UCLA Football Recruiting: Tahaan Goodman Commits To Bruins

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Just hours before UCLA target Priest Willis is set to announce his commitment to the Bruins, four-star defensive back Tahaan Goodman announced his commitment to UCLA at his high school.

This comes on the heels of UCLA’s earned commitments of four-star defensive backs Johnny Johnson and Tyler Foreman earlier in the week, and adds to a now-vaunted recruiting class that also includes three-star defensive back Mossi Johnson. In all, UCLA has four commits in the defensive backfield and could be looking at a fifth in Priest Willis later on today, with his commitment being considered a surefire result.

Willis and Goodman were long seen as a package deal, both having been good friends throughout the recruiting process. When Goodman announced on Tuesday that he would commit after school the next day, which came after Willis’ announcement that he would do so later on Wednesday evening, it was a near lock that both were headed to Westwood.

Goodman adds to what is shaping up to be a highly-vaunted class that addresses UCLA’s biggest deficiencies in 2012. The Bruins struggled with depth at the offensive line this past season — and it proved to be a major problem for the Bruins on offensive — but, with the momentum behind Adrian Klemm, UCLA managed to earn the pledges of seven offensive linemen, earning their 2013 offensive line class the distinction of the best in the country. UCLA also was deficient in the secondary, with seniors Aaron Hester and Sheldon Price struggling mightily all season against decent receivers. Now, UCLA is on the cusp of five, highly-regarded DB commits and possibly a top-ranking for their defensive back class.

Additionally, UCLA’s recruiting class has been widely figured to be a top-10 class prior to this commitment and, if Willis commits as well, this class could certainly move into the top-five.