4-Star Defensive Back Prospect Tahaan Goodman Commits to the Bruins

The week is getting better and better for UCLA's recruiting effort. After the commitments of Johnny Johnson and Tyler Foreman on Sunday, Coach Martin has picked up another elite defensive back from this year's west coast group. Tahaan Goodman, a consensus 4-star recruit from Rancho Cucamonga has just announced his verbal commitment and acceptance of a scholarship offer to play for the Bruins.

Four-star defensive back Tahaan Goodman has committed to #UCLA.

— Edward Lewis (@EdwardLewisBSR) January 23, 2013

His fashion choice certainly left little doubt to observers.

Rancho Cucamonga (CA) DB Tahaan Goodman has announced for #UCLA. #8CLAP #Bruins twitter.com/AnnabelStephan…

— Annabel Stephan (@AnnabelStephan) January 23, 2013

While Tahaan has just finalized his decision this week, he has been thought to be a Bruin lean for a while. After he cancelled last weekend's planned official visit to LSU in favor of taking an unofficial trip to UCLA during the big recruiting weekend, that lean became all the stronger.

The major recruiting analysts love Tahaan's potential. Rivals.com rates him as the best player to commit to the Bruins in this class to date; the 4th best prospect in California, and the #80 prospect nationwide. Scout.com ranks him as the #7 Safety in this year's class, and the 63rd best prospect nationwide. In addition to LSU, he holds offers from all the major Pac-12 programs as well as from Florida, Florida State, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. Scout's public profile of Goodman includes this glowing note on his game.

He could be the most complete safety on this list as he combines the hitting ability of Byrd with the cover skills of Redfield. He has a great frame, runs very well and is a sure tackler. He breaks down very well, runs right through opposing ball carriers and doesn’t miss tackles.

Here are some of his Junior year highlights via YouTube:

One of SB Nation's college recruiting writers posted a piece over the summer on Tahaan that is also worth a read. More video from his Senior season can be seen at Hudl.com.

Rivals.com looked at his recruitment and broke down his skills in this Recruit of the Week video produced last month.

This was Goodman over the summer at "The Opening", a major Nike-sponsored football camp for elite high school prospects.

Tahaan also happens to be a good friend of Priest Willis, one of our key recruiting targets and one of the elite players in the nation regardless of position, who will be announcing his college choice later tonight.

As muircoach noted last week, it has been an open secret that Goodman and Willis have been looking to commit to the same school, with LSU and UCLA believed to have been at the top of their short lists. With Goodman choosing UCLA, the prospect of Willis also coming to Westwood looks very strong. Excerpting from muir's comment on these two guys:

Also, it is well known that Goodman and Willis want to play together in college. Flat out, if you have ever seen them play, they ARE THE REAL DEAL!! If we get them, our secondary will be loaded. I am telling you…………Goodman is as good as Cravens and I would take Goodman first if given the chance. He is that good. Never seen Willis play, but I have only heard good things from people who have. I would love to have him and if we land both….WOW. Our secondary would be loaded with talent.

Sounds good to me. Let's all give Tahaan a warm welcome to Westwood!

GO BRUINS!