Maurice Drew couldn’t believe his eyes.
In his hands, a brown poster read, “WANTED: Maurice Drew.
Reward if found. Last seen running rampant across California
football fields.” It was sent to him by the University of
Colorado, and Drew decided to turn himself in.
“I planned to announce my intentions to go to the
Buffaloes after the CaliFlorida Bowl,” the running back from
Concord De La Salle said. “But then, that changed.”
The two coaches who recruited Drew ““ running back coach
Eric Bieniemy and wide receiver coach Jon Embree ““ abruptly
moved to UCLA. And suddenly, the recruiting process opened up
again, this time, with Drew considering Oregon, Cal, USC and
UCLA.
Immediately, the Bruins became Drew’s favorite, and on his
official visit to Westwood during the weekend of Jan. 24-26, he was
so impressed with the visit that he committed upon arriving back
home to the Bay Area.
“UCLA was always leading, but the official visit just
sealed the deal,” said Drew, who was rated the sixth-best
running back in the nation. “When you go on an official
visit, everyone is a salesman. But you just got to sift through the
selling. I looked for how coaches and players talk to each other
and how players interact. And then I made my decision.”
The official visit is the program’s chance to sell itself.
The UCLA recruit tours the facilities, eats at glitzy restaurants,
stays at the Century Plaza Hotel, and has their names put up on the
scoreboard at the Rose Bowl. But to Drew, the most important aspect
is meeting the coaches and getting a feel for the campus.
“The campus was more than I thought it would be,”
Drew said. “Everybody was just so friendly. You just have fun
walking around campus, and you don’t get that feel from
anywhere else except on an official visit.”
On his trip, Drew ate breakfast on the beaches of Malibu and
even saw Lakers coach Phil Jackson at the Napa Valley Grille in
Westwood. Nevertheless, it was the relationships he developed with
coaches and players that impressed Drew the most.
“Coach (Karl) Dorrell has just put together an awesome
staff,” Drew said. “An important part of the visit is
talking to the coaches, just because you need to develop that
relationship. And I think I have that relationship with both
Dorrell and Bieniemy. On anyone’s official visit,
that’s going to be an important part.”
Additionally, it’s a chance for recruits to meet the
current players and see how they would fit in. Although coaches
will often ask current players to serve as hosts for recruits, it
is by no means a requirement, and a player has the right to say no.
At the same time, however, most of the players sacrifice time to
hang out with a new recruit and give them a tour of Westwood.
“I’m always happy to help,” freshman
linebacker Justin London said. “We’re trying to build a
team here. Are these new guys going to be eventually competing
against me? Yes, but there’s always going to be competition
anyway.”
It was running backs Manuel White and Tyler Ebell ““ both
of whom started last year for UCLA ““ who hosted Drew and had
to convince Drew to come to Westwood, despite that they will be
competing with Drew for time in the backfield come summer.
“Tyler and Manuel are great guys,” Drew said.
“We were just out there having fun, going to parties. We
rarely talked about football.”
Other schools have done even more to impress their recruits.
Programs like Florida and USC dazzle recruits with private jets.
From there, however, it is up to the players to determine
what’s real and what’s not.
“Once you take that visit, you get a chance to see the
coaching staff and what the school is all about,” UCLA commit
Dennis Keyes said. “You see the campus for yourself, and once
you see it, you know what’s the truth. In that sense, your
official visit seals the deal.”