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UCLA Football Scores Harvard Defensive Lineman Jacob Sykes Through Transfer Portal

Sykes was a member of the All-Ivy League First Team in 2021 after racking up 7.0 sacks and 8.0 tackles for loss.

Benjamin Royer

(Photo Courtesy of Jacob Sykes/Twitter)

The Bruins nabbed another defensive piece out of the transfer portal, this time from the Ivy League.

UCLA football started its morning with an answer to yesterday’s coinciding “BOOM!” from Director of Player Personnel Ethan Young. Harvard defensive lineman Jacob Sykes announced his commitment to the Bruins through his Twitter account Tuesday, just days after taking an official visit to Westwood.

The grad transfer joins Wyoming cornerback Azizi Hearn, Hawaii linebacker Darius Muasau and Washington edge rusher Laiatu Latu in becoming the fourth player to join the defense through the transfer portal.

Last season with Harvard, Sykes competed in all ten of the Crimson’s games, receiving First Team All-Ivy League honors and earning 2021 FCS ADA Academic All-Star Team honors off the field.

Sykes accumulated 27 tackles, 7.0 sacks, 8.0 tackles for loss, and one forced fumble while helping lead the Crimson to eight wins this past fall. Sykes also played in 2018 and 2019, but because of the Ivy League’s decision to drop out of competition in 2020 due to COVID-19, the Kansas City native lost a year of action.

As a high school recruit, Sykes was a three-star prospect, according to the 247Sports Composite. The 6-foot-3, 277-pound lineman was ranked as the No. 1,410 player in the country, No. 103 defensive lineman and No. 14 recruit overall in Missouri coming out of Rockhurst High School (MO).

Earning offers from a plethora of Ivy League schools, including Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton and his eventual undergraduate selection of Harvard, Sykes also grabbed offers from Northwestern, Northern Illinois and Rutgers at the FBS level.

Sykes could play a major role in the Bruins’ defensive structure with a yet-to-be-introduced defensive coordinator eventually joining the group and first-year defensive line coach Chad Kauha'aha'a signing on with the Bruins in December. Sykes only has one year of eligibility remaining.

Defensive linemen Otito Ogbonnia, Datona Jackson, AJ Campbell, Tyler Kiehne, John Ward and Tiaoalii Savea have all left the front lines due to graduation, the transfer portal or the NFL Draft, in addition to losing six more starters in the linebacking corps and secondary.

Tyler Manoa, Martin Andrus Jr. and Jay Toia will likely step up into more regular roles alongside Odua Isibor and now Sykes, but the previously deep group has considerably fewer bodies at this point in the offseason.

With an already small 2022 recruiting class entering in the fall and zero freshman defensive linemen signed on, UCLA will likely continue to look through the transfer portal to fill the remaining scholarship spots on the roster, especially within the recently depleted front seven.

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Benjamin Royer
BENJAMIN ROYER

Benjamin Royer is a contributing writer at All Bruins, in association with the FanNation and Sports Illustrated networks. Royer is a third-year student at UCLA, where he is a Sports contributor for the school's award-winning student-run newspaper, The Daily Bruin. Royer was previously the Sports Editor at The Valley Star, Los Angeles Valley College's independent newspaper, and he helped develop the Twinger Talk YouTube channel and The Double Play podcast. He is also a professional actor, previously appearing in programs on Showtime, ABC, Disney Channel, FOX and CBS.

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