Mark Pszonak contributed to this report.
The transfer portal never stops grinding. Coming off an impressive 2021 season, one that he showed play making abilities, UCLA transfer linebacker Mitchell Agude quickly became a priority for a number of Power 5 programs after entering the portal this week.
Recruiting: Agude was initially a late addition to Maryland's Class of 2019, however, after some due to some academic hurdles he parted ways with the Terps and eventually committed to UCLA. He finished his time at Riverside City J.C. and enrolled with the Bruins in January, 2020.
At UCLA: In his first season with the Bruins, Agude showed his potential with 23 tackles, eight tackles for a loss, 2.5 sacks and two forced fumbles. He took his game to a higher level in 2021 with 55 tackles, 6.5 tackles for a loss, two sacks and four forced fumbles.
Potential landing spots: Agude saw immediate interest from a number of programs, including USC, Auburn, Texas Tech, Baylor, Penn State, Arkansas, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Florida State, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Utah.
Farrell’s Take: This is an intriguing portal entry as he has shown a consistent ability to get into the offensive backfield and is long in coverage. This is a big loss for UCLA and he's not tied to the West Coast as we saw by his original commitment to Maryland. But you have to think USC will be of interest to him as will Oregon as both schools have shown early interest.
Impact Meter: 8.5 out of 10
IMPACT METER
The Transfer Portal continues to change the way college football programs recruit and manage their rosters so we here at Rivals.com continue to evolve our coverage. Each time a player of note enters the portal, we will examine their potential impact on the college football landscape and assign an impact rating, both when they enter the portal and when they choose a destination. The scale is from 1-10 and the description below explains the scoring scale.
1.1-4.0 — Not a big impact expected, likely a non-starter and down the bench depth player.
4.1- 6.0 — A solid impact can be expected in the right scenario and has the potential to battle for a starting job.
6.1-9.0. — A high impact player who won’t change a program but will certainly be a very good contributor and starter.
9.1- 9.9 — A very high impact player who should start the moment he steps on the field and will change the outlook of a program immediately.
10 — A franchise transfer who has a chance to be an All American and one of the elite players in college football.