UCLA Football Recruiting: Devin Aupiu Transfers from Notre Dame

The Oxnard product is coming home after initially heading to South Bend.

(Photo Credit: @TritonsFootball)

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It appears that there is a trend in college football where freshmen are changing their minds about where they want to go to school before ever playing a game of college football. It’s a result of the NCAA Transfer Portal.

The Bruins benefitted from this earlier this year when Jay Toia transferred from Southern Cal to UCLA. The most famous case of this came in 2019 when Bru McCoy signed with and enrolled at Southern Cal, but transferred to Texas weeks later where he participated in Spring Practice, only to transfer back to Southern Cal during the summer.

Well, yesterday, UCLA picked up another transfer who had originally committed to the Bruins when outside linebacker Devin Aupiu announced that he has transferred to UCLA from Notre Dame.

Aupiu had committed to UCLA last April, but flipped to the Fighting Irish shortly before the Early Signing Period. According to Greg Biggins of 247 Sports, Aupiu enrolled early in South Bend, but entered the transfer portal in June.

Biggins writes that, when Aupiu committed, Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator was Clark Lea, who coincidentally had two stints on the UCLA coaching staff in 2005 to 2006 and from 2009 to 2011, but Lea left Notre Dame to become the head coach at Vanderbilt after Aupiu signed. Marcus Freeman was hired from Cincinnati to replace Lea and is introducing a new defensive scheme in South Bend.

Aupiu explained his decision to Biggins:

I came in there expecting to play defensive end but they moved me around a little and had me at outside linebacker. It wasn’t just that though, like I said, Notre Dame is a great place but I just wasn’t as comfortable out there as I expected to be.

With UCLA, I have such a strong comfort level there with all the coaches I’ve known for awhile and being closer to home with my family. I went to UCLA practices Friday and Saturday and was hoping for the best. We had to wait on compliance to approve my admissions and once they did, I jumped on the opportunity to be back at UCLA.

Aupiu also told Biggins that he began summer classes on Monday and he is cleared and ready to begin practice today.

Welcome back to Westwood, Devin!


Go Bruins!!!

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