UCLA Football: Quarterback Prospects Look Bleak . . . So Far

Another quarterback picks a school over the UCLA Football program. Where do the Bruins look to next?

The UCLA Football team has offered nine quarterbacks for the Class of 2017. As of today, those nine QBs have accepted offers elsewhere.

Related Story: 4-Star QB Jack Sears Has UCLA in his Top Four

Just this past June, dual-threat QB Tate Martell had added UCLA to his final four. The Bishop Gorman senior even teased the Bruins by sharing a picture on social media wearing a UCLA Baseball jersey—only to end up committing to Ohio State.

Then, just a month later, the familiar story would repeat itself again. Jack Sears, a San Clemente native, narrowed his search to four schools, including the UCLA Football program. The other schools in his list were USC, Duke, and Utah.

The San Clemente quarterback seemed within reach for the Bruins. But just like the Martell story, Sears committed somewhere else.

This morning, the last uncommitted QB UCLA had offered for the Class of 2017 chose the Duke Blue Devils over the other Pac-12 schools.

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Although he’ll be far from home, Sears likely picked the North Carolina school because it would give him better chances at starting early. After all, it is unknown at this point whether UCLA star QB Josh Rosen will stay for his senior season (but we know what’s up).

Rosen, however, has told ESPN that he wants “to win a national championship.” Whether that means he’ll stay an extra year if he can’t accomplish the feat in the next two seasons remains to be seen. But, if he has the same aspirations as Green Bay Packers QB Brett Hundley, who stayed at UCLA because he wanted to make the Bruins special, then we might see the sophomore go the distance.

Out of the list of committed QBs UCLA has offered, Austin Burton, a Boston College commit, might be the Bruins most realistic target at this point. Burton, a Florida native, announced his UCLA offer just moments after committing to BC.

Next: 4-Star Tight End Jimmy Jaggers Commits to the Bruins

The good news for UCLA is that, these days, commits don’t really commit much. Martell, for example, was a Texas A&M commit before taking it back and picking Columbus, Ohio as his next home. I’m sure if we wait long enough, we will see another QB flip. The Bruins just need that QB to flip towards Westwood.