FSU football has had offensive line issues for the better part of the last decade. That unit is likely responsible for most of the fall from grace in the 2024 season. Former FSU offensive line coach Alex Atkins signed several blue-chip offensive linemen, but none had the hype of FSU legacy offensive lineman Julian Armella.
Armella was the No. 152 player overall, and No. 8 interior offensive lineman in the 2022 recruiting cycle. Armella was already coveted by FSU fans but gained more support when he decided to commit to FSU during the Early Signing Period after Travis Hunter spurned FSU earlier that day.
He was one of the highest-ranked offensive line commits in the Mike Norvell era, so fans expected him to get on the field fairly early. However, it never happened with any consistency with Alex Atkins(which goes for nearly every offensive lineman he signed out of high school), and Armella announced he would enter the transfer portal shortly after the 2024 season ended.
Armella made one final gesture to show his Nole ties, as the first player on the field to take the Florida Gator flag away from a Florida player trying to plant it on the FSU logo in the middle of the field after the regular-season finale.
Armella announced he committed to UCLA Sunday evening.
Committed 📍#GoBruins #FosEra pic.twitter.com/x2tPVU0PU3
— Julian Armella (@ArmellaJulian) December 15, 2024
Armella will have two years of eligibility left and it'll be interesting to see if he'll develop and play significant snaps for the Bruins. We wish him nothing but the best, but if he gets on the field to play meaningful snaps for UCLA, it'll be further indictment on the failures of Alex Atkins as the offensive line coach.