Defensive tackle Willie Mobley will transfer to UCLA

Defensive tackle Willie Mobley, who is in the process of transferring to UCLA, will ease some of the recruiting stress around the football office.

Mobley, who left Ohio State on Friday, is filling out paperwork to enroll at UCLA and says he hopes to be at practice Monday.

He will strengthen an area of concern for UCLA coaches. The team is thin at defensive tackle and could lose both starters after this season. Jerzy Siewierski is a senior and Brian Price, a junior, could jump to the NFL early.

The fit is equally perfect for the 6-foot-3, 265-pound Mobley.

“I’m lucky, because not many schools are on the quarter system,” Mobley said in a telephone interview. “Ohio State and UCLA both are on that system, otherwise I would have to sit out one year and one month. That would have been hard.”

Mobley can play next season and will have three years of eligibility. He considered UCLA when he was a senior at Eden Prairie (Minn.) High two years ago. But the Bruins were in the process of changing coaches, so Mobley chose Ohio State.

“I had a relationship with the coaches at UCLA, so that helped,” Mobley said.

Mobley’s family recently moved to Mission Viejo, making the decision easier.

He is the second high-profile transfer UCLA has picked up this summer. Tight end Joseph Fauria transferred from Notre Dame a month ago.

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chris.foster@latimes.com

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