Big Recruiting Weekend Arrives! (Update III - December rejections)

by Nestor on Dec 21, 2005 1:13 PM PST in Recruiting

[UPDATE III: 12/21]:Here we go. According to this Norco tailback Gerhart mentioned in that Dohn update from last Friday, committed to Stanford. Also, according the paid side updates one can infer that USC is leading for Bradford now since his final choices have come down to UCLA and SC. No encouraging signs re. Austin or Hagan either. So, yeah that "big recruiting" weekend not looking so big for Dorrell. So far the so called Pac-10 COY is getting rejected by all the blue chippers who are making up their minds during the crunch time of the recruiting season. Guess they are not all that impressed with that 9 win season built upon some last minute wins over bunch of shitty to mediocre teams.

[UPDATE II: 12/20]:Only the sound of crickets coming out of UCLA's recruiting corner. While other schools (with good coaches) are having a recruiting feast this time of the year, nothing (in terms of elite recruits) seems to brewin in KD's recruiting pot in December. I wonder why. Guess can't really sweep that 19-66 thing under the rug. Then again being recruiting junkies we are used to these December flops from a UCLA football program, which has been the hallmark for underahievement during last seven years. This is how it was during the later years of Toledo era when when we were striking out on one elite recruit after another following the SC game. Nothing has really changed under the current mediocre coach. Nothing really ... at least when it comes to performance on the field and in recruiting.

[UPDATE: 12/19]:So much for that "big recruiting weekend." According to this DN story not one of the blue chip high school recruit Dohn mentioned on Friday committed over the weekend after KD's sales pitch. Can't really sweep that 19-66 under the rug, specially if a kid happens to be from Southern California. But no worries ... I am sure we are going to snatch some 3 star recruits from middle tier Pac-10/Big-12 schools.

[12/16]:KD and his program kicks off a big recruiting weekend today. Dohn has the goods on future Bruin stars shooting for more moral victories against USC:

One of UCLA's biggest weekends of the year begins today when approximately 20 recruits, including four of the biggest non-committed players on the Southern California prep scene, will flock to Westwood for official visits.

Colton linebacker Allen Bradford, Long Beach Poly receiver Terrence Austin, Norco tailback Toby Gerhart and Crenshaw defensive back Darian Hagan Jr. each have official visits scheduled.

This is UCLA's first, and biggest, recruiting weekend of the year, and is the first time in coach Karl Dorrell's three years no official visits were scheduled during the season.

"We set up everything for this weekend because finals are getting over, so the (current) players will be relieved of that and won't have the stress of working on papers over the weekend," said Dorrell, who cannot comment on individual recruits. "It works better (to visit after the season), at least for now. That's something we're going to continue to think about, but we like it when we get to spend a great deal of attention with them and really show them a great experience for 48 hours."

The timing of the recruiting weekend has its strategy as well.

UCLA begins preparations Saturday for the Dec. 30 Sun Bowl against Northwestern, giving the recruits a chance to watch practice.

Apparently Bradford would be "the get," of this recruiting class full of three star recruits. Too bad his choices are down to UCLA and USC. Wonder how they are going to hide the game film from December 3rd. Sweeping 19-66 under that blue and gold rug is not gonna be easy (and it's not like we have a savy marketing department in Morgan Center). And speaking of attending practice ... hopefully it looks something different than what took place during the three weeks of hype leading up to December 3rd. Go Bruins.

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UCLA's edge

It's great that some of these guys are narrowing their choices and UCLA is one of them. For those considering USC, the Trojans obviously have the upper hand on us. But to a degree, we also hold an edge over USC in regards to what the recruits want and that is immediate playing time. In South Central, playing in the midst of bullets is not all that guaranteed considering the talent they have to compete against. Whereas in Westwood, you can bet that if they sign on to the Bruins, there's a strong chance these guys will start in their freshman year, especially on defense, if they are as good as they're hyped up to be.

by ucla2k3 on Dec 16, 2005 7:47 AM PST reply actions

Certainly Bradford would start

Seriously, what's the two-deep for LB's next year...the Bosworth twins?... Hale?... Wittington?... Holmes?... Davis?... is there even a 7th scholarship LB?

by McCloskey on Dec 16, 2005 8:32 AM PST reply actions

Recruiting

Some people forget that it is coaching that is the single most important ingreident in a successful CFB program

by elie98 on Dec 16, 2005 9:26 AM PST reply actions

Right ...

I think we all know that. But what's your point?

by ucla2k3 on Dec 16, 2005 11:05 AM PST up reply actions

I think his point is...

...that most of the jury is still out regarding our coaching staff.

by Ajax on Dec 17, 2005 3:58 PM PST up reply actions

Remember

Bradford was one of the recruits Carroll was showing off to at the SC/UCLA game. I think he was a big reason why Peetie didn't let off the gas while making every effort to show us up. He wanted to point out the differences between our program and theirs, highlighting the chasm in coaching staffs.

by Koach Karl I on Dec 16, 2005 11:21 AM PST reply actions

Absolutely right

Look at the list of recruits that they were hosting on Dec. 3rd.

Four 5-Star recruits and five 4-star recruits.

by McCloskey on Dec 16, 2005 11:33 AM PST up reply actions

Oh man

What would be hilarious is that some of these guys choose UCLA over USC simply because of that blowout. These recruits would pick UCLA because they know they'll get instant playing time since the Bruin defense is so pathetic. Remember, the goals of some of these guys is not to win a national championship but to showcase their skills for NFL scouts where the big money is. If you can get guaranteed playing time at a big time program like UCLA, why not? I hope that blowout comes back and bites Carroll in the ass. That would be great!

by ucla2k3 on Dec 16, 2005 12:02 PM PST up reply actions