UCLA Football Defensive Lineman Hayden Harris Enters Transfer Portal
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Another Bruin is on his way out after an extended stay in Westwood.
UCLA football defensive lineman Hayden Harris is entering the NCAA transfer portal, he announced Wednesday on Twitter. Harris just finished his fourth season with the Bruins, making the first three appearances of his career in 2022.
Harris has two years of eligibility remaining and will receive his undergraduate degree in December. Harris is the fourth Bruin to enter the transfer portal this year, with offensive linemen Tyler Manoa and Baraka Beckett doing so in early October and quarterback Chase Artopoeus submitting his name on Tuesday.
"In one week, I will have officially graduated from UCLA and will have completed my 4th season of playing football as a Bruin," Harris wrote in his announcement. "I would like to take this opportunity to thanks Coach Kelly, Coach Kauhaahaa, and the entire strength staff for developing me and believing in me as a player. My family and I have decided it is in my better interest to enter the transfer portal and explore future opportunities. Thank you to my teammates and coaches for the past four years and allowing me to thrive not only as a football player, but as a man. I can't wait to get to work, and win at my future home!"
Like Artopoeus and the offensive linemen before him, Harris is permitted to enter the portal before it officially opens next Monday, due to the fact that he is a graduate transfer.
Harris was a two-star prospect coming out of Eastside Catholic High School (WA) in 2019, according to 247Sports, where he earned all-league honors as a wide receiver, linebacker and quarterback.
Black Hills State, Colorado School of Mines, Redlands and Simon Fraser were the other schools who offered Harris coming out of high school, while Arizona State and Oregon also spent some time recruiting him.
Across his first three seasons in Westwood, Harris did not see the field for any in-game action. After moving from the edge to the interior, Harris made his collegiate debut against Alabama State on Sept. 10, before he made additional appearances against Colorado and Stanford.
The Bruins have two other interior defensive lineman slated to leave the program this offseason – sixth-year Martin Andrus Jr., who has exhausted his collegiate eligibility barring another surprise medical redshirt waiver, and last year’s graduate transfer super senior from Harvard, Jacob Sykes. UCLA made it through most of the season without Harris and Andrus in the rotation, but their departures combined with Sykes’ will ding the unit’s depth.
Only one class of 2023 defensive lineman is currently verbally committed to the Bruins – three-star AJ Fuimaono, who is the lowest-rated of the team’s 10 commits.
That means UCLA will likely have to turn to the portal themselves in order to round out the position group. UPenn defensive end Jake Heimlicher committed on Tuesday and could be an option if the staff decides to move him inside, but more additions are likely necessary at this point.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF HAYDEN HARRIS/TWITTER
