UCLA Football Recruiting: Ogling 4-Star WR Devon Allen, Who Has Bruins As Frontrunner

With the UCLA football season in full swing, many fans have forgotten about the 17-year old kids who are chomping at the bit to attend their favorite college.

One of those kids that UCLA is recruiting is four-star wide-out Devon Allen out of Arizona. Recently, Allen listed UCLA as his front-runner, which is a pretty big deal, since Allen is just a freaking athlete, due to his being a major track star in high school, too.

Let’s break down some stuff, as always, and give you a rundown of the kid who’s being heavily recruited by programs like Texas, Michigan, and every other major football program you can think of.

First, some highlights via the YouTubez:

This is a fantastic highlight reel, and it’s 12 minutes long, so we have a lot to go off of. From the video, we can see that the dude has fantastic hands, as evidenced by his numerous difficult catches, most notably at the 0:28 mark. He also seems to have elite speed and incredible route-running skills, and he’s consistently getting behind the secondary on all the fade routes.

Do the scouting reports agree with this? To a degree, sure. They all rave about his hands, his burst and his speed, but none of them seem to think he’s mindblowingly great at any of these things. They also like his route-running skills and mention his craftiness, while also discussing at length his need to get stronger and grow into his frame a bit more. All, however, absolutely love his ability to adjust to a pass mid-air, and they all love his ability to go up and get catches (not his hops, per se, but his body control and timing).

Overall, the reports think he’s super well-rounded and does a lot of things well, but not fantastically, save for adjusting to those jump balls and controlling his body.

Of course, having a jack-of-all-trades type of receiver catching passes from Brett Hundley seems like a deadly threat, and Allen seems to be the kind of versatile guy that Noel Mazzone loves to have on the field at all times.

We like the kid (don’t we like ’em all?), and he has UCLA as his frontrunner. Sounds like a date, Devon.

GO BRUINS!!!