Recruiting Notes/News: Keenan Graham Sticking With UCLA?

by Nestor on Feb 3, 2009 6:56 PM PST Comment 9 comments

So signing day is coming up tomorrow. I believe rye will be setting up a recruiting open thread/post sometime during the day so folks can follow the recruiting happenings on the home page. But just in case I will throw up some of the notes and news that are filtering out tonight.

I guess there was some worries about Las Vegas DE Keenan Graham's committment since he was also considering Utah. Per Dohn (who spoke to Keenan's high school coach) the kid is sticking with UCLA:

"He's going to UCLA," Silverado coach Andy Ostolaza said. "I don't know how close it got (with Utah). I think it was a passing interest. ...He has family in Utah and he was up there during the Christmas break, and I think that's why the whole thing about Utah came up.
"He and I had a long talk about it (Monday) night, and he called the Utah coaches and let them know he was going to UCLA."

While Keenan is sticking with UCLA, Billy Sanders (the TE/DE from Idaho who had committed to UCLA after decommitting from Miami) is wavering between the Bruins and the Canes. No one has any clue how the story will end up with him.

Other kids whose final decisions are up in the air:

LB Manti Te'o of Punahou High (Honolulu)
OL Xavier Su'a-Filo of Timpview High (Provo, Utah)
OL Stan Hasiak of Kapolei (Hawaii) High
RB Damien Thigpen of Stonewall Jackson (Manassas, Va.)
WR Randall Carroll of Cathedral High (Los Angeles)
DB Brandon Sermons of Diamond Ranch High (Pomona)

I am feeling good about Thigpen (deciding between UCLA, Notre Dame (and Miss. State I think). I think Sermons will stick us (over UDub). My gut tells me Te'o to Southern Cal and Su'a-Filo to Utah. I have no clue wrt to Hasiak (deciding between Cal and UCLA) and Carroll (down to ASU (?), Southern Cal and UCLA). bucknellbruin posted link to predictions of scout.com staffers here.

What does everyone else think?

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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some announcement times (all times PT)

Thigpen – 9:30
Te’o – 1:00
Sua-Filo – 2:00
Carroll – 6:30

nothing reported on Hasiak, Sermons or Sanders

by bucknellbruin on Feb 3, 2009 8:13 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Te'o

That’s 1 ET, 10 PT.

Cautiously optimistic for some good early news from Thigpen or Te’o

by jkup85 on Feb 3, 2009 9:28 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

yeah sorry about that

Sua-Filo is also 11 PT, 2 ET

by bucknellbruin on Feb 4, 2009 5:47 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

My random guesses

I preface this by stating I have no idea what any of these kids will do. I’m just throwing out some gut predictions that aren’t really based on anything:

Graham: UCLA
Sanders: Miami
Te’o: UCLA
Su’a-Filo: Utah
Hasiak: UCLA
Thigpen: Notre Dame
Carroll: UCLA
Sermons: UCLA

I’m pretty optimistic, I know. Let’s hope this shapes up well for us tomorrow.

by Bellerophon on Feb 3, 2009 8:17 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

i think Thigpen ends up here

but other than that I pretty much agree. don’t know why, but i’ve got a strange gut feeling that we’re gonna get Te’o.

by bucknellbruin on Feb 4, 2009 5:48 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

i need to stop following this stuff, it's making me dizzy

i totally get the kids’ perspective though. everyone, including myself, goes ape terds when they start waffling, but they only get attention from coaching staffs if they make themselves look on the fence. if a coach has you locked, he can move on and well everyone wants the attention…
graham is in the bag already.
i think we get thigpen.
i think we get hasiak too, i dunno why.
sua filo is to utah, but maybe not tomorrow. i thought we had a shot at him but biggins at espn is saying he may be postponing his announcement to see if his hs coach gets a position at utah. this leads me to think he was favoring utah the whole time but using a resurgent interest in other programs as leverage to get his coach a gig.
te’o- pulls a kavienga a goes to sc. part of my prediction is me not building up hopes so that im not all dejected if he doesnt pick ucla
i think sanders sticks with us. although i could see him to miami if the he thinks depth chart is an issue with this class signing tepa and graham.
carroll and sermons- i thnk we get one, but not both, dunno which
if this recruiting cycle has taught me anything, it’s that i’m probably all wrong. at least i havent devolved to my friend’s mania (a notre dame alum) and checking recruits’ myspace and facebook pages…

Across The Face

by rb bruin on Feb 3, 2009 8:57 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Magic 8 Ball Says

Sanders: UCLA
XSF: Utah
Sermons: UCLA
Carroll: Blood is thicker than oj
Thigpen: All UCLA
Hasiak: Cal unfortunately
Te’o: UCLA. I just get the impression from everything that I’ve read that Manti wants to blaze his own trail. Get to a place that he can grow as a person. ND doesn’t fit the bill considering it is like BYU. It’s a UCLA/suc battle. At suc, he’s another body. At UCLA, he can help spearhead a Neu Era of UCLA Football. In an article, Manti was described as somebody that would stand up for the underdog. That is us right now in the battle for Los Angeles. Best friend Toma and NC being an alum of his HS….I’m likely reading too much into this but I honestly think he’ll don the Blue & Gold.

by BlueReign on Feb 3, 2009 10:11 PM PST reply actions 0 recs