UCLA Football Cornerback Patrick Jolly Enters NCAA Transfer Portal
Another defensive back is set to leave Westwood.
UCLA football cornerback Patrick Jolly Jr. entered the NCAA transfer portal Monday. The decision came on the first official day of spring break, with UCLA's winter quarter finals week ending Friday.
Jolly redshirted his freshman year in 2018 then appeared in 10 games in 2019 as a special teamer and reserve defensive back. Jolly played six out of seven games in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, then only played in one in 2021, giving him two years of eligibility remaining wherever he goes next.
Coming out of Newsome High School (FL), Jolly was categorized as a receiver by Rivals and an athlete by 247Sports. Both services had him listed as a three-star regardless, with the 247Sports Composite ranking him as the No. 73 athlete in the country, No. 135 recruit in Florida and No. 908 prospect in his class overall.
Jolly committed to UCLA in January 2018, not long after coach Chip Kelly and his staff came to Westwood.
In 17 career games at the collegiate level, Jolly has three tackles.
The Bruins' cornerback room was already set to lose major contributors this offseason, with Obi Eboh and Cam Johnson both running out of eligibility. The transfer portal has robbed UCLA of several other pieces, especially Jay Shaw, plus Shamar Martin.
None of the Bruins' incoming freshmen are true cornerbacks, leaving only Devin Kirkwood and Mo Osling III as the experienced players remaining at the position.
Wyoming transfer Azizi Hearn did commit to UCLA earlier in the offseason, though, and Oregon's Jaylin Davies committed just last week. But Hearn and Osling will be out of eligibility after this season, so Kirkwood and Davies are the only scholarship pieces who are projected to be around past 2022.
The Bruins have now had 17 players enter the portal since the end of the regular season, with 12 of them initially coming from out of state now that the Florida native Jolly is leaving as well. Defensive back Josh Moore and edge rusher Myles Jackson are from Georgia, offensive lineman Beau Taylor and defensive lineman Tia Savea are from Nevada, safety DJ Warnell is from Texas, defensive lineman AJ Campbell is from Ohio, punter Luke Akers is from Tennessee, quarterback Parker McQuarrie is from New Hampshire, defensive lineman Tyler Kiehne is from New Mexico, receiver Keontez Lewis is from Illinois and receiver Chase Cota is from Oregon.
The technical rules in terms of scholarships and transfers are complicated enough in a normal year, but with super seniors still a thing and COVID-19 eligibility extensions being granted across the country, it gets even more messy. Essentially, schools are allowed to add up to 25 new scholarship players each cycle, but that number goes up for every outgoing transfer.
That figure maxes out at 32, however, and with 17 players in the transfer portal, the Bruins are far past the point where they cannot replace additional departures should any more players declare their intentions to leave the program. Between the 11 incoming transfers and 11 signed recruits, UCLA has room to add as many as eight more transfers.
Catch up on all the transfer market news related to UCLA at All Bruins' transfer portal tracker.
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