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Mique Juarez looks to be the beast of this year's UCLA recruiting class. If you watch his highlight videos, he looks like a combination of Myles Jack and Anthony Barr.
Juarez looks to continue the trend of impact linebackers that UCLA has had in the Jim Mora Era.
The guy just causes havoc wherever he lines up. So, the first thing every Bruin fan needs to know is how to pronounce his name. It's pronounced "ME-kay" not "MI-ka" or "MI-kwa". That's important because, if you are talking about UCLA's 2016 recruiting class, it's filled with some challenging names (even for Bruin fans who can already pronounce "Odighizuhwa").
Now that you can pronounce Mique, you'll be able to tell all your friends how he is a beast. Just take a look at some of his senior year highlights from North High School in Torrance.
He can rush the passer. He can move laterally down the line to make tackles. He can drop into pass coverage.
He can play offense! He played QB at North HS in addition to linebacker. In the highlight video above, he effortlessly throws the deep ball while also being able to run it and easily break tackles. He is even seen returning punts!
The highlight package UCLA put together demonstrates this too.
And, for one final round of highlights, let's look at what Mique did against South HS this past season.
Now, there's only one Anthony Barr and there's only one Myles Jack, but if it were possible to combine some of the best qualities of each of the Bruins, the result might just be Mique Juarez.
It's way too early to how Coach Mora and staff plan on using him even though he was recruited as a linebacker. Ideally, the offense won't need him to contribute and he will be able to focus only on defense because UCLA needs the help defensively. The Bruins definitely could use some help alongside Deon Hollins and they can definitely use someone who can move down the line and stop the run.
Considering how bad UCLA's run defense was last season, that's the area where Juarez can make the biggest impact right away for UCLA.
Make no mistake. This year's recruiting class is loaded. There is so much potential there and, while anything can happen, today, it looks like Mique Juarez will have the opportunity to have a very big impact on the future of UCLA football. Here's to hoping he makes the most of that opportunity.
Go Bruins!!!
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