Reports: Former Texas C Jake Raulerson denied admission to UCLA

The college football career of former Texas Longhorns center Jake Raulerson apparently won't end in Westwood after all, as the planned UCLA Bruins graduate transfer was denied admission into the MBA and Masters in Applied Economics programs, according to Bruin Report Online.

Horns247 confirmed the report with sources on Thursday.

The junior has two season of eligibility remaining after announcing his intent to become a graduate transfer last December, even before Texas hired its new offensive coaching staff, which included the addition of offensive line coach/running game coordinator Matt Mattox, a much more personable figure than former offensive line coach Joe Wickline.

There had been some buzz that Raulerson was considering a return to Texas, which makes sense now given this report, but it seems as if that won't happen, as the Bruin Report Online mentions the SMU Mustangs as Raulerson's most likely destination now because the other schools he considered no longer have available scholarships.

According to Horns247, "at least one" Big 12 school had interest in Raulerson, but was told that he's restricted from transferring to a school on the Texas schedule. While this is a common practice -- quarterback Everett Gholson was reportedly unable to transfer from Notre Dame to Texas for a similar reason -- it seems unfair to place any restrictions on a player who has already graduated.

At this point, Texas may prefer to reserve the last several available scholarships for Baylor signees like Patrick Hudson or Parrish Cobb if they can receive releases from their binding NLIs.

The 6'4, 295-pound Raulerson was a US Army All-American and the No. 2 center nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, prior to his early enrollment at Texas in early 2013. However, he arrived as an undersized lineman and was never able to consistently crack the starting rotation for the Longhorns, as he was replaced by Taylor Doyle for the Oklahoma game in 2014 following his ascension into the starting role due to Dominic Esinposa's career-ending injury.

In 2015, Raulerson was out of the rotation entirely, but with Doyle's graduation, he was expected to once again step into that starting role in 2016. His departure left the 'Horns thin at the position, resulting in early enrollee Zach Shackelford taking over as the starter basically as soon as he set foot on campus.