UCLA Football Could Have Two Legit WR1 Options

Bob Chesney needed to go into the portal and find players who would be good for the Bruins for next year and for the future. For this upcoming season, Chesney was able to bring in two guys through the transfer portal, Leland Smith and Landon Ellis, who are both experienced and talented enough to be the number one option on the outside for the Bruins.

Leland Smith

Coming out of high school in the 2022 class, Smith took the JUCO route, attending Fullerton College as a freshman. At Fullerton, he would have a great season: in nine games, he would lead the Hornets in receiving yards with 655 and 72.8 yards per game, and in touchdowns with just 26 receptions.

After his freshman year at Fullerton, he would transfer to Purdue, but wouldn't have the same level of production there. For a Purdue team that went 1-11, Smith would have just six receptions for 72 yards and two touchdowns.

Smith would then enter the transfer portal, end up at San Jose State for his junior year, and have a bounce-back season. With the Spartans, he would be the wide receiver with 43 receptions, 688 yards, and three touchdowns.

Overall, as he enters his senior season, Smith is a deep-ball threat, having multiple games last year with 35-yard receptions and two with 40-yard receptions. He should be a great player along the outside as he will give Nico Iamaleava a big-time threat to throw the ball deep.

Landon Ellis

Ellis spent his first two seasons of college football at the University of Richmond, where he would have a decent year as a freshman with 20 receptions for 214 yards and one touchdown, but would break out as a sophomore, doubling his receptions with 40, as well as having 588 yards and four touchdowns.

Ellis would then land at James Madison and play under Bob Chesney, where he would have an even better statistical season with 36 receptions, a team-high 624 yards, and five touchdowns.

Now that Bob Chesney has taken the UCLA job, it wasn't long before Ellis followed his coach to Westwood, as he already knows the system and thrived under Chesney's offense. Ellis is a player who can do everything on the field. He can run deep routes, is a good route runner, can line up in the slot, is good after the catch, and is a decent red zone threat.

With both Ellis and Smith along the outside, UCLA might have two number-one receiving options for Iamaleava, rather than a number-one and a number-two receiving option.