Good things can come in bunches. In 26 career games as an Iowa State Cyclone, Ta’Shawn James did not record a single interception. In his first game as a Bruin, James recorded two clutch interceptions to seal UCLA’s Week 1 win over Cal.
Those interceptions earned James the Big Ten Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Week, splitting the honors with Caleb Bacon of Penn State, who posted three tackles for losses in a 45-0 win over Marshall.
Grabbing picks and awards 🏆
— UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) September 7, 2026
After his first two career interceptions, Ta'Shawn James is named the @bigten Co-Defensive Player of the Week! pic.twitter.com/BgR90VahIr
James didn’t just pick off an average college quarterback, he got Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele twice in the same quarter. Sagapolutele threw nine interceptions
all of last season but the new UCLA defensive back was able to snuff out Cal’s comeback attempt.
James got a bit of an assist on his first interception, with the ball hitting the hands of Cal wide receiver Ian Strong but James did not need any help with his second interception, which essentially ended the game.
It wasn’t just the turnovers that was impressive for James, he made eight combined tackles in the 45-24 win which included three solo tackles. James was one of the new faces in a very talented UCLA secondary, joining Tao Johnson, Derrick Barksdale and Malik Hartford as new entries in the back end of the UCLA defense.
Week 1 will be a tough act to follow for the 6’0” senior. James does hope to be a part of a more disruptive UCLA defense in 2026. The Bruins grabbed only four interceptions all of last year, thanks to James, they’re already half-way to that total in 2026.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA DB Ta'Shawn James named Co-Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week
