Army Transfer RB Anthony Adkins Picks Up Offer From UCLA Football
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The regular season may only be at its midpoint, but the Bruins are already starting to look to the transfer portal.
Former Army running back Anthony Adkins has received an offer from UCLA football, the transfer candidate announced Thursday. Adkins entered the portal back in April after playing three seasons with the Black Knights.
The 6-foot-1, 245-pound ball-carrier also announced an offer from Washington earlier on Thursday.
According to 247Sports' Bruin Report Online, Adkins' offers from UCLA and Washington were not exactly recent, and that they were merely publicly announced Friday.
Adkins appeared in 25 games for Army from 2019 to 2021, rushing for 693 yards and 10 touchdowns on 136 carries. The Hodgenville, Kentucky, native was able to produce that much despite only being the fifth option in the backfield because of the Black Knights' famed reliance on the ground attack.
The best games of Adkins' career came in 2020 when he went for 70 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries against Abilene Christian, in 2020 when he went for 101 yards and a touchdown on eight carries against UT San Antonio and in 2021 when he went for 93 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries against Wake Forest. That performance against the Demon Deacons included a 71-yard touchdown in what turned out to be a 70-56 loss.
Adkins does not have a reception in his collegiate career, and he played a prototypical power back role for Army.
Coming out of high school, Adkins was a three-star prospect with additional offers from Georgia State, Air Force, Bowling Green, Louisville, Western Kentucky and William & Mary.
UCLA has been heavily reliant on transfer running backs ever since coach Chip Kelly took over in 2018, starting with Joshua Kelley, who came over from UC Davis. After Kelley came Duke's Brittain Brown in 2020, and Michigan's Zach Charbonnet arrived in 2021.
That trio has accounted for 69.3% of the team's running back yards, 76.1% of their touchdowns and 64.5% of their carries since 2018 – Demetric Felton has been the only homegrown running back to put up consistent numbers under Kelly.
Kelley left after 2019, Felton left after 2020, Brown left after 2021 and Charbonnet is likely NFL-bound this coming offseason. That will leave a production vacuum in UCLA's backfield, and it is one that Adkins could help fill if he decides to join the Bruins for the 2023 season.
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