As National Signing Day – the first day that high school football players can sign their letters of intent and officially commit to their colleges of choice – commences today, one can say that Jim Mora and his new UCLA Bruin football recruiting staff have done an excellent job so far.
In fact, in my view the best thing that Mora has done in the nearly two months that he’s been the UCLA head coach is to hire assistants Adrian Klemm from Southern Methodist and Demetrice Martin from Washington, two guys with reputations of being strong recruiters.
Several guys have changed their verbal commitment to other schools to commit to the Bruins, and four players have made it official as of this writing:
* Ellis McCarthy, a five-star defensive tackle from Monrovia (CA) HS,
* Jeremy Castro, a four-star defensive end/linebacker from Vista Murrieta (CA) HS,
* Nate Iese, a linebacker from Sacramento Sheldon (CA) HS, and…
* Devin Fuller, a quarterback from Old Tappan (NJ) Hs who’s listed as the #3 dual player quarterback in the country.
Some say that this class, Mora’s first, may well end up ranked in the nation’s top ten if things go right.
UCLA’s biggest needs are on the offensive and defensive lines, as well as at quarterback; so far the defensive needs are being met, particularly with McCarthy, who was wanted by everyone and decommitted from California to sign with the Bruins.
Fuller will provde some good competition for Brett Hundley, as well as seniors Richard Brehaut and Kevin Prince, behind center.
A complete report on all the signees will appear on Go Joe Bruin tomorrow, with statistics and analysis on this new Bruin class who will be in Westwood this fall.
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