What’s Bruin: Two UCLA Football Linebackers Enter the Transfer Portal

I hope that you are enjoying your Tuesday morning. Catch up on What’s Bruin in the world of UCLA athletics as the fall season winds down and basketball plays its final set of games before the conference schedule begins in the new year.

UCLA Football

With the season now over, two Bruin linebackers have announced their intention to transfer. Senior Tyree Thompson, who missed this season due to a foot injury, announced a graduate transfer yesterday afternoon on Twitter.

Two hours later, true freshman Noah Keeter also took to Twitter to announce that he will be leaving UCLA as well.

Although the UCLA football season ended on another down note with three straight losses and an overall 4-8 record, the Bruin brass is preparing for the early signing period, which opens on December 18 at 7 am and ends on December 20 at 11:59 p.m.

Obviously, the next 16 days will be a critical time for the UCLA coaching staff to not only keep its existing commits, but potentially lock up some new ones. The Bruins are currently ranked as the 30th class in the nation by 247Sports.

UCLA Women’s Soccer

The #2 seeded UCLA Women’s soccer team (18-4-1) shocked the #1 seeded Florida State Seminoles (18-6) in Friday’s NCAA quarterfinal match in Tallahassee. Although the Seminoles were 47-1-1 all time in NCAA postseason matches on their home field, UCLA shocked the Seminole faithful by absolutely dominating Florida State in every facet of the game in a 4-0 victory. UCLA freshman Mia Fishel and UCLA senior Chloe Castaneda both had braces for the Bruins.

By knocking off the defending National Champions, the Bruins earned a bid to the “Final Four” of NCAA women’s soccer, the Women’s College Cup, where they will meet their nemesis: the Stanford Cardinal. North Carolina and Washington State will play in the other semifinal.

That’s right, three of the four college cup teams are from the Pac-12. The Bruins are riding a nine-game winning streak. Their last loss was to Stanford in Palo Alto. Now, the teams will have a rematch at Avaya Stadium in San Jose. The game kicks off on Friday, December 6th, at 6:30 pm PT and will be televised in ESPNU.

UCLA Women’s Volleyball

After beating Southern Cal in straight sets (25-22; 25-17; 28-26) at the Galen Center on Friday, the UCLA Women’s volleyball team (18-11, 13-7 PAC 12) was selected to play in the NCAA postseason on Sunday.

The Bruins, who finished 4th in the Pac-12 travel to Madison, Wisconsin where they will face Notre Dame on Friday, December 6th at 2:30 pm PT. If UCLA wins, they will play the next day against the winner of Wisconsin versus Illinois State.

UCLA Women’s Basketball

The UCLA women’s basketball team (7-0) beat Virginia on the road on Sunday by the score of 73-62. The #11 ranked Bruins remain undefeated on the season. With the win, the Bruins won the 2019 Cavalier Classic.

Next up for the team is a road game much closer to home, over the Hollywood Hills to Cal State Northridge to take on the Matadors on Saturday, December 7th. Tip-off is at 4:00 pm PT.

Quick Hitters

Junior Mac May was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for UCLA Women’s volleyball.

No matter how the Bruins fare in the Women’s College Cup, UCLA junior Ashley Sanchez will have a busy weekend following that contest because she was called up for the United States Women’s National Team’s Identification camp the weekend of December 9-14. Also called into that camp are former players Hailie Mace ‘15-’18) and Sarah Killion (‘11-’14).

UCLA is celebrating its 100 year anniversary with a major ad campaign in New York’s Times Square.

And that’s What’s Bruin today in UCLA sports.


Go Bruins!