Looking for a breakout from these Bruins

Greg Biggins, the 247Sports.com college football recruiting analyst whois one of the best in the nation at what he does, likes to say that you need dudes to win big.

- BEN BOLCH

EFFICIENCY is key for Nico Iamaleava in his first season as UCLA quarterback.

No one has won anational championship in the College Football Playoff era whose roster wasn’t at least halfway stocked with fourand five-star players. Only a handful of teams have made the title game without meeting that blue-chip ratio— and they've been walloped.

“So you've got to have dudes, you have to have talent,” Biggins recently told The Times. “Coaching and development is huge, but you take coaching and development with guys who look like [star Ohio State wide receiver] Jeremiah Smith, now that’s a different level altogether.”

As UCLA's DeShaun Foster prepares to open his second season as the head coach at his alma mater, he’s increasingly replenished his roster with dudes. Transfer quarterback Nico Tamaleava is a five-star talent, and 13 other players who arrived through the transfer portal were rated as four stars either coming out ofhigh schoolorasa transfer.

While the Bruins’ bluechip ratio still falls well short 0f 50%, it’s creeping upward. But as Biggins mentioned, coaching and development also matter. Former UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger, who received zero stars coming out ofhigh school, isnow with the Cleveland Browns after being selected in the second round of the NFL draft.

For the Bruins to have the breakthrough they're seeking under Foster, they willneed both blue-chippers and lessheralded prospects to emerge as stars. Here are 10 players who must become dudes for UCLA to succeed in 2025:

Offense