Bruins Pick Up a Five-Star Recruit And Hire a Defensive Coordinator
By Derek Hart
According to online reports and the Los Angeles Times…
Ellis McCarthy, a 6′ 5″, 311 pound defensive tackle from Monrovia, CA, decommitted from California and has given a verbal committment to UCLA this week, choosing the Bruins over USC, Florida, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Oregon among others.
The five-star recruit is the most significant get for new UCLA coach Jim L. Mora and recruiting coordinator Demetrice Martin, as rivals.com has ranked McCarthy second at his position and overall in the state, and 21st in the country.
A complete list of UCLA’s recruiting class, including an analysis on the quality of the recruits and where they rank in the Pac-12 Conference and nationally, will appear on Go Joe Bruin in the days following signing day on February 1, when the recruits’ signatures are on their letter of intent, officially making them new Bruins.
Here’s what else is up with football…
Mora has completed his staff, hiring Lou Spanos as the Bruins’ defensive coordinator this week.
Spanos has spent the past three years with the Washington Redskins as their linebacker coach, and was with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the previous 15 years before that as an assistant, helping them to three Super Bowl championships.
During his time in Pittsburgh, he also helped the Steelers to achieve a top ten ranking among NFL defenses 13 times, including the #1 ranking four of those times.
UCLA is now at the limit of assistant coaches with nine, five of them being on the offensive side with four of them covering the defense. This new staff totals 90 years of NFL experience on the coaching and playing side, and Mora is planning to, according to the L.A. Times, “…have a strong influence on defensive schemes.”
Meanwhile, in basketball…
Coach Ben Howland is saying goodbye to one of his players as De’ End Parker, a transfer from the City College of San Francisco who has seen little action this season due to injury, is leaving Westwood and plans to transfer to a school in the Bay Area to be closer to his mother, who has heart issues.
“We’re going to help him…get closer to his mother,” Howland said.
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