Well this was a matter of time. Look who is featured on ESPN's college football recruiting section today. WWL takes note of one of the hottest recruiting programs in the world of college football:
UCLA is one of the highest-profile collegiate athletic programs in the country. It's as well-known of an institution as there is when it comes to collegiate sports and is located in one of the largest cities in America, which happens to be the greatest talent-producing metropolitan area in California that produces more football prospects than any other.
There is a beautiful campus, home games played in one of the most historic stadiums in America (the Rose Bowl) and some winning tradition. When you blend those built-in factors with one of the top recruiting coaches in America in Rick Neuheisel, chances are the talent is going to start flowing in for the Bruins -- and it has. That makes for a bright future in Westwood.
With a five-star athlete, two elite running back prospects and the recent commitment of an ESPNU 150 linebacker prospect, there is no question that UCLA is one of the hottest recruiting teams in the country for this recruiting cycle. This comes on the heels of the Bruins signing the nation's No. 14 and No. 17 classes during Neuheisel's first two cycles.
Those classes currently are the backbone of the Bruins' program. "We've signed 47 players since we've been here," UCLA director of on-campus recruiting Angus McClure said. "Of those, 13 are currently freshman that are redshirting. That leaves 34 players. Of those, 33 are seeing playing time either on offense, defense or special teams. We had 18 freshman and sophomores start the last two games. That makes us one of the youngest teams in the country." While there is certainly talent on campus, a look at this year's class is even more reason for optimism. Earlier this week, the Bruins reached across the country to snag four-star ESPNU 150 linebacker prospect Aramide Olaniyan (Woodberry Forest, Va./Woodberry Forest). Olaniyan joined five-star athlete Tony Jefferson (Chula Vista, Calif./East Lake), and four-star ESPNU 150 running backs Jordan James (Corona, Calif./Corona) and Malcolm Jones (Westlake Village, Calif./Oaks Christian).
Again for a quick flashback let's recall the hint of concern trolling (OMG what's wrong here?!! Neuheisel has no commitments!!!!) from this past with blog posts going up with title such as "waiting for commitments." We LOL at the time thinking how premature that post was going to look in the coming weeks. Now it looks even sillier.
Anyway, as mentioned number of times already CRN and his staff are not done. The most important objective for them is to take care of business this Saturday. If they can get a win against an ASU team that will give an all out effort to fight for their bowl bid, the "Plus 2" factor will make UCLA's ongoing recruiting efforts even hotter.
GO BRUINS.