Where Are These UCLA Transfers Playing This Season? Part 6

The 2025 college football season is nigh, and UCLA is entering the year with high hopes following a star-studded transfer class headlined by Nico Iamaleava.

Much like every program in Division I college football nowadays, the Bruins also lost some talent to the transfer portal. Finishing its first season in the Big Ten with a 5-7 record and poised to come in looking better next season, let's take a look at the talent that UCLA lost this season.

Niki Prongos, OT, Stanford Cardinal

Prongos didn't get his feet set with UCLA until just last season, as a redshirt sophomore. In 2024, he played in nine games and started in eight of them, the first starts of his collegiate career. He was all over the line, starting five games at left tackle, two games at right guard, and one game at right tackle.

This may prove to be a sizeable loss for the Bruins, but we don't expect it to really affect the starting frontline. Both from in-house and through the transfer portal, the Bruins have a starting offensive line filled with experience and upside. This was a mutually beneficial split, if you ask me.

Tavake Tuikolovatu, OT, Kansas Jayhawks

Tuikolovatu is a similar loss for UCLA as Prongos. He was a familiar figure in the Bruins' offensive line, appearing in 12 games, but only made one start and was a regular backup last season as a redshirt freshman.

In 2023, his true freshman season, Tuikolovatu played in just one game against North Carolina Central. Again, as they did throughout the transfer portal, UCLA and DeShaun Foster completely overhauled much of the offensive line with experienced players. Losing Tuikolovatu shouldn't prove to be too drastic of a loss.

Sitiveni Havili-Kaufusi, DL, Oklahoma State Cowboys

Lastly, Havili-Kaufasi entered the portal in mid-December and committed to the Cowboys in January. The rising six-year senior enters Oklahoma State after playing his entire career with the Bruins and being notably impactful the last two.

Last season, he played in 11 games and started three of them, finishing with 10 tackles (five solo, five assisted) and 1.0 tackles for loss. The season prior, he appeared in nine games and was credited with five tackles on the season.

Though he was a familiar face in the rotation, his role ahead of this season was going to be unclear considering the transfers UCLA brought in on the trenches