UCLA Bruin fans are rightly salivating over their phones seeing notifications of James Madison players entering the transfer portal. The salivation didn’t slow down on Saturday with defensive end Sahir West hitting the transfer portal after a fantastic fresham season with the Dukes.
West was a Freshman All-American, as well as being named the Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year, also getting a Second Team All-Sun Belt nod. West is a tank, listed at 6’4” and 270 lbs and found success in Colin Hitschler’s defense.
Hitschler is coming with Bob Chesney to UCLA, taking over as the Bruins defensive coordinator after one season at James Madison. West put up 45 tackles in his redshirt freshman season, with seven sacks. West also defensed four passes and forced a fumble, wrecking Sun Belt Conference offensive lines all season long.
A talent like that will be very highly sought after in the transfer portal, so UCLA will have to pony up the NIL funds to sway the Baltimore, Maryland native to move across the country to join a program that went 3-9 last season. That’s where Chesney makes a difference, if he’s able to sway West, and a few other James Madison players (looking at you, Wayne Knight) then UCLA should field a much more competitive team for the 2026 season.
West and a few other Dukes players won’t be enough on their own to move UCLA to the top of the Big Ten Conference, but it will go a long ways in establishing the Bruins as something more than just a pushover and help build Chesney’s culture in Westwood.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: James Madison’s Sahir West is UCLA’s No. 1 target in the portal
Reporting by Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
