UCLA Football Recruiting Heard Round the World

Yesterday Bruin football was all over the map, literally reaching half way around the world. Locally, there were some fun interviews with Coach Mora, UCLA players, and local signees. Here is some of what we heard and saw:

Starting locally, Petros and Money had a really fun interview with Coach Mora, discussing some of "the big fish" Mora snagged and some funny comments including one from Money when Petros said Mora thinks he has the staff to coach these players up..."where'd he go". They also discuss the significant impact of Josh Rosen on recruiting, bringing in out of state recruits as well as cultivating California talent, creating the right culture, the running backs and how Kennedy Polamalu & Paul Perkins helped, the pros and cons of recruiting, the Ulbrich/Quinn situation, how the players want to play for each other, and the Count on Me Golf Tournament:

Kenny Young is also interviewed and talks about what NSD is like and especially what it takes to leave your home to go to school and play football. He also talks about the recruiting process, the role Scott White played in his, compares the west coast and the south, Erik Kendricks, and how much he's grown as a man since coming to UCLA.

While most of our signees were seen on national T.V. a really neat local young man from IE's area, Nathan Meadors chose UCLA and discussed his decision on a local signing show:

Coach Mora's also met with the press yesterday, rounding up yesterday's events including the Ulbrich/Quinn situation. And UCLA has a complete list of players signed yesterday with video highlights.

Nationally UCLA was making headlines as well.

Why did Josh Wariboko choose UCLA? is the question News OK asks. Well we all know it's the greatest University in the land, but Berry Tramel has some spot on things to say about UCLA:

And then you drive into Westwood and enter the UCLA campus, and you literally go wow. Or holy crap. Or shazam. Whatever is your phrase of choice. UCLA is an oasis in the garden. A gorgeous, serene setting in the middle of the hustle and bustle...Plus it’s a great school. With an unmatched athletic pedigree, and the football isn’t half bad.

Truthfully, the question is not why kids from this part of the country go to UCLA. It’s why don’t MORE kids from this part of the country go to UCLA.

Exactly! You can also hear from Josh about why he chose UCLA ... "It's prestigious"!

USA Today lists UCLA as one of the big winners yesterday: "UCLA didn't sign a big group, but the top-15 class closed with a bang on signing day with RB SoSo Jamabo and TE Chris Clark, among others." The L.A. Times agrees, noting the difference in UCLA's success this year as compared to last, including how much fun it is to see players pick the UCLA hats off the table: "This year, it had a little more oomph because on national TV guys were pulling out UCLA hats. I'm not going to lie, that feels pretty good when there is an Ohio State hat and they pick up that beautiful UCLA hat." Yahoo Sports discusses how UCLA (okay L.A,) stole National Signing Day, and CBS Sports amends this, noting that "the Trojans were upstaged a bit by their crosstown rivals on National Signing Day", something tWWL was having a difficult time dealing with.

As long as Mora continues to put classes like this together, and as long as kids keep picking UCLA hats off of tables all over the country on signing day, Hundley or no Hundley, the Bruins are going to continue to be a force in the college football landscape.

Let's hope our success grows, even without Brett!

Of course the decision of Cordell Broadus to become a Bruin is getting press everywhere. As Jon Gold tweeted yesterday, Mora ended the east coast/west coast rivalry yesterday as Cordell joins Justin Combs in the Blue and Gold. The Daily Mail has some nice pictures of both families, whose rivalry seems to have been put to rest a long time ago. There are more articles on Cordell from the LA Times, ESPN, Yahoo, AllHipHop.com, and the Sydney Morning Herald (wow, Australia!). That's not to mention having your "picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone", okay so it's not on the cover. But this is really about Cordell and the hard work he has put in to becoming an outstanding football player, and by the looks of it, an outstanding person. In his words, "I think it'll be great playing with some great athletes and just going out there and playing hard, working hard and winning games," Welcome to Westwood Cordell.

It was a fun day yesterday, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat kind of a day. But UCLA football definitely made its mark on the national recruiting scene and now its time to put the in hard and intelligent work necessary to take UCLA football to the top on the field.

Have a great day and as always...

Go Bruins!