Former Oregon four-star defensive back commits to Pac-12 rival

Oregon lost one of their highly-recruited defensive backs to the transfer portal this offseason, and his new home will be with a Pac-12 rival. Jaylin Davies announced that he had committed to UCLA on Monday, leaving Oregon after a freshman season that saw him appear in just one game.

Oregon loses defensive back Jaylin Davies to UCLA

In a bit of surprising news for Ducks fans, Davies’ decision to leave for UCLA seems to have stemmed from their recent coaching change. With former head coach Mario Cristobal leaving for Miami, Davies’ claims his initial reason for coming to Oregon changed as well.

“I’m very excited to be a Bruin,” Davies said, via 247Sports. “I had a great visit and it felt like home for me. To be honest, I’ve always liked UCLA. Oregon was my dream school and with Mario Cristobal there and the way they were winning, it felt like Mater Dei for me.

“I think in hindsight, UCLA was the best all around fit. COVID kind of hurt my recruitment a little and I wasn’t really able to go through the process as thorough as I wanted to. Don’t get me wrong, Oregon was a great choice for me at the time but looking at every thing now, I really feel UCLA is where I belong.”

Davies went on to detail that after he entered the transfer portal, UCLA wasted no time in contacting him and recruiting him away from Oregon. With an official visit to the UCLA campus, Davies realized that he had wanted to be a Bruin since before he even enrolled at Oregon.

“Ethan (Young) hit me up right away,” Davies said. “I was really excited when they reached out because UCLA was my top choice from the beginning. I talked to coach Norwood too and always had a really good relationship with him as well as coach Kelly.

“I know a lot of people at UCLA too. Me and Devin Kirkwood have trained together since 6th or 7th grade and we’re real close. Big Mike [Mike Martinez] is over there, Logan Loya, [Stephan] Blaylock, Jon Jon [Jonathan Vaughns] and a lot of other guys. I forgot how many people I knew and it made my visit that much better because of how comfortable I am with the guys on the team.”

Davies will be able to join UCLA as early as Spring ball, having just finished his previous semester with Oregon. Although Davies did not get to impact the field last season, he was a highly recruited prospect coming into the 2021 season. Davies was a four-star prospect, ranked 15th overall among defensive backs according to the On3 Consensus Rankings.