2013 National Signing Day and UCLA Football

After all of the posts and discussion on football recruits, verbal commitments and flips over the past few weeks, the end is here. Today is National Signing Day! To get everyone started, here is a recap of who Coach Mora and the UCLA coaching staff has brought on board, and the recruits that are still being targeted for Bruinhood today. But before getting into the players, a quick overview of what Signing Day means.

National Signing Day is the first day that high school seniors can officially accept a school's football scholarship offer. The vast majority of prospects - at least those that will play for major D-1 universities - will commit today, though the signing period remains open until April 1st. The binding offer by the school is made by way of sending a Letter of Intent (LOI) to the prospective student-athlete. The student's act of returning the signed LOI to the university (typically by fax to the athletic department) serves as his acceptance of the offer, binding the player-to-be to that university under NCAA rules.

Current Verbal Commits (Height/Weight via Scout.com)

While all of those guys have given non-binding verbal commitments to the Bruin coaches during the past weeks and months, there have been rumors concerning a couple of them, that they might end up committing elsewhere today : Cameron Judge (Arizona State) and Christian Morris (Ole Miss). Both players have scheduled announcement ceremonies for today - though according to an Ole Miss blogger, the Rebels did not send Morris an LOI, meaning that UCLA is the only school remaining in his picture.

There has been some talk of Priest Willis not sending in his LOI today, going by reports that arose yesterday afternoon. Last night, the situation was clarified - his mother is out of town and cannot give her necessary signature on the letter, though she may be able to sign an electronic copy of the letter which can then be sent to Morgan Center today. His stepfather told SBN Recruiting that Priest is still solid to UCLA; Willis is scheduled to appear on Fox Sports Arizona's Signing Day show at 9am, which should allow him the opportunity to further settle this situation. But, until he - or any other recruit - sends his letter, there is the possibility of another coaching staff flipping him to their school.

Myles Jack had recently taken official recruiting visits elsewhere, but is believed to have remained committed to UCLA. He will announce his commitment this afternoon. Eldridge Massington graduated high school early and is already on campus and enrolled in classes for the current Winter Quarter, and Kylie Fitts is expected to enroll in the Spring Quarter. Mossi Johnson will greyshirt - waiting until the 2014 Winter Quarter to enroll at UCLA - while recovering from a knee injury suffered late in the last high school season.

In addition to Jack, Judge and Morris, there are three uncommitted recruits who will announce their decisions today: The Bruins have long been believed to lead in a two-team battle with Texas A&M in Issac Savaiinaea's recruitment, and have come on strong in a late push with Asiantii Woulard. As important as getting a QB with legit upside (Woullard) in this class would be, the big prize of signing day is undoubtedly Eddie Vanderdoes. UCLA is in a battle with Alabama, Notre Dame and Southern Cal to get Eddie, and looks to be in a good - but far from certain position - to bring him to Westwood.

In other signing day news, Chris Foster wrote a story for the LA Times looking at the UCLA staff's success in recruiting elite out of state players.

Eldridge Massington was expecting visitors. He just wasn't expecting a UCLA football staff meeting.

... Recruiters were bound to show up at his doorstep . . . but the entire Bruins staff?

UCLA coaches - the ones sanctioned to recruit off campus - blew through Mesquite like tumbleweeds. "They said they all flew in from different places on the same day just to come see me," Massington said.

A few days later, Massington committed to UCLA. He enrolled in January.

As I mentioned earlier, a few of UCLA's verbal commits and uncommitted recruiting targets will be making public announcements of their decisions. There will also be a pair of events on campus: a late afternoon press conference and an evening event open to the public.

Signing Day Announcements and Events (All times Pacific)

9:00am: Christian Morris

9:00am: Issac Savaiinaea, live video stream

9:30am: Asiantii Woulard, ESPNU Signing Day show

1:00pm: Myles Jack

3:00pm-4:30pm: Cameron Judge, Fox Sports West Signing Day show

5:00pm: Eddie Vanderdoes, live video stream

5:15pm: Coach Jim Mora press conference

7:30pm: UCLA Football Signing Day Event - Pauley Pavilion

The Signing Day event at Pauley is free to attend, but with the caveat that current high school students cannot attend due to NCAA rules on recruiting. There will be band performances and a meet and greet with current players starting at 6:15pm, before the event begins at 7:30.

We will have more posts throughout the day tracking UCLA's Signing Day developments and discussing the recruits who do announce their commitment to UCLA today. Additionally, you can keep track of the Signing Day news throughout college football at SBNation's Football Recruiting hub and 2013 Signing Day supergroup.

For now, we can all use this thread to follow along with the early announcements and otherwise

GO BRUINS!

Livestream of Issac Savaiinaea / Hawaii Signing Ceremony