Chip Kelly to Ohio State: Who Arizona Football could get from UCLA in the transfer portal
By Mason Duhon
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Newcombe is an Arizona native from the Phoenix area who's been with UCLA for three years. The former three-star prospect held offers from Army, Air Force, Columbia, and Yale — four schools that require an athlete to be just as much of a star off the field as they are on it. The most important offer for our purposes, though, was the one he earned from Danny Gonzales' staff at New Mexico.
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Newcombe didn't play at all in his first year in 2021, but played in 10 games in each of the last two seasons as both a reserve defensive back and a special teams player. These are actually both positions of need for Arizona: the losses of cornerback Ephesians Prysock and special teamer Anthony Ward to Washington leaves a clear opening for Newcombe's services. He's a bit shorter than Prysock and smaller than Ward, but the combination of his skill sets would fit Arizona.
Newcombe would be the easiest to get out of this group of three based on both his limited production but high upside and Arizona's proximity to his hometown.
Davies is easily the most talented of the five listed players, and has been since he was in high school. The 6-foot tall, 180-pound former four-star prospect was highly touted in high school and first signed with Oregon over schools like Alabama, Florida State, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, UCLA, and, of course, Arizona. He spent one season in Eugene before taking his talents to sunny Los Angeles where he cracked the starting lineup by the end of his first season.
In 2023, Davies' first in his collegiate career as a full-time starter, he saw action in all 13 games with 12 starts and didn't have to play special teams at all during the season for the first time. He logged a team-high six pass breakups and hauled in his first career interception in Week 1 against Coastal Carolina. He's certainly in line for a much bigger role at UCLA with the departures of fellow DBs Kamari Ramsey and John Humphrey for USC and William Nimmo for San Diego State.
However, with UCLA's former head coach becoming a coordinator in the same conference — remember, UCLA will be joining the Big Ten in the fall — and the Bruins poised to find far less success than Arizona, Davies may want to jump ship a second time and he would have a home in Tucson.
Oluwafemi Oladejo — who goes by the nickname "Femi" — only spent the 2023 season at UCLA after spending two seasons at Cal. Oladejo was a three-star prospect coming out of high school who held offers from Army and Cal, two schools who require their players to be the complete package. More importantly, though, are a trio of other offers he received: Arizona, New Mexico, and San Jose State. This means that he's familiar with Arizona Football and its facilities, former San Jose State coaches Brent Brennan (Arizona HC) and Alonzo Carter (Arizona RBs/Assistant HC), and Gonzales (Arizona LBs/ST Coordinator) formerly of New Mexico.
Oladejo's 2023 season saw a slight downtick in production from his 2022 season at Cal. In 2023, he played in all 13 games, but only started four of them. Compare that with 2022, where he played in all 12 games for the Golden Bears and logged a career-high 10 starts. He posted 15 fewer tackles, 4.5 fewer TFLs, and just 0.5 sacks in his first season at UCLA. However, he an interception, defended four passes, and recovered two fumbles — all career-firsts.
After a season that saw him not used as efficiently as before and an opportunity to join two coaches that believed in him since he was an unfinished high school prospect, Oladejo very well could be suiting up in an Arizona uniform come fall.