We’re less than four weeks away from the college football transfer portal window opening.  It’s a shortened winter window this year, too, opening from Dec. 9th to Dec. 28th.  Of course, once a player has submitted his name into the portal during that window he’s recruitable after that. Plus, any player from a program whose coach leaves gets an extra 30-day window to enter the portal and, of course, all graduate transfers can enter at any time. And there is also a portal window that opens in spring. 

Every college football team is, right now, focusing on trying to end its regular season on a good note. But with the reality of the transfer era, every program also has to take on getting fully prepared for the portal window, and that means getting all of its NIL ducks in a row. 

I’ve said it a few times: NIL prices are escalating at an inflation rate that would give any consumer sticker shock.  College football programs and their NIL Collectives had better be prepared, and armed with some considerable NIL funds to be competitive. 

For UCLA, there are some stark realities: knowing how NIL prices have inflated, UCLA is going to have to double or triple its NIL budget to just replace the talent level of this year’s team. That is, not only to pay NIL money for transfers, but to cover the escalating NIL prices of the players returning. Can you imagine what Carson Schwesinger could get in the transfer portal? Kwazi Gilmer?

Again, that’s just to secure the equivalent talent of this year’s team for next season.

As we’ve reported, UCLA is losing quite a lot of bodies after this season (GO HERE). There are 29 players who are exhausting their eligibility, and 15 starters.  

So, here are our projections on the players and positions that will be top priority for UCLA when it dives into the portal. I have to say, in the three years or so we’ve been doing this — projecting UCLA’s personnel needs in the transfer portal — this is by far the year with the most needs, and most dire needs.