Alex

Akingbulu

Akingbulu left UCLA in the summer of 2018, and it wasn’t necessarily on his own terms, as he was reportedly told there wasn’t a spot on the roster for him. He’s never played in a college football game, but the former three-star recruit should get a chance to play for the Bulldogs, and maybe even compete for a starting spot. Because he’s leaving with his degree, he can play immediately, and he has two years of eligibility remaining.

This would appear to be a UCLA decision rather than a player decision, as Pierson passes along that Akingbulu and two others were “informed there wasn’t a spot for them on the team.” The 6-foot-5, 285-pounder arrived on campus as a three-star recruit in Jim Mora’s 2016 class. After taking a redshirt for that campaign, he sustained a serious knee injury which kept him out of action for the most recent season. Akingbulu was actually being penciled in as the starting right guard when spring practice opened, but he was unable to maintain his consistency and ended up sliding down to the second string in April. A transfer could potentially be in the works, here.