As UCLA football enters its first year under coach Bob Chesney and third season in the Big Ten, Daily Bruin Sports will preview the personnel of the Bruins’ position groups and predict their 2026 outlook prior to the season’s Sept. 5 opening game against California. With kickoff less than a week away, the countdown to fans’ first official look at the status of UCLA’s defensive line – and who will step into its starting positions – is underway.
Personnel
Given its 3-6 conference record, it is no surprise that UCLA sat in the bottom quarter of Big Ten teams when it came to both offensive and defensive statistics last season.
But the Westwood squad was even beat out by Purdue, a program that did not eke out a single conference win in 2025, as well as the rest of the Big Ten in defensive line performance. The ten total sacks the Bruins recorded in 2025 were less than half of Michigan State’s 22 and a far cry from the conference-leading 46 Indiana posted.
In addition to the defensive line’s general lack of pressure on opposing quarterbacks, the unit struggled to hold the edge on rushing attacks last season and allowed an average of 134 yards on the ground per game in comparison to the 86 yards its offense recorded. The defensive line’s woes were further manifested in the mere 40 total tackles for loss it recorded in 2025 – another mark that sat dead last among Big Ten teams.
Overall, the Bruins ranked third-to-last nationally among Power Four teams in points allowed per game, leaving much to be desired entering the 2026 campaign.
First-year head coach Bob Chesney has overhauled UCLA’s coaching staff and roster in the offseason. Like most of the team’s revamped position groups, the defensive line room will be reminiscent of his former James Madison program.
At the helm is defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler, who followed Chesney from Harrisburg. Having helped earn College Football Playoff berths in 2025 at JMU and in 2021 at Cincinnati, Hitschler will take a crack at replicating that success with a Power Four team.
Joining Hitschler and Chesney from JMU is junior defensive end Sahir West. The 6-foot-3, 279-pound edge rusher was named a 2025 Freshman All-American and recorded 45 tackles, seven sacks and one forced fumble across 14 games – all of which he started – last year. West alone would have nearly doubled the Bruins’ sacking stats last season had he suited up in blue and gold.
On the interior, California transfer Tyson Ford has been tabbed as a likely starting tackle. Ford was a relatively low-impact player with the Bears in 2025, bagging three tackles across the seven games he played in. Prior to his season at Cal, Ford spent two years at Notre Dame, one of which he redshirted.
While Ford does not have the collegiate statistics to earn himself much of a reputation upon arriving in Westwood, he was a top high school prospect who has remained in high demand in his trips through the transfer portal.
Ford will likely be joined by Rutgers transfer senior tackle Darold DeNgohe, who recorded seven tackles across four games last season. The year prior to spending 2025 with the Scarlet Knights, he logged 28 tackles, one sack, and a blocked extra point as a redshirt freshman at JMU. Given his familiarity with a Chesney-led defensive scheme – in addition to a season of Big Ten experience, DeNgohe is likely to make an impact alongside Ford.
Texas Tech transfer senior Amier Washington and Ohio State transplant sophomore Maxwell Roy are also in contention for a starting tackle spot.
Just two linemen who played in more than one game for UCLA last season return to Westwood. Most likely to see action is senior tackle AJ Fuimaono, whose career-high 14 tackles should keep him in the mix as a reserve if not a starter. Sophomore tackle Cole Cogshell had a breakout game against Washington last September in which he recorded his first career sack and four tackles, but he did not post notable stats across the five other games he appeared in for the Bruins in 2025.
A pair of three-star high school recruits are the newest additions to the position group. Los Angeles local James Moffat arrives in Westwood as the No. 126 defensive lineman in his class alongside Marcus Almada, who ranks No. 53.
Predictions
All things considered, there are a lot of unknowns surrounding UCLA’s defensive line ahead of next week’s season opener.
It is likely that Chesney and Hitschler will put a number of players in rotation before settling on their starting lineup. Moreover, Hitschler may not even stick to a traditional 4-3 defensive line formation, instead using a hybrid linebacker in place of a second defensive end as he has done in practice.
Even with potentially only one defensive end position up for grabs, the starting role will undoubtedly fall to West. If the JMU star’s talent holds up in the Big Ten, UCLA’s defensive line could go from being the team’s weakest point to a solid force on the field.
West’s ability to cause chaos on defense while leaving opposing quarterbacks uneasy in the pocket is exactly what the Bruins lacked last season. The Baltimore local holds the key to unlocking a new level of potential for UCLA’s defensive line – should his success not be contingent on facing Sun Belt conference-caliber opponents.
The lack of snaps the transfer-heavy unit has seen together is a concern for the group, albeit something that is much more common in today’s landscape of college football. The Bruins have failed to prove that they are cohesive enough to stop opposing teams’ run games, especially in a conference known to rely on rushing – a problem only exacerbated by a lack of chemistry.
The good news, though, is that the only place to go from dead last in conference rankings is up.
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