LOS ANGELES – Aaron Wallace visited Jim Mora’s office last February in tears.
Wallace approached UCLA’s coach that day, seemingly without many options left and facing a last resort. He felt he needed to transfer.
“I really didn’t want to leave,” Wallace said this week. “My dream was to finish here.”
Since the linebacker had started just two games since joining the program in 2011, appearing primarily in a reserve role or on special teams, he sensed his best option was to look around. He was close to graduating with a degree in sociology, and if he did so he would be eligible to play his final season somewhere else immediately as a graduate transfer.