UCLA kicker Mateen Bhaghani expected to return, not transfer

UCLA is expected to get a pair of specialists back from the transfer portal including place-kicker Mateen Bhaghani, a source confirmed to BruinBlitz on Tuesday.

Bruin Report Online was the first to report the news.

Bhaghani, who decided five days ago to explore his options, took an official visit to Arizona State over the weekend and was entertaining others. Instead, the Bruins will be retaining one of their more reliable players from the past two seasons.

Bhaghani is 36 on 44 on field-goal attempts with a long of 57 yards and a perfect 42 of 42 on extra point attempts since transferring from California after his freshman year.

UCLA is also expected to get long snapper Salem Abdul-Wahab back from the portal, the source confirmed. He has been the team’s primary long snapper the past two seasons.