Jaguars HC Coen Provides Insight on How UCLA Bruins Prospects Are Evaluated

In the era of the transfer portal and NIL, Liam Coen shared how teams are evolving their evaluation process, which affects UCLA prospects.

Feb 25, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen speaks during the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

There are five players representing the Bruins at the NFL Combine. Carson Schwesinger, Kain Medrano, Oluwafemi Oladejo, Jay Toia and Moliki Matavao are set to undergo a series of evaluations including mental, physical and public relation testing.

Liam Coen, head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, understands the changing world of college football. While he cut his teeth in the NFL, his name first achieved national acclaim after Coen became the Kentucky Wildcats offensive coordinator in 2021 and 2023, after returning to the Los Angeles Rams for a brief stint in 2022.

Coen's return to collegiate football put him front and center for the evolution of the sport known as the transfer portal and NIL. Considering that many players attended and played for multiple programs, there is a belief that teams are hesitant to draft players due to a lack of stability and proper coaching.

However, when I asked Coen about how the portal and NIL have impacted his evaluations of players, he gave a refreshing answer.

“I don't know if it's the readiness, but it's definitely something we have to be aware of, right?" Coen said. "It's not going anywhere, and it's absolutely something that we have to be aware of when it comes to: How do we onboard our players? The individual development program that we have, whether it's through strength, the athletic training, the coaching staff, the personnel.

"It's the onboarding process that we have to be really detailed about and make sure that we're vetting the right players, right? Why did they move? Why were they going from place to place? A lot of guys
are just trying to climb and go get better for themselves. So, it's more about the onboarding process and really kind of how do we evaluate these players, not more so where they've been.”

Coen's words have provided a refreshing take that has been shared by some of the modern coaches in the NFL. As college football changes, front offices are adjusting and reforming their once-held views in order to gain top talents and solid members of the locker room.

So, for players like Oladejo and Matavao, how they got to UCLA matters very little, but what they did once they got there is the ultimate evaluation factor.

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