Top 5 Remaining Targets For UCLA Football Recruiting
Jan 2, 2015; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Team Armour running back Soso Jamabo (2) runs with the ball as Team Highlight linebacker Jahvoni Simmons (22) looks to make a tackle during the first half of the of the 2015 Under Armour All-America Game at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports
With National Signing Day exactly two weeks away, Go Joe Bruin is ramping up its coverage of UCLA football recruiting efforts for the Class of 2015. Among various features to come, next week will see the return of the ever-popular Recruiting Big Boards for offense and defense. Today, though, we’re going to look at UCLA’s five highest priority targets among the uncommitted recruits it is still pursuing with whom it has a realistic chance (meaning, not USC-bound kids who are merely teasing UCLA at this point like Iman Marshall or Osa Masina and not committed recruits UCLA is trying to flip like LSU offensive line commit Maea Teuhema).
1. Joseph Wicker– DT/DE (Long Beach, CA/Poly)
Wicker’s stock has gone through the roof since Long Beach Poly switched for the 2014 season from a 4-3 defense, in which he played as an edge rusher, to a 3-4, in which he played as a 5-technique. He has elevated himself from a fringe 4-star prospect to a legitimate top 100 national recruit as a result of his dynamic performances for the Jackrabbits, for whom he accumulated an astounding 138 tackles and 17.5 sacks (as an interior lineman!) in the 2014 season, and at the Army All-American Game, where he was consistently one of the best overall performers among some the best recruits in the country. Wicker’s senior highlights show a versatile player with great quickness and strength.
Given the very real possibility that both Kenny Clark and Eddie Vanderdoes could leave UCLA early to enter the NFL Draft after their 2015 seasons, it’s crucial that UCLA bolsters its defensive line ranks in preparation for that worst-case scenario. Wicker stands out as the best remaining recruit that UCLA is pursuing at its greatest potential area of future need, therefore making him stand out as the most important player that the Bruins must nab in this recruiting cycle.
Wicker’s recruitment has become a UCLA-Arizona State battle, but with Wicker officially visiting Westwood the weekend of January 30, UCLA’s coaches should be able to turn on the charm in the coming weeks and convince Wicker to stay home and commit to UCLA.
2. Soso Jamabo– RB (Plano, TX/East)
UCLA’s lack of skill position players who are true home-run threats every time they touch the ball has been discussed ad nauseum at this point. As a result, we can summarize in very basic terms why Jamabo, a 5-star running back/contortionist from the Dallas suburbs who is rated the #1 player at his position nationally, is so high on UCLA’s board: Soso is really good at making people miss and scoring touchdowns with a football in his hands. UCLA doesn’t have anyone like Soso. UCLA needs someone like Soso.
Although Notre Dame has dropped off as the main competitor in Jamabo’s recruitment, in-state Texas is now charging hard, with Jamabo scheduled to take an official visit to Austin this upcoming weekend. UCLA remains the favorite for now, but never count out the local power for whom the recruit cheered growing up.
Landing a 5-star, out-of-state recruit like Jamabo in those circumstances would constitute a gigantic coup for UCLA and send a message nationally that the Bruins have officially arrived as a big-time school that can go heads-up with the big boys for the best and brightest talent. Reeling in Jamabo for UCLA would be just as important for the optics of the commitment as the impact he can make on the field.
3. DeChaun Holiday– ATH (San Marcos, CA/Mission Hills)
Holiday, a top 100 recruit nationally who would be a 4-star recruit at cornerback, safety, and wide receiver, is the kind of dynamic athlete whom a school brings in with its class first and asks questions later about which position he’ll ultimately play. He’s long been projected by the recruiting services as a defensive back and UCLA would likely try Holiday first at cornerback, where, as Bruin fans saw in the Alamo Bowl, the team has a desperate need for a lockdown player who can shut down an opponent’s best receiver.
All indications are that Holiday should be a Bruin when he announces his commitment on Super Bowl Sunday.
UCLA Bruins
4. Chris Clark– TE (Avon, CT/Old Farms)
After the unsavory Aliz’e Jones saga (the less said about that utterly absurd sequence of events, the better) resulted in UCLA’s longtime tight end commitment flipping to Notre Dame, UCLA has moved onto Clark, another blue-chip prospect at the same position but one with a very different skillset than Jones.
Clark isn’t the athlete that Jones is (few are), but he’s a classic, prototypical in-line tight end, which UCLA currently lacks on its roster. The 6’6″ Clark projects as a solid blocker and devastating receiver, especially in the red zone where UCLA can exploit his height to create mismatches much like it did for the similarly-sized Joseph Fauria during the 2012 season. The more varied weapons UCLA has in its arsenal, the better its offense will be.
UCLA is locked in a see-saw battle with Michigan, the school to whom Clark was previously committed prior to the firing of Brady Hoke, to land Clark.
Clark was reportedly quite impressed by his official visit to Ann Arbor last weekend, but the Bruins will get him on campus this upcoming weekend and look to impress him enough to land him come Signing Day, when he will announce his decision on ESPNU.
5. Josh Wariboko (Oklahoma City, OK/Casady)
Go Joe Bruin has repeatedly stated for multiple months now that UCLA looked poised to bring in an epic group of elite recruits on the offensive line in this recruiting cycle. Despite small hiccups along the way, that prediction still looks well on its way to coming true. The final looming piece of the puzzle is 4-star offensive guard Wariboko, a large but athletic interior lineman with a very high ceiling who has counted UCLA as his leader since last summer. However, hometown Oklahoma (which Wariboko’s parents both attended and to whom Wariboko was committed very early in the recruiting process) and recently-crowned national champion Ohio State have steadily chipped away at the Bruins’ lead and turned this recruitment into a legitimate three-horse race.
Landing Wariboko would give UCLA the best group of 2015 offensive line recruits in the country, with a 4-star player coming in at every position on the line, and further confirm the national appeal of UCLA, who will have taken the best overall recruit from the state of Oklahoma and a double legacy from under the noses of the Sooners should Wariboko choose to commit to offensive line coach Adrian Klemm and the Bruins.