martin returning, #6 DB T. Johnson transfers in from Utah to play effectively the same position that he did last year. The three backups all have experience and something to prove #27 DB T. James was having a good season at Iowa State but got hurt, #12 DB Hartford was a two-year backup at nickel for Ohio State then the Buckeyes eliminated his job so a freshman corner could get reps, and #28 DB Rivera has been a highly productive senior FCS starter.
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