UCLA Football: Bruins Courting Former Georgia Tech Defensive Back
Defensive back K.J. Wallace took to his official X account to announce he had received an offer from UCLA after he decided to enter the transfer portal on December 29th.
Prior to his redshirt junior 2023 season at Georgia Tech, where he posted 42 tackles and 8 passes defended, Wallace was at Notre Dame for a couple of seasons. The traveled veteran has one year of eligibility remaining. Standing at 5-11 about 185 pounds, Wallace has played mostly nickel cornerback at Notre Dame and Georgia Tech.
UCLA will be competing against Wisconsin and Oklahoma State to land Wallace, as both of those schools have extended an offer to Wallace since he entered the portal.
Wallace, an Atlanta native, will have a good chance at landing a starting role should he choose to join the Bruins. Many of the starters in the Bruin secondary have played their last snap at UCLA, like senior safety Kenny Churchwell III and senior starting nickleback Alex Johnson.
Bruins head coach Chip Kelly has repeatedly expressed his intent to fill the holes of an underwhelming 2024 recruiting class with players like K.J. Wallace. Landing Wallace would be a huge get for the Bruins, who desperately need more talent on the defensive side of the ball given the departure of a few key components of that group.
2023 UCLA defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn is now at USC, as is former UCLA safety Kamari Ramsey. The Bruins also lost their three best pass rushers to the NFL draft. Landing K.J. Wallace is imperative to Kelly's strategy at UCLA, a strategy that's served him pretty well thus far.
