UCLA Football: Massive News As 10 Bruins Added to Senior Bowl Watchlist
Ten UCLA football players have been selected for the Senior Bowl watchlist in anticipation of the 2024 season. The Senior Bowl provides a platform for promising NFL draft prospects to showcase their skills in front of NFL scouts and representatives, allowing them to make a notable impression ahead of the draft and NFL combine.
1ī¸âŖ0ī¸âŖ Bruins named to the @SeniorBowl Watch List đ
âšī¸: https://t.co/SZqRuI94OJ #GoBruins pic.twitter.com/xOu47bELkF
— UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) August 21, 2024
A total of 859 prospects have been added to the 2025 Senior Bowl watch list, up from 720 players last year. Ole Miss leads all programs with 21 players on the list. The event will be held on February 1 in Mobile, Alabama.
In the 2024 Senior Bowl, former UCLA defensive end Laiatu Latu was the sole representative for the Bruins. Latu, who earned the title of Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and ranked fourth in the FBS with 13 sacks, was the first defensive player selected in the 2024 NFL Draft, picked No. 15 overall by the Indianapolis Colts.
This year’s watch list features ten Bruins: offensive lineman Josh Carlin, wide receivers Logan Loya and J. Michael Sturdivant, linebackers Kain Medrano, Oluwafemi Oladejo, and Joseph Vaugh, tight end Bryce Pierre, and defensive linemen Gary Smith III, Jay Toia, and Keanu Williams.
Carlin makes the list as he shifts to center on the offensive line. Loya and Sturdivant were UCLA’s leading receivers last season, combining for 1,252 yards. Pierre is a new addition after transferring from Arizona State.
On defense, Medrano, Toia, and Oladejo are expected to be among the team’s key players. Vaughn was acquired from Yale, joining Smith and Williams to strengthen a Bruins front seven that lost several standout players, including Latu, Grayson Murphy, Gabriel Murphy, and Darius Muasau.
Several Bruins also appeared on other 2024 preseason watch lists, with Sturdivant earning a spot on the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose watch list and Oladejo making the Butkus Award watch list.
The Bruins will kick off their season on August 31, playing their first game at Hawaii.