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Yesterday, UCLA picked up the 20th commitment to the 2018 recruiting class when defensive end Steven Mason from Southwestern College in Chula Vista. Mason just completed his freshman year at Southwestern.
Mason announced his commitment on Twitter yesterday, but, if you weren’t paying careful attention, you may have missed it as it wasn’t clear he was committing until he added “#committed” to his tweet.
Couldn’t be here without you watching over me. Thank you God for all of your blessings. #Committed #4sUp #GoBruins pic.twitter.com/KBeLI0vWZT
— Steven Mason II (@MasonSteven754) February 1, 2018
In six games with Southwestern this past season, Mason made 22 tackles and 7 tackles for loss. He also had 4.5 sacks.
Mason is 6’8” tall and weighs 250 pounds. According to his Hudl.com profile, Mason runs a 4.88 40-yard dash and a 4.3-second shuttle. He bench presses 295 pounds while squatting 410 pounds and deadlifting 425. Let’s look at his freshman year highlights from Hudl.
What’s clear from watching his highlight reel is that Mason is able to get off of his blocker and penetrate into the backfield. He seems to have some quickness as evidenced by his ability on at least one occasion to run down a scrambling quarterback on the opposite side of the field.
But, what really stood out was how Southwestern used his height on special teams to block multiple field goal attempts and I hope new special teams coach Roy Manning utilizes Mason’s height to defend field goal attempts this season.
As I mentioned earlier, he is now the 20th commitment to the 2018 recruiting class, which just a few weeks ago was hurting somewhat from a lack of quantity, but not a lack of quality. It now looks like quantity is not going to be a problem when the recruiting class is finalized on National Signing Day next Wednesday.
Here’s the current list of UCLA’s 2018 recruiting class.
2018 UCLA Football Recruiting Class
| Recruit Name | Position | Current School | Composite Rating | NLI Submitted? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recruit Name | Position | Current School | Composite Rating | NLI Submitted? |
| Bryan Addison | ATH | Junipero Serra (Gardena, CA) | 4-Star | Yes |
| Stephan Blaylock | S | St. John Bosco (Bellflower, CA) | 4-Star | Yes |
| Bo Calvert | LB | Oaks Christian (Westlake Village, CA) | 4-Star | Yes |
| Chase Cota | WR | South Medford (Medford, OR) | 4-Star | Yes |
| Kyle Philips | WR | San Marcos (San Marcos, CA) | 4-Star | Yes |
| Kazmeir Allen | RB | Tulare Union (Tulare, CA) | 3-Star | Yes |
| Alec Anderson | OT | Etiwanda (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) | 3-Star | Yes |
| Atonio Mafi | DT | Junipero Serra (San Mateo, CA) | 3-Star | Yes |
| Tyler Manoa | DT | St. Francis (Mountain View, CA) | 4-Star | No |
| Chris Murray | OL | Mater Dei (Santa Ana, CA) | 4-Star | No |
| Dorian Thompson-Robinson | QB | Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, NV) | 4-Star | No |
| Elijah Wade | DE | Arbor View (Las Vegas, NV) | 4-Star | No |
| Matt Alaimo | TE | St. Joseph Regional (Montvale, NJ) | 3-Star | No |
| Je'Vari Anderson | LB/DB | Laney College (Oakland, CA) | 3-Star | No |
| Baraka Beckett | OL | Palisades (Pacific Palisades, CA) | 3-Star | No |
| Kenny Churchwell | S | Mountain Pointe (Phoenix, AZ) | 3-Star | No |
| Elisha Guidry | DB | Vista Murrieta (Murrieta, CA) | 3-Star | No |
| Delon Hurt | WR | Servite (Anaheim, CA) | 3-Star | No |
| Patrick Jolly, Jr. | ATH | Newsome (Lithia, FL) | 3-Star | No |
| Steven Mason | DE | Southwestern College (Chula Vista, CA) | 3-Star | No |
| CJ Parks | WR | Mater Dei (Santa Ana, CA) | 3-Star | No |
| David Priebe | TE | Midway (Waco, TX) | 3-Star | No |
| Tyree Thompson | LB | LA Valley College (Los Angeles, CA) | 3-Star | No |
Welcome to Westwood, Steven!
Go Bruins!!!