It was not the perfect Signing Day that it could have been, but the UCLA Bruins football program added a lot of talent today with a class that ranks 10th in average star ranking at 3.56 per player, according to Scout.com.
UCLA's name was attached to a great deal of the highest ranked prospects in the country, so the UCLA brand was on the mind of a lot of the major news networks, including CBS Sports where Coach Mora dropped in for an interview
The defensive recruiting was on point, with a collection of 4* talent at all three levels of the defense, which warranted praise from Mora for Coach Ulbrich (still waiting on the official promotion for him) and Martin. Coach Klemm obviously pulls his weight on the offensive end, with a total restructure of the line depth and talent level in the past two years. Coach Eric Yarber does a nice job as well, with a great deal of depth and talent in the receiving corps.
But the issue, and this has remained a massive issue for UCLA over the past decade plus, is an inability to reel in top level talent in recruiting at the skill positions. I have high hopes for Nathan Starks, a top 50 recruit prior to his issues at Bishop Gorman, but UCLA hasn't produced a competent NFL talent at a skill position since Marcedes Lewis and Maurice Jones Drew. NFL success is not the end-all of measuring a program, but a number of UCLA's problems over the decade can be directly attributed to this issue.
Coach Mora should have a presser make it's way onto the internet in the next couple of hours, and we all hope to get some word about the Signing Day event as that wraps up.
Congratulations to the new Bruins and coaching staff, as well as all their families. And, as always, Go Bruins!