UCLA picked up its first two offensive line commitments from the 2017 recruiting class on Friday, as Will Farrar and Kanan Ray announced their pledges to the Bruins.
The college football world has moved onto an odd-numbered recruiting year, which means it must be time for UCLA offensive line coach Adrian Klemm to haul in another top-level offensive line class.
Indeed, Klemm got the 2017 cycle off to a tremendous start on Friday, as he reeled in commitments from versatile offensive linemen Will Farrar (Richmond, TX/Travis) and Kanan Ray (Chatsworth, CA/Sierra Canyon), both of whom committed on visits to the UCLA campus.
Both players have the versatility to be either tackles or guards, but probably project best as interior linemen on the college level.
Farrar is a stocky, broad-shouldered bruiser who fits very well into UCLA’s new offensive scheme under coordinator Kennedy Polamalu that will incorporate more pro-style elements.
Ray is a little bit more lithe and athletic than his Texan counterpart, but is equally capable being a road-grader in the running game.
Given the mercurial nature of the modern recruiting world, most fans understandably do not put too much stock into verbal commitments made this early in the recruiting cycle, but there are a couple reasons to be optimistic that UCLA will hold onto both Farrar and Ray for the next year despite the advances of other programs.
UCLA Bruins
First of all, it is never prudent to doubt the recruiting prowess of Klemm, who is probably the best offensive line recruiter in the country and is almost certainly one of the two best overall recruiters in the conference (alongside USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin).
Secondly, each player has already received the offer that would have been considered the biggest threat to UCLA’s standing: Farrar, who hails from the Houston metro area, was offered by both in-state blueblood Texas and semi-local powerhouse LSU recently, while Ray received his “dream” offer from Tennessee — where his uncle played and much of his family lives — last month. The Bruins reeled in the commitments of Farrar and Ray despite those offers, so it isn’t a stretch to say that UCLA has already cleared the biggest hurdles in these recruitments.
With Farrar and Ray now joining the class, the building blocks have been set in place for another special UCLA offensive line class. With Klemm on the hunt for three or four more linemen to join and the West Coast possessing the best group of offensive line talent it has had since the famous 2012 crop, the Bruins look likely to cement the future of their offensive line with the group that will come in as of February 1, 2017.
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Welcome to Westwood, Will and Kanan!