Lost in the shadow of the Eric Scott story comes this little tidbit from the Daily Breeze:
DeSean Jackson is being touted as a Heisman Trophy hopeful and could be the best receiver in the Pac-10, but the Cal junior said he could have wound up at UCLA.
However, when it came time to make a decision, one thing missing from Jackson's portfolio was a scholarship offer from the Bruins.
"They were supposed to offer me when I went to their junior day, but they just didn't offer me," Jackson said. "I definitely was considering them, and when I was younger I was definitely a UCLA fan and I always used to go to their practices, and all that. The Rose Bowl was the spot to be."
Jackson led the Bears in receiving with 59 catches for 1,060 yards and nine touchdowns, and torched the Bruins last season with a 72-yard punt return for a touchdown.
It has long been a point of contention among the die-hard recruit-niks whether or not UCLA bungled Jackson's recruitment. Jackson said he scored a 1280 on his SATs, but sources said he was denied admission to UCLA because his grade-point average was "very low" when it came to the courses required in the University of California system, and the standards UCLA uses.
The sources added Jackson, a Long Beach Poly product, was admitted to Cal because its standards for the core UC system classes are different than at UCLA.
"I definitely would have given UCLA a good shot," Jackson said. "Stanford and UCLA were the only two Pac-10 teams that didn't offer me. Stanford, that's a different thing, but UCLA, it's right here. It's like, `Yo, what's up?' I wasn't really worried about it. I wanted them to offer, but once they didn't I had to go somewhere else."
It's either a bungle or a case of UCLA admissions adhering to a set of standards they alone understand. Either way, UCLA had a shot at the best wide receiver in the conference and weren't able to offer him a scholarship.
I'm not familiar with the details, but they say UCLA is now using a more holistic approach in admissions. Not sure that that means - I just hope it means more game-breakers in the program.