One of UCLA’s biggest offseason chores was obvious: fix linebacker. The Bruins lost Isaiah Chisom and Benjamin Perry through the transfer portal, and JonJon Vaughns to graduation, stripping away two of last season’s leading tacklers and a useful depth piece in Perry. That made keeping Jalen Woods in the fold even more important.
Woods gives Bob Chesney something you can’t buy in the portal: continuity. He was already one of the top three players on UCLA’s defense last season, and with him back, the linebacker group has a chance to be not just deeper, but far more seasoned heading into the next year.
A homegrown product out of St. John Bosco in Bellflower, California, Woods came to UCLA as a 3-star recruit who was knocking on the door of four-star status.
247Sports had him ranked No. 574 in the 2022 class, No. 55 among linebackers, and No. 42 in California. At Bosco, he was a leader and a force on defense, piling up 71 tackles, including 46 solo stops and 11.5 tackles for loss, while also flashing as a pass rusher with a career-best 6.5 sacks in his senior season.
He had options. Miami, Kansas, Arizona State, Boston College and Oregon all came calling. In the end, he stayed close to home and chose UCLA.
That decision came as Chip Kelly’s Bruins were on the rise. UCLA went 8-4 in 2021, then jumped to 9-3 in 2022 and reached as high as No. 9 in the country.
But Woods barely got on the field as a freshman, appearing in just two games in a reserve role. Even in limited snaps, he showed what he could do as a tackler and run stopper, finishing with six total tackles, five solo, and a tackle for loss.
His role expanded in year two. Woods played in all 12 games as a reserve, putting up 11 tackles, six solo, and two tackles for loss. He had three games with more than two tackles, doing it against San Diego State, NC Central and Cal.
The program then hit a rougher stretch off the field and on it. Dante Moore entered the transfer portal after the regular season and committed to Oregon, where he has since thrived and is considered a top selection in the 2027 NFL Draft.
A couple of months later, Kelly stepped down and took the offensive coordinator job at Ohio State, saying the head-coaching role in the NIL era was the reason for the move. UCLA quickly turned to former star player and assistant coach DeShaun Foster.
Woods stayed.
Under Foster, Woods took another step forward in his redshirt sophomore season, earning his first career start in the rivalry game against USC. He finished with 22 tackles, 15 solo stops, two tackles for loss and his first career sack, which came against Nebraska.
His best outing of the year also came against the Cornhuskers, when he logged four tackles, two solo, a tackle for loss and a sack. He also had four or more tackles against USC and Cal.
Then came a difficult year for the Bruins. UCLA went 3-9, and Foster was fired just three games into his second season.
Through the turbulence, Woods kept producing. He started full time and set career highs across the board: 47 tackles, 28 solo, 4.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks to tie for the team lead, and four pass deflections.
Now he’s set to play for his fourth head coach in Bob Chesney, and that makes Woods especially valuable. Chesney needs steady voices in the room as a wave of transfers arrives, and Woods is exactly that kind of player.
He’s improved every season, he tackles cleanly and consistently, and he has the kind of command that lets him wear the dot and direct the defense. In an era where players move fast and loyalty is getting harder to find, Woods has stayed put and kept getting better.
UCLA will need that in 2026.
In Other News...
UCLA Just Won A Four Star Recruiting Battle Fans Craved
UCLAs recruiting surge under Bob Chesney keeps showing up in the secondary, where the Bruins have made a clear point of stacking talent in the 2027 class. The group is already ranked inside the national top 20, and the emphasis on safeties and cornerbacks has helped give the class a stronger defensive spine than the program had coming into this cycle.
The latest addition came after Myles Baker toured multiple schools and then changed course, a sign the Bruins are winning more of the battles they need to win. Baker joins a secondary haul that now gives UCLA real depth and more flexibility on the back end, with three cornerbacks and three safeties in the class and another major piece added to a group that has quickly become one of the more promising parts of the rebuild. [Read more 🡒]
UCLA May Have Finally Found The Backfield Answer It Needed
UCLA has spent the offseason trying to remake its roster through the portal, and the backfield looks like one of the spots where that work could pay off quickly. Bob Chesney has already added 45 players, but the arrival of Wayne Knight from James Madison stands out as one of the more important pickups for an offense that needed help on the ground after a difficult year running the ball.
Knight arrives with the kind of resume that makes him easy to spotlight, and UCLA will pair him with returning backs Jaivian Thomas and Anthony Woods in hopes of giving the Bruins more balance. There is still a familiar question hanging over the move, though, because the next step is less about what Knight has already done than whether his game translates cleanly to the Big Ten grind. [Read more 🡒]