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UCLA Basketball and Football: Westwood is the place to be for recruits

By Ryan Kay

Helicopters fly over as fireworks explode during the national anthem prior to the game between the USC Trojans and the UCLA Bruins at Rose Bowl on November 19, 2022 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Helicopters fly over as fireworks explode during the national anthem prior to the game between the USC Trojans and the UCLA Bruins at Rose Bowl on November 19, 2022 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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UCLA Football and Basketball
Residential halls on the UCLA campus. The dormitories are proposed sites for the athlete’s village for the 2024 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

UCLA basketball and football along with other athletic teams in Westwood have a very bright future due to more and more student-athletes wanting to come to UCLA.

The famous tv sitcom show Green Acres which ran for six seasons from 1965 to 1971 had a very memorable song. Well, fast forward to today, and UCLA may just be the place to be.

Let’s look at how well the non-football and basketball sports are doing in terms of having top-tier and highly sought-after student-athletes deciding to come to UCLA.

The UCLA baseball team is bringing in the No. 1 recruiting class according to the recruiting site, Perfect Game.

The women’s soccer team has the No. 2 recruiting class in the nation according to topdrawersoccer.com. The team is also ranked the No. 1 team in the country entering the season.

The UCLA softball team has the No. 8 2023 Top 50 Signing Class according to Extra Inning Softball and the men’s volleyball team has the No. 1 recruiting class according to VolleyballMag.com. It is clear that student-athletes are choosing UCLA over many other colleges

UCLA Football recruiting better and better and here is why.

Pick Six Previews ranked UCLA the No. 12 school according to College Football Brand ranking in the entire nation according to 224 recruits that graded their interest and desire in each program as if they were the number one recruit in the country. Recruits are taking notice of all of the benefits of picking UCLA to play their collegiate football and the surveys being taken by highly sought-after high school recruits are proving this point.

UCLA football recruiting started to pick up significantly once Dante Moore who was a 5-star recruit out of high school and the 4th nationally ranked player overall according to 247 Sports. Then the Bruins did well in the transfer portal as On3 has UCLA as the No. 4 overall transfer class. Head Coach Chip Kelly looks to continue to do well convincing highly ranked players to come play football at UCLA.

UCLA Basketball recruiting is doing outstanding and here is why.

There is a strong argument to be made that the 2023 Bruin recruiting class is the No. 1 ranked class. None of the top recruiting sites have Aday Mara calculated into the Bruins team ranking and he is projected by some to be a lottery pick in the 2024 NBA draft. Also, most of the sites don’t have Berke Buyuktuncel ranked at all and only a few have Jan Vide included in their rankings as well.

UCLA has a seven-person class that has four players as consensus four-star rated by On3, 247 Sports, and ESPN. The last three student-athletes were late signees and not rated and included in UCLA’s 2023 recruiting class. If they were to be included, they at the minimum would be in the top 5 of the 2023 recruiting rankings as Mara is at minimum a high four-star, Buyuktuncel a high 3-star or low four-star, and Vide at minimum a three-star ranking.

Let’s now look at the possible reasons why student-athletes are picking to live in Westwood, LA, and attending UCLA for college.