The month of April has been very kind to the UCLA Football team in terms of recruiting, especially on offense, giving the Bruins a hot start to 2018.
Things feel different already. After a bad 2016 season, the UCLA Football team changed things around on the offensive side of the ball.
It was not a pleasant time for Head Coach Jim Mora and his staff as they had to endure the backlash of a 4–8 season. With that in mind, Mora switched things around on offense bringing in an almost entirely new staff, which is worrisome, but so far it seems like it is moving in the right direction, especially with recruiting.
Installing a third offensive strategy in three years is not good for most teams, but if it works and they can build a foundation for the future then maybe the change will be worth it.
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So far in spring practice, it’s been slow going for the offense as they have had good days as well as their bad days. What that translates to on the field in 2017 is yet to be seen, but let’s hope it’s an improvement off of last year.
There is some good coming from this almost immediately. In the month of April, UCLA has nabbed five recruits, which includes two big time position players with 4-star QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson and 4-star WR Kyle Phillips. And those were just over the last four days.
The Bruins were also able to get one player from two other offensive position groups as 3-star OL Blake McDonald and 3-star RB AJ Carter have committed to the Bruins for 2018. That means that each of the new position coaches all have one player recruited under their belt so far. Currently, UCLA has the 14th best 2018 recruiting class per Scout.com.
Even the defense has four players committed which includes 4-star safety Cam’ron Jones who also committed last week.
It is good to see they hit the ground running with recruiting, so now they have to try to be that successful with the product they put on the field. As stated above, if it can lead to good things in the future, UCLA should be alright, but they are under a little bit of pressure.
If Jim Mora does not do well in 2017, his seat will get hotter. Building a solid recruiting class will help keep the flame low but right now it’s time to start transitioning his team into a conference and national contender.
Next: UCLA Football Recruiting - QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson Commits to Bruins
If this new staff can be a successful on the field as they are on the recruiting trail, then good thing await UCLA Football fans.