Biggest Remaining Positional Needs For UCLA Football Recruiting
Sep 26, 2014; Las Vegas, NV, USA; St. John Bosco Braves quarterback Josh Rosen (3) makes a pass while being pressured by Bishop Gorman Gaels defensive end Haskell Garrett (16) during a game at Fertitta Field.Bishop Gorman won the game 34-31. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
As the 2015 recruiting cycle nears its end, this year’s UCLA football recruiting class still has a few important roles it needs filled going forward.
Coming into the 2015 recruiting cycle, there were a few glaring holes on the roster that UCLA simply had to address on the recruiting trail. Generally, those areas, like quarterback, slot receiver, and the offensive line, have been addressed with elite recruits like Josh Rosen, Ryan Newsome, and Fred Ulu-Perry.
But today, we’re going to talk about the positions that could still use bolstering from the remaining recruits on UCLA’s board as a lead-in to the publication of the newest Offensive and Defensive Recruiting Big Boards tomorrow and Wednesday.
1. Defensive Line
As we noted in our column last week about the top 5 remaining recruits on UCLA’s board, there is a very real possibility that both Kenny Clark and Eddie Vanderdoes could leave UCLA early to enter the NFL Draft after their 2015 seasons. Clark and Vanderdoes’ departures would leave the Bruins’ defensive line in a perilous state of relying on unproven and inexact replacements. Obviously, younger players like Matt Dickerson, Jacob Tuioti-Mariner, and Ainuu Taua need playing time and opportunities in order to prove whether they can flourish, but UCLA would still like to mitigate the risk that it might be found wanting for quality depth in 2016 should Clark and Vanderdoes not be present. It is therefore crucial that UCLA bolsters its defensive line ranks through the 2015 class in preparation for that worst-case scenario.
UCLA Bruins
2. Running Back
With the Pac-12’s leading rusher and fifth-best running back from 2014, Paul Perkins, returning to UCLA for the 2015 season, running back might not seem to be a huge immediate need for the Bruins. But as the blurb about the defensive line explained, recruiting is moreso about long-term projection of the roster and future-proofing than it is about immediately filling needs, especially when the most immediately pressing needs have already been met.
In that same vein, peeking ahead to 2016 and beyond, UCLA is looking at the very real possibility of losing Perkins after the 2015 season to the NFL Draft and being left with Nate Starks and a bunch of question marks behind him on the depth chart.
Given that the 2016 recruiting class in the West currently projects as a very weak one at running back and that UCLA just had a decommitment late last week from star 2015 running back recruit TJ Simmons, it has become imperative that the Bruins land elite running back recruit (and the only 2015 running back recruit left on their board) Soso Jamabo in this class. Bringing in Jamabo would at least ensure that UCLA has depth at the position in 2016 behind Starks should former 4-star recruit Craig Lee not pan out and UCLA fail to land a suitable running back prospect from outside the West in 2016.
3. Offensive Line
UCLA fans know more than most how important offensive line recruiting is. For most of the last decade before Jim Mora took over the reigns of the program, the Bruins’ offensive line was absolutely horrendous, with the Bruins not having a single offensive lineman drafted by an NFL team since Kris Farris in 1999 until Jeff Baca in 2013. The rot spread from the line to the passing and running games as a whole since protection was at such a premium that plays didn’t have time to unfold before being blown up by opposing defenses.
Given the difficulty of projecting how teenagers will physically develop into grown men and the subsequently extreme failure rate among high school offensive line prospects, it is absolutely crucial that a program brings in at least 4 offensive line recruits on a yearly basis. It’s a philosophy that makes sense: knowing that evaluations of quality at the offensive line position are more imprecise than at any other position, you compensate through sheer quantity and hope you hit on enough players to ultimately create not just a solid starting unit, but also playable depth.
In its current offensive line class, UCLA has commitments (or, in the case of Zach Bateman, an enrollment) from four players, all of whom are rated as 4-star prospects by at least two recruiting services. Normally, that would be enough to suffice for a single recruiting class and attention could be paid elsewhere.
However, given that UCLA only brought in two offensive linemen in the 2014 recruiting class and that the 2016 crop of local offensive line recruits looks to be one of the weakest in a while, the Bruins are looking to ameliorate that sandwich effect by bringing in even more linemen in the 2015 class if possible.