UCLA Football Listed In ESPN’s Post-Signing Day Rankings
With National Signing Day over, ESPN has put together their way-too-early post-signing day rankings and has UCLA Football at #21.
It is over seven months until college football returns but that has not stopped ESPN from putting out another way-too-early list. This time, the worldwide sports leader has made their predictions about the Top 25 after all the dust has settled with National Signing Day.
That list includes the UCLA Football team which has come in at the #21 spot in ESPN’s post-signing day rankings.
UCLA ended the 2015 season unranked due to a two-game losing streak, which included a loss to USC and then Nebraska in the Foster Farms Bowl, and finished 8-5. Things got a little brighter for the program last week as the Bruins reloaded on National Signing Day.
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One of the bigger concerns noted by ESPN was that the Bruins addressed their concerns on the defensive line as they stated the Bruins signed six D-linemen (they actually signed seven, but good try ESPN).
With UCLA returning 5 players on offense, 9 players on defense and 0 on special teams, the Bruins have some work to do resculpting their game plan for 2016, especially on offense.
With Noel Mazzone gone and Kennedy Polamalu taking over as offensive coordinator, UCLA will become more power-oriented as opposed to utilizing the spread that has defined their offense for the last four years.
On defense, the Bruins hope to bounce back from an injury-plagued season in which several starters missed significant time. Thanks to signing day, UCLA will be deep on the line. They were also able to pull in one of the best linebacker classes in the nation, which included 5-star LB Mique Juarez. If anything, the Bruins will be stacked on defense.
Next: The Top 10 UCLA Quarterbacks
Other Pac-12 teams listed are 8 Stanford, 16 USC, 20 Oregon and 23 Washington. The Top 5 are 1 Alabama, 2 Florida State, 3 Michigan, 4 Baylor and 5 Clemson.