25 Comments
User's avatar
Joe Piechowski's avatar

The first two NLIs are in for UCLA's most recent commitments, Christian Burkhalter and AJ Campbell.

Expand full comment
gbruin's avatar

This used to be such a massively fun day in February when we were recruiting well.

Expand full comment
Joe Piechowski's avatar

Yeah, now, it just seems like a real bummer.

Expand full comment
gbruin's avatar

Besides recruiting being so flat with Chip, having 2 signing days makes it confusing and often anticlimactic.

Expand full comment
Teri Ramirez's avatar

You're absolutely right. My husband and I used to take the day off and sit in front of the TV. Now it's just blah.

Expand full comment
Joe Piechowski's avatar

UCLA lands its first recruit of the day not previously committed as former Southern Cal and Stanford commit Josh Moore, a three-star DB from Georgia, signs with the Bruins.

Expand full comment
mgibby's avatar

Recruiting is 11th in the Pac12 for 2021. Chip is a disaster.

Expand full comment
Chenalex's avatar

It's going to go up. Just flipped a 4-star recruit from MI

Expand full comment
gbruin's avatar

Well that's good, but that still only makes just 2 4-stars in this class (the other is a transfer), right?

Expand full comment
Evan's avatar

will probably go back down after we inevitably lose a good recruit. sigh

Expand full comment
mgibby's avatar

Now it's updated to 7th in the Pac12. Still not that good.

Expand full comment
gbruin's avatar

Right. The goal is to be number 1, but being in the top 3 or so each year should be a very reasonable expectation. I realize Oregon and $c have resources and/or a lack of ethics that can be hard for us to match. But for us to lag behind ASU, Cal, and Utah, and have just a single 4-star while Oregon has 16, is unacceptable.

Expand full comment
mgibby's avatar

Yeah, I don't expect UCLA to beat out Oregon and SC consistently. We're middle of the pack right now.

Expand full comment
Chenalex's avatar

It's going to go up. Just flipped a 4-star recruit from MI

Expand full comment
Joe Piechowski's avatar

We have articles up on today's two (so far) flips. Just click on the logo up top and scroll down to find them.

Expand full comment
ArmyBruin's avatar

Mora had some great classes.

Expand full comment
Son_of_a_Bruin's avatar

Chip and staff held on to Kirkwood, beat out Stanford and Southern Cal for Moore, and flipped Somerville from Harbaugh. 15 signed. 7 are from California. 4 O-Linemen and 4 DE’s. Solid group.

Expand full comment
gbruin's avatar

It definitely ended up being a better day than expected, which is very good news, and there may still be some opportunities before the second signing day in Feb. Recruiting still needs to be a lot better though. Oregon just pulled in the #6 class in the country.

Expand full comment
ArmyBruin's avatar

I don’t recall Kelly having highly ranked classes at Oregon. I could be wrong, but recruiting has been a common complaint for years. Oregon has been recruiting very well under Cristobal, and yet a Bruin team missing 9 players and playing a backup QB should have beaten them, right before OSU and Cal beat them. We gave the game away to a much more talented SC team. I’m beginning to be more concerned about in game decisions than recruiting and talent development.

Expand full comment
gbruin's avatar

All good points, Army, and I don't disagree with that at all. Your point about in-game decisions being a bigger problem is right on. If we are going to have a little less talent on the field, it makes it that much harder to overcome those coaching decisions. And unlike talent or development, those in-game decisions are entirely within our power, in that moment, to get right or to totally screw up.

Expand full comment
ArmyBruin's avatar

It seems that we closed pretty well. I can’t believe that 2 decommits became recommits. That speaks to the commitment of the staff to not give up on a kid. We recruited in the trenches and we haven’t done that in awhile. Every year we would hear about depth issues in the line. Kelly is likely here for 2 more years. Looking forward to see what he does next year. Does DTR keep progressing? Do we keep building a strong running attack? Was our improved defense a 1 year trend?

Expand full comment
mgibby's avatar

UCLA Football is declining a bowl invite.

Expand full comment
Rodney Baba's avatar

Where's the beef... We are thin at defensive tackle since they moved Mafi and Liku to offensive line do you think they will switch them back?

Expand full comment
WildcatBruin's avatar

Hopefully we can get some transfers.

Expand full comment
Chenalex's avatar

So far during this recruiting period, UCLA got back two of their decommits as Deshun Murrell, a 4-star RB, just announced he's back with UCLA.

Expand full comment