UCLA Football Recruiting: RB Nathaniel Jones Commits to the Bruins

Recruiting has certainly taken a turn near the end of June for the UCLA Bruins football program. This past Sunday, the Bruins picked up a commitment from LB Myles Jackson out of Georgia, then followed it up on Thursday with the commitment of WR Matt Sykes from Hawai’i. Then today, the Bruins picked up their third commitment of the week, with this one coming from much closer to home, as running back and St. John Bosco product Nathaniel Jones announced that he was committing to the Bruins on Twitter.

@Sandbeast24

Jones stands at 5-11 and weighs in at 205 pounds. He is rated as a 3-star by 247Sports Composite rankings, though it’s worth noting that 247Sports themselves have him ranked as a 4-star. He has collected offers from all over the country, including reported offers from Florida, Georgia, Oregon, Arizona State, and Utah. Impressively enough, he’s collected these offers despite not playing last year because he tore his ACL and MCL in his first preseason game of his junior year. As a sophomore, Jones was part of a three-man backfield for the Braves,where he was able to put up 250 yards and 4 touchdowns. Jones was actually offered originally by Jim Mora’s staff, but was re-offered back in February during the first #8Clap8th.

Jones is definitely a more physical, bruising back and is capable of breaking tackles and grinding out yards, but he has the ability to break free and do damage in open space when the opportunity arises. This is going to be a big senior season for him, as he appears to be in line to be a major player in the backfield for a loaded Bosco team. Jones also looks like he can be a great long-play for the Bruins. UCLA kept in contact with Jones through his injury and, if he shows off the talent that made him such a hot commodity coming into high school, the Bruins should be able to hold off interest from other major programs down the stretch.

Nathaniel Jones is also the second UCLA commitment from Bosco in this cycle, following DB Jake Newman, who committed to the Bruins earlier this month. As I said then, making inroads into the powerhouse Bosco program would be a great sign for UCLA recruiting going forward and, hopefully, this can open the floodgates to a few more impact guys coming from the school.

Here are highlights from Jones’ sophomore year, courtesy of Hudl:

Welcome to Westwood, Nathaniel!


Go Bruins!