So the Bruins picked up another commitment yesterday. Connor Bradford, a one star 6-5, 260lbs undersized, unknown OL (who was not being recruited by any major Pac-10 schools) committed to Dorrell yesterday. From Dohn’s blog:
"I was on the UCLA campus on Saturday and talked it over with my family and thought it was time to commit,'' he said. "I liked the coaching staff, it was a really good family atmosphere. I liked the campus, the area, and I think it's a really good program.''
He said he also had a connection with the school. He was born at UCLA Medical Center. He said he had offers from San Diego State, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico.
Welcome Connor.He said he also had a connection with the school. He was born at UCLA Medical Center. He said he had offers from San Diego State, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico.
And I guess a huge congrats is in order (if you have the mindset that UCLA should be competing against schools like Utah and BYU for recruits) for the coaching staff who beat out some powerhouses from MWC or whatever conference those programs are playing in this year.
Connor’s commitment was Dorrells’s 18th pickup of the season. Here is a link to the commit ist if you haven’t seen it recently.
Do you guys notice something? There is not a single 5 star recruit in that list. Most of the promising recruits are over on the defensive side. One can surmise that recruits were impressed with the general improvement under Coach Walker last season (although as we have discussed Walker still hasn’t completely proven himself given the team’s horrific performances against teams with spread offenses).
Also another thing that is glaring to me in our commit list is the lack of high profile offensive recruits.
Sure we got commitments from a 4 star WR (Kemonte Bateman) and a RB (Aundre Dean) but there is no one in that list that comes across as one of those program changing high profile recruits such as a Foster, Drew or even a Marcedes Lewis.
We are going into Dorrell’s fifth year. And to date he still has not brought in a single TB or WR, who were being recruited by Pom Pom. The most high profile RB recruit of this class is Darrell Scott. And here is what Dohn had to say about the recruiting scenario around Scott:
How is UCLA doing with Darrell Scott?
Not as well as they want to. I would be surprised if Scott wound up in Westwood. Like seemingly every other running back, my money is on USC.
Scott isn’t the only one Dorrell’s crew seem to be striking out on. Covaughn Deboskie, an elite RB from Arizona who was considered a prime UCLA target is not even listing Bruins any more in his list which includes schools like Michigan, Cal, ASU and Stanford.Not as well as they want to. I would be surprised if Scott wound up in Westwood. Like seemingly every other running back, my money is on USC.
So why can’t we recruit elite skill players on offense?
Could it be because Dorrell’s offense is a joke and he scapegoats his OCs year after year? May be recruits are not all that impressed with Norvell and know Dorrell will have no problems passing the blame on him if his run-run-pass boring offense fails to live up to expectations again this coming season.
Think about it. Donahue’s lackies such as Bob Field (who found Dorrell) brought in this guy because he was supposed to be some offensive guru with a "NFL experience." Yet after four years Dorrell’s most high profile offensive players have been Marcedes, a five star Toledo recruit, and MJD (a four star recruit was more like a five star one), who basically followed Eric Bienemy from CU to UCLA. Despite all the hype around Dorrell to date he has been unable to sign a single program changing offensive player in last five years. Remember Ben Olson to date is Dorrell's only 5 star offensive recruit and he was a transfer (and we can see how he has developed under Dorrell in last couple of years).
What’s that old saying? Kids are often smarter than we give them credit for. Perhaps they know and are trying to tell us something.
Hopefully Dan Guerrero will figure that out should that run-run-pass offense fail to come up with a Pac-10 championship this coming season.
GO BRUINS.