College football is being turned around by the coaching carousel even after National Signing Day. After three weeks, new Ohio State Buckeyes offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien left Columbus, and UCLA Bruins head coach Chip Kelly made the unusual, if not unprecedented, decision to become Ryan Day’s offensive coordinator. This was due to the departure of Boston College Eagles head coach Jeff Halfey, who joined the Green Bay Packers as their defensive coordinator.
The Texas Longhorns may be impacted if Kelly departs as anticipated since it would give Bruins players 30 days to use the NCAA transfer portal.
Although it is too late for any of those players to enroll for the spring semester, Texas still needs a nose tackle and is connected to that group because Johnny Nansen, the new co-defensive coordinator, coached UCLA’s defensive line in the 2021 season, which is not too far away to have recruited multiple players.
While Nansen isn’t formally listed by 247Sports as Jay Toia’s recruiter, the 6’3, 325-pound senior nose lineman was under his tutelage for one season. Toia, an Inglewood native, was a member of the 2021 recruiting class when he first signed with USC. He played for the Trojans throughout the spring semester until utilizing the NCAA transfer portal.
When Toia announced his transfer on Instagram, he stated, “The 2020 pandemic was tragic to so many that lost so much.” “Due to COVID-19 limits, my parents and I felt compelled to sign with USC on the basis of scant information, which was a big choice for us to make. We were unable to visit any of the other universities on our short list, including UCLA, Miami, Michigan, Utah, and Utah, in an official or informal capacity.
After enrolling at UCLA, Toia played for Nansen in 2021, earning 12 appearances and eight tackles in 12 games. The Tonga native Nansen started 24 games in total during his two seasons as Arizona’s defensive coordinator. In 2022, he recorded 30 tackles with three tackles for loss, one sack, and one forced fumble; in 2023, he recorded 28 tackles with four tackles for loss and one sack.
Toia also played 154 of his 383 snaps in the A gap and recorded 10 defensive stops, according to PFF, however his total defensive grade suffered somewhat from seven missed tackles.
Toia, however, is young for his class because he didn’t have a redshirt season because he entered at USC at the age of 17, indicating that he may still have some growth if he can improve his consistency.
Given his connections to Nansen, who didn’t join Texas until after the winter transfer window closed, and the inexperience of the players taking T’Vondre Sweat’s spot on the roster (the two nose tackles back, redshirt sophomore Aaron Bryant and redshirt freshman Sydir Mitchell, combined for just 68 snaps in 2023), the big defensive tackle from UCLA is someone to keep an eye on in the coming days.
Another UCLA defensive lineman, Keanu Williams, was also signed by Nansen, but the new Texas assistant never got a chance to teach him since Williams signed with Oregon.
Williams had some time lined up at nose tackle this season and rated higher than Toia, but his best season was 2023, when he only had 10 tackles. It’s unclear that Williams would even project as much of a rotation player for the Longhorns.
If Texas still isn’t pleased with the linebacker situation, 2023 saw a breakout season for Kain Medrano, who finished second on the team with 56 tackles, two sacks, one forced fumble, seven tackles for loss, and one blocked kick in his debut season as a starter.
