The Bruins have lost their first body up front.
Center Beau Taylor put his name into the NCAA transfer portal on Monday, setting the stage for him to depart from UCLA football (8-4, 6-3 Pac-12) after three years in the program. Taylor did not play in a single game across those three seasons and was primarily a scout team player for the past two.
Based on other players in similar situations, it is believed that Taylor has three years of eligibility remaining.
Taylor's younger brother, Jake, is a class of 2022 Oklahoma commit who reaffirmed his pledge to the Sooners on Friday despite coach Lincoln Riley's recent move to USC.
UCLA has now had eight players enter the portal, and with Taylor joining the fray, seven of them are from out of state. Taylor went to Bishop Gorman (NV) for high school ball, while edge rusher Myles Jackson is from Georgia, defensive lineman AJ Campbell is from Ohio, punter Luke Akers is from Tennessee, quarterback Parker McQuarrie in from New Hampshire, safety DJ Warnell is from Texas and defensive lineman Tyler Kiehne is from New Mexico. Only cornerback Shamar Martin is from California.
Taylor came to Westwood as a guard, but was moved to center by offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Justin Frye and the rest of the staff. According to the 247Sports Composite, Taylor was the No. 55 guard in the country and No. 1,032 overall recruit in the class of 2019, while also coming in as the No. 6 player in Nevada.
The Bruins' 2019 class ranked No. 40 in the country and No. 6 in the Pac-12 in the 247Sports Composite, and Taylor was the 10th highest-rated prospect in the 21-man group.
Coming out of high school, Taylor had scholarship offers from Boise State, BYU, Indiana, Louisville, Nevada, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah State and Washington State as well as interest from Kentucky, USC and Vanderbilt.
Taylor was buried on the depth chart this past year, with Jon Gaines II and Duke Clemens eating up most of the snaps at center after starter Sam Marrazzo went down with a season-ending injury in September. Bruno Fina was ahead of him on the depth chart as well.
Even when the Bruins were without Marrazzo, Clemens or the then-incoming freshman class back in spring camp, Taylor was still only the third-team center. Left guard Paul Grattan may be out of eligibility, but there are still another five guards set to be under scholarship in 2022.
The only offensive lineman currently in UCLA's 2022 recruiting class is Sam Yoon, though, who plays offensive tackle.
While the Bruins could possibly lose both starting tackles, Sean Rhyan and Alec Anderson, to the NFL Draft this offseason, the interior is much more stable outside of Grattan's impending departure. Now, with Taylor leaving as well, UCLA does have slightly less depth on the inside up front.
The technical rules in terms of scholarships and transfers are complicated enough in a normal year, but with super seniors still a thing and COVID-19 eligibility extensions being granted across the country, it gets even more messy. Essentially, schools are allowed to add up to 25 new scholarship players each cycle, but that number goes up for every outgoing transfer.
That figure maxes out at 32, however, and with eight players in the transfer portal, the Bruins are at the point where they will not be able to replace any additional departures should any more players declare their intentions to leave the program.
Catch up on all the transfer market news related to UCLA at All Bruins' transfer portal tracker.
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