Chip Kelly landed a top recruit at a position of need on Monday night, as 4-star linebacker Bo Calvert (Westlake Village, CA/Oaks Christian) decommitted from USC and instead committed to the UCLA Football team for 2018.
After only bringing in one linebacker in the 2017 class, with no remaining commits in the 2018 class before last night, and after a season in which the abilities of the linebackers on the roster were very much called into question, UCLA Football desperately needed some good news to jumpstart its recruiting efforts at a position of huge need.
The Bruins got that shot in the arm last night when four-star linebacker Bo Calvert went public with his intention to flip his longstanding commitment to USC and instead commit to UCLA.
https://twitter.com/bo_calvert/status/942955332061446144
Listed at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, Calvert was one of the highest-touted linebacker recruits in the country coming into his senior year of high school. A broken tibia suffered early in the season proved to be a setback, but once that heals, Bruins fans are likely to see what recruiting observers saw the two previous years: a player who is athletic, physical, punishing, and relentless.
Calvert was likely drawn to UCLA for more reasons than just the obvious ability to step straight into the playing rotation on a Bruin roster desperate for an infusion of quality at linebacker. He has a reputation as a student of the game and as such, likely found kindred spirits in the likes of Chip Kelly and new defensive coordinator Jerry Azzinaro, who are well-known X’s and O’s wonks.
It also doesn’t hurt that new UCLA Football LB coach Don Pellum had produced solid players at that position when he was at Oregon. One of his most recent LB’s is Troy Dye who is in the conversation for best up and coming LB in college football today.
Coached against that guy this season. He was awesome. Probably the single best player we played against this season.
— Coach Washington (@CoachRyanWash) December 19, 2017
For UCLA, the addition of Calvert is the first of what it hopes will be a few new linebackers to join the Bruins in the 2018 class, which is heavy on quality linebacker recruits on the West Coast. Many of the top kids at the position are already committed to USC (and the Trojans are likely to flip UCLA commit Abdul-Malik McClain, a 4-star DE/LB, during the Early Signing Period), which is why Calvert likely saw himself caught in a numbers crunch and chose to look around, but UCLA will be hoping to sell its new aggressive defensive style and ample available playing time to lure in recruits who might not have been looking at UCLA otherwise.
Next: UCLA Football: Bruins Land 4-Star WR Chase Cota
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Welcome to Westwood, Bo!