Lucky No. 7: UCLA adds ex-Notre Dame LB Anthony Sacca to transfer frenzy

If new UCLA head coach Bob Chesney, in his first job on the Power 4 level, was trying to prove he and his staff will recruit aggressively, then message received Friday.

When a lot of programs would consider seven commitments in a week a solid job, the Bruins did that in a single day after Notre Dame transfer linebacker Anthony Sacca‘s agent told CBS Sports late in the evening that he was the latest to jump aboard the runaway Chesney recruiting train. UCLA now has 26 commitments.

He joins James Madison transfer Drew Spinogatti among linebackers headed to Westwood thus far. At 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds, Sacca is the more physically imposing of the two.

Sacca, a native of Delran, N.J., did not see action in his lone season with the Fighting Irish and redshirted this past season. He was rated a four-star recruit out of Philadelphia (Pa.) St. Joseph’s Prep and ranked 34th nationally among all 2025 linebackers in the Rivals Industry rankings.

The Bruins are in major need of linebackers after leading tackler JonJon Vaughns exhausted his eligibility and second-leading tackler Isaiah Chisom re-entered the portal after just one season with the program. The pair combined for 191 tackles in a season UCLA struggled with missed tackles.