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Who wants to be a Bruin?
Seems like a pretty easy question, right? Well, today we'll find out if Head Coach Jim Mora and his coaching staff were able to get that answer across to their top targets for the 2015 football recruiting class.
It's National Signing Day U.C.L.A. Football. Today we will see which players will become the future of the Bruins football program.
The Bruins recruiting class begins the day ranked number 15 per 247Sports but with several key prospects announcing today, that number could get quite a bit higher. The success or disappointment of the day will be a marker for U.C.L.A. Football under Coach Mora and will show the Bruin fan base if the Bruin Revolution continues or whether things have plateaued. Another disappointing finish like 2014 will add support to those who question Mora's ability to get the program to the next level, while a strong finish and a highly ranked class should provide optimism that things are still going the right way.
First off, let's take a look at the list of the 17 current commits for the Bruins for the 2015 class. Two players, Zach Bateman and Josh Rosen, have already signed their LOI and are on campus, and the other 15 have given a verbal commitment and we should expect their Letter of Intent to roll off the fax appear in the staff email inbox today. Each player's name is linked to the Bruins Nation article on his commitment. The player data and star rankings are from BruinSportsReport.
| Zach Bateman (*/+) | Offensive Line | 6-7, 320 | 3* | Costa Mesa |
| Tevita Halalilo | Offensive Line | 6-4, 315 | 4* | Moreno Valley |
| DeChaun Holiday | Athlete/Def. Back | 6-2, 207 | 4* | San Marcos |
| Andre James | Offensive Line | 6-5, 275 | 4* | Herriman UT |
| Stephen Johnson III | Athlete | 5-11, 188 | 4* | San Leandro |
| William Lockett | Defensive Back | 5-11, 185 | 3* | Manvell TX |
| Keisean Lucier-South | Defensive End | 6-6, 220 | 5* | Orange |
| Ryan Newsome | Wide Receiver | 5-9-175 | 3* | Aledo TX |
| Bolu Olurunfunmi | Running Back | 5-10, 216 | 3* | Fresno |
| Cassius Peat | Linebacker | 6-4, 235 | 3* | Tempe AZ |
| L.J. Reed | Wide Receiver | 6-3, 200 | 4* | Lodi |
| Josh Rosen (*) | Quarterback | 6-4, 207 | 5* | Bellflower |
| Colin Samuel | Defensive Back | 6-2, 180 | 4* | Long Beach |
| Octavius Spencer | Defensive Back | 5-11, 175 | 3* | Monorovia |
| Fred Ulu-Perry | Offensive Line | 6-2, 310 | 3* | Honolulu HI |
| Rick Wade | Defensive End | 6-6, 230 | 4* | Ranch Sta Margarita |
| Joshua Woods | Linebacker | 6-3, 210 | 3* | Upland |
(*) indicates already signed LOI and enrolled (+) indicates Junior College transfer
The big fun (or buzzkill, depending) of the day is watching the live announcements and hoping that our top recruiting targets put on the UCLA hat. The Bruins have 9 big names to watch today and a couple of huge ones will come very early this morning.
5:35 am Chris Clark Avon CT; TE 4* ESPNU (finalists: UCLA, Michigan) BOOM!
6:15 am SoSo Jamabo Plano TX; RB 5* ESPNU (UCLA, Oklahoma, Texas) BOOM!
8:05 am Josh Wariboko Oklahoma City OK; OL 4* ESPNU (UCLA, Ohio St, Oklahoma) BOOM!
8:20 am. Roquan Smith Montezuma GA; LB 4* ESPNU (UCLA, Georgia, Michigan) BOOM!
11:35 am Cordell Broadus Las Vegas NV; WR 4* ESPNU (UCLA, usc, ASU) BOOM!
1:05 pm Iman Marshall Long Beach CA; DB 5* ESPNU (UCLA, usc, Florida St, LSU)
1:10 pm JoJo Wicker Long Beach CA; DL 4* ESPNU (UCLA, ASU, Texas Tech)
1:00 pm Nathan Meadors San Bernardino CA; S 3* FoxSportsWest (UCLA, Notre Dame, Boise St, Cal)
One other name to watch for is Victor Alexander, a 3* Linebacker from Jacksonville FL linebacker who was committed to UCLA until last weekend when he flipped to Georgia Tech on his visit there, then reportedly flipped back the next day, and currently is in wait-and-see mode. Whether that has something to do with any other U.C.L.A. LB target is speculation and just adds to the overall craziness that is NSD.
This results from this list will form much of the overall impression about today's signing class. There is a ton of excitement when a player picks up a Bruin hat from the table and a lot of despair when he picks another, and the emotion of those announcements today will translate to a good part of the feelings about the 2015 recruiting class. Considering it already has the top quarterback in Josh Rosen and the top defensive end in Keisean Lucier-South in the country, it is already a very good class, and in line with the classes that Mora and staff have brought in the last couple years. But the top tight end and the top running back are on that list, too. If the Bruins can push it even further and get several of these commitments on NSD in front of the entire country, then the class will likely be top10 and Bruin fans should be really happy.
This is our National Signing Day open thread so chime in with your thoughts and reactions and predictions and questions and we'll keep things updated as we see them (and I promise not to prematurely hit publish on any announcements!). You can follow along on our twitter @BruinNation for updates all day long and on @UCLAFootball for official announcements when LOIs are received.
When the Bruins in the house, it sounds like...BOOM!
GO BRUINS!