CRN Reels In Number 5 DE Recruit In The Nation
by Nestor on Nov 3, 2008 6:49 PM PST
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PrintWhile Dohn and some others in LA's traditional media were too busy playing the what-if game with Mike Leach and UCLA, CRN was using the power of relentless optimism to reel in a monster defensive recruit. From the Las Vegas Sun:
Silverado senior defensive end Keenan Graham could have played football for virtually any college he desired.
In the end it was a springtime trip to UCLA that swayed the top recruit as Graham verbally committed to the Bruins on Monday morning.
With programs like Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Kansas, Arizona, Washington State, Utah, Maryland, Colorado, and Vanderbilt beating down his door, Graham said it was an unofficial visit to UCLA this spring and the relationship with the Bruins coaches that helped him make up his mind.
"I went to visit the campus and (head coach) Rich Neuheisel took me on a tour of the school," Graham said. "That meant a lot to me. I had a real good feel for the school and the program. Even with all the other great schools I went to, I still had this connection to UCLA. It just felt right."
Graham began to gain national interest at the Long Beach Nike Combine on March 15 where he posted a time of 4.59 seconds in the 40-yard dash, the fastest time for any lineman and faster than several smaller athletes in attendance.
The 6-foot, 3-inch, 208-pounder amassed 72 tackles and 15 sacks last year, including a sack in eight of 10 games and nine in a four-game span. He continued to punish offenses this year with 73 tackles, seven sacks and three fumble recoveries and even flashed his speed with a 78-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Welcome to Westwood Keenan. Check out his scout.com bio here. More from ESPN, which reports that Keenan will make the committment official this weekend when he is on an official visit:
Standout defensive end Keenan Graham has decided to commit to UCLA and will make it official when he visits the school this weekend, ESPN's Greg Biggins reports.
Graham took official visits to Nebraska, Wisconsin and Colorado and was scheduled to visit USC December 12.
"I decided to be a Bruin," Graham said. "I'm going to take my official trip this weekend and my plan, if everything goes well, is to commit while I'm on campus. I've liked UCLA for awhile now and I really fell in love with the school when I visited in the spring."
"I just feel like that's the right place for me and I think the timing is right to do it now. I've already told the coaches I plan to commit so you can say it's a done deal. I still have that visit to USC set up but if things go good this weekend, I'll likely cancel it and this will be my last trip."
Considering how badly we needed a marquee DE recruit, this is a monster get. With Keenan and Datone Jones as bookends, things could shape up really well for UCLA defense in the coming years.
Needless to say the class of 2009 is shaping up rather nicely now. Here is the full list of UCLA commits to date. Obviously CRN and his coaches are not done yet.
Let's keep the faith.
GO BRUINS.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.
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It takes incredible persuasion
to get these kids to see what we’re building here through our current struggles. Last year’s recruiting class does help a bit to get that image out there, but if this is what we can do when we’re down, imagine how he’ll be able to sell the program when we’re going back up.
Yeap
And the passion Neuheisel has for UCLA is something very special. I get that there were other coaches there who had a better resume than him. We heard and researched them during the coaching process.
But CRN offers something unique. He is a proven game day coach. We thought that it would be a good bet that he will be able to complement his game day coaching with experiences/lessons he learned re. program building and recruiting from his time at UDub and at CU. The way he recruited Chow, held on to Walker, last year’s recruiting class, and the way he is putting together this year’s … I am more convinced than ever we are on the right track. Plus no one in the coaching community can match his passion for UCLA.
He “gets it” in terms of what it means to bleed blue and gold in Bruin Nation.
What I really like
Is his emphasis on recruiting in the trenches. I look at the prospects list and I see a lot of potential big nasties in there. Since this is what could be considered Neu’s greatest weakness at his previous stops, it is highly encouraging to see he is placing special emphasis on it.
Is the size correct?
6’3" and 208 sounds more like a DB than a DE. I’m not disagreeing that he’s a good player, but that sounds a little light for the position.
Expected To Grow
He says he wants to stay at DE and the coaches will give him a shot, but could swich to LB if his size doesn’t increase enough. He says he’s cool with that too. It’s in the LV Sun article.
that size sounds like a pass rushing specialist
just what we need right now…we’re getting zero pressure on the QB
Huge get
Having a speedy DE will help give us the pass rush that we’ve been sorely lacking this year without Bruce Davis. As for his size, Scout is listing him at 225, but let’s not forget he’s just a high school senior. CRN and his staff will have these guys hitting the gym, putting on weight and getting ready for Pac-10 football.
Oh Man
Great news. For a bit, I thought SC was going to snatch him from us. He hasn’t signed yet so I’m crossing my fingers. Big, big get for numerous reasons. A speed rusher type and getting some kids from NV just like Hawaii will prove to beneficial in the future. Slowly but surely CRN is reeling in the prosepcts. If we can get another DE or 2 and like 3 DT’s, that will be awesome because we’ll need the talent and depth.
I love it
I love that CRN can compete with the top schools in the country, and bring in a kid, and show him how fantastic our school is, and have him excited to come here. Its even bigger that we are able to do this with out of state kids.
I think this is an example where KD wouldnt have even tried to compete with the likes of Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and SUC
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