UCLA Football Recruiting: 2015 Defensive Big Board

Nov 30, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins linebacker Anthony Barr (11) celebrates after sacking Southern California Troans quarterback Cody Kessler (not pictured) in the fourth quarter at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

With the summer camping season winding down for recruits and fall camp looming for UCLA, this seems like as good a time as any to take a look at where things stand for UCLA football recruiting with the 2015 class. After taking a look at the Offensive Big Board, we’re examining the Defensive Big Board today.

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While UCLA is off to a slower start with the 2015 defensive recruiting class than it is on the offensive side of the ball, the pieces are still in place for an outstanding defensive haul.

On the defensive line, on the heels of DeSoto, TX nose tackle Bryce English’s commitment, the Bruins look like the likely landing spot for high-ceiling 3-star DE Rick Wade (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA/Santa Margarita) when Wade announces his commitment within the next month.

Furthermore, two of the elite defensive linemen in California are heavily considering the Bruins. 5-star DL (and Bruin legacy) Rasheem Green goes to the dreaded USC factory known as Serra HS (Gardena, CA), but he has connected well with coaches Angus McClure and Adrian Klemm and has taken multiple visits to UCLA’s campus, so Green is far from the lock to USC that 24/7’s Crystal Ball purports him to be. Stanford, UCLA, and USC will be heavily competing for Green’s commitment all the way until Signing Day in early February. And 4-star JUCO DL Takkarist McKinley (San Pablo, CA/Contra Costa CC) has the Bruins in his top group of schools and UCLA is rumored to be a co-leader for his commitment alongside Texas.

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Other defensive line recruits UCLA is still doing well with include 5-star DE CeCe Jefferson (Glen St. Mary, FL/Baker County Senior), 4-star DE Benning Potoa’e (Lakewood, WA/Lakes), and 4-star DE Porter Gustin (Salem, UT/Salem Hills), but those three are rumored to have clear leaders (Florida, Washington, and USC respectively) not named UCLA at this point in time.

At linebacker, UCLA secured an early commitment from 3-star ILB Victor Alexander (Jacksonville, FL/Trinity Christian), who has some of the most eye-popping recruiting film you will ever see, but suffers in the recruiting rankings because his size (5’10”) offsets his explosive athleticism and thus limits his ceiling at the next level to an extent. Still, UCLA desperately wants Alexander, who’s known as a tremendous leader in addition to being a fine talent, and will continue to work hard to maintain his commitment from all the way across the country.

Additionally, UCLA is reportedly the leader for both 5-star OLB Keisean Lucier-South (Orange, CA/Lutheran), who many talent evaluators project as the next Anthony Barr, and 4-star OLB Osa Masina, who possesses the type of athleticism and two-way skills that have led many to compare him to current LB/RB/dreamboat/global icon Myles Jack. Both recruitments figure to go until the last stages of the recruiting cycle, so defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich and QB coach/area recruiter Taylor Mazzone will have to continue to work hard with both to maintain UCLA’s preferred status in each’s thinking. But right now, things look very good for the Bruins with two of the elite linebacker prospects in the country.

UCLA’s dream linebacker class would be complete if it could not only bring in Alexander, Lucier-South, and Masina, but also 4-star ILB Roquan Smith (Montezuma, GA/Macon County), who Ulbrich has recruited relentlessly for the last two years but will be tough to pull out of rural Georgia. However, Smith is known to have mentioned Ulbrich out of all his recruiters nationally as the coach with whom he is the tightest and UCLA is firmly ensconced in Smith’s top three alongside Georgia and Florida, so don’t count the Bruins out in this one by any stretch.

If the dreams of UCLA coaches and fans become reality, the 2015 linebacker class could become the 2.0 version of last year’s Bruins linebacker corps which was widely hailed as the best in the country. Smith and Alexander would function as the two inside generals, akin to last season’s pairing of Kendricks (Smith) and Zumwalt (Alexander); Lucier-South would be the pass rusher extraordinaire (Barr); and Masina would be the all-around freak who could cover receivers, rush the passer, and even carry the ball in a pinch (Jack).

After what we’ve seen the last three recruiting cycles, a UCLA football recruiting class under Jim Mora can’t be considered complete without defensive backs coach Demetrice Martin turning heads across the country with his chosen DB group. In the 2015 cycle, UCLA has already landed a commitment from versatile athlete Stephen Johnson III (San Leandro, CA/San Leandro), who can play either DB or WR depending on which spot he is needed to fill in the incoming class.

At the top of the board of remaining DB recruits is 5-star CB Iman Marshall (Long Beach, CA/Poly), who has been widely known as the best cornerback in the West since his freshman year at Long Beach Poly. Marshall has shown UCLA quite a bit of public love and there’s no doubt that he has considerable affinity for Jim Mora’s staff and the UCLA football program as a whole, but Marshall (and his father) has long been known as a diehard USC fan and it is tough to shake the idea that Marshall is set to end up across town no matter what. Still, Mora and Co. will work until the last minute to try to overcome that obstacle and secure Marshall’s commitment by February.

Interestingly, defensive back is the position where we are likely to see the most direct UCLA-USC recruiting battles in this class. In addition to the tug of war over Marshall, the Bruins and Trojans look likely to face off in the recruitments of Marvell Tell (Encino, CA/Crespi) and DeChaun Holiday (San Marcos, CA/Mission Hills). While UCLA is considered a clear leader for Holiday — who UCLA is recruiting at his preferred cornerback but USC is recruiting at his more natural position of safety–, Tell is the definition of a coin flip.

UCLA was considered an early leader for Tell. Then USC seemed to seize the momentum in his recruitment earlier in the spring. Now, things have settled to the point where Tell is thought to be genuinely 50/50 between UCLA and USC. He is the likeliest of all of UCLA’s recruits to be swayed in one direction or the other by the results of the upcoming football season. Tell also has many influences on each side trying to bring him to one side of town or the other: his mother is an avowed USC fan and a former Crespi coach known to be close to Tell recently took a position in USC’s football program, but Tell is close friends with current UCLA safety and former Crespi player Tyler Foreman. UCLA is also in a good position with Quenton Meeks (Crescent City, CA/Del Norte), a 3-star CB with NFL bloodlines who currently has UCLA neck-and-neck with Stanford at the top of his list.

While recruitments on the defensive side of the ball have progressed more slowly this summer than on offense, the Bruins are still in great shape to bring in a fantastic haul on Signing Day next February.