PART 3
Editor’s note: Daily Bruin Sports is on day three of a three-part series on UCLA recruiting. Today, we focus on the team’s recruiting strategies, as explained by national recruiting coordinator Angus McClure.
UCLA football has experienced some of the best recruiting classes the program has ever seen under coach Jim Mora. The program has seen three consecutive seasons with nine wins or more, something unprecedented in its history.
The fourth-year coach has brought in three classes in the top 25, with five-star recruits such as freshman running back Soso Jamabo and freshman quarterback Josh Rosen all contributing to the Bruins current run at a Pac-12 title.
Angus McClure, UCLA’s defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator, has been coaching for more than 20 years, and brings a strategic plan when dissecting the nation’s talent every season.
“The way we split it up is that each coach has a recruiting region and every coach has a piece of Los Angeles,” McClure said. “We break up L.A. in nine different ways and what we do is we start right here in Southern California. … We really got to build a fence around L.A. That’s what we try to do, to get the best players from here.”
However, crosstown rival USC has experienced higher-rated recruiting classes for the last two seasons, despite the Trojans’ three straight losses to the Bruins. Most of their top recruits hail from the L.A. area, all of whom chose USC over UCLA on signing day, as every single one of them received offers from both schools.
Eight combined true freshmen and sophomores start for the Trojans, including the likes of All-Pac-12 selections Adoree Jackson and JuJu Smith-Schuster, and three of their starting offensive lineman. The class of 2015’s No. 1 cornerback by ESPN and Rivals Iman Marshall is following Jackson’s footsteps by being the only true freshman in the secondary for USC.
But the private school isn’t just winning in Los Angeles, as it has begun recruiting athletes more than 2,000 miles away, too. Since 2008, USC has recruited 10 athletes from Florida, with many of them already in the NFL, including first-round draft picks Leonard Williams and Nelson Agholor and fourth-rounder Javorius Allen.
UCLA’s South Florida targets
Trayvon Mullen is currently the No. 2 corner in the nation, according to ESPN, and the 6-foot-2, 170-pound athlete has more than 45 Division-I offers, including one from UCLA. His teammate and current Georgia commit, Malek Young, also holds a UCLA offer.
For the Bruins, the offers are where the interest ends. Mullen and Young both planned on taking an official visit to Westwood in the winter, but quickly changed their minds after they said the program’s lack of interest was obvious.
“We both were going to take a trip out there, but I told Malek I don’t really talk to (defensive backs coach Demetrice Martin) so I was really the iffy one,” Mullen said. “I’m still kind of iffy about it because I don’t really talk to him, I don’t know him, I can’t tell you nothing about him.”
Mullen didn’t feel as iffy about USC, which has been showing consistent interest in his services.
“I feel like I would’ve came out there (to UCLA), because you know I look into USC a lot, because they’ve been coming after me hard, and the coaches talk to me a lot,” Mullen said.
Despite his sentiments, the coveted corner said he has no top schools, and has left his recruitment as open as possible.
“I don’t exit out nobody, because they gave the time to recruit me, so I give the time to be recruited,” Mullen said. “It’d be really good if UCLA came after me. I feel like it’s a good program, and its on the West Coast. I could still feel like home but just get away and be comfortable, too.”
Young was much more bent on visiting Westwood. Despite his commitment to Georgia, the idea of using all five official visits has served as pivotal to him.
“I want to experience and actually take a visit to UCLA, see how it is up there, make sure I’m making the right choices,” Young said. “I know I’m committed to Georgia, but I’m still looking around and making sure I made the right choice. I just want to get on campus to see how it is … to see if it’s like family and if I fit there.”
USC’s impact in the region
With a 6-foot-6 frame and smooth route-running ability, Nick Eubanks, ESPN’s No. 2-ranked hybrid tight end, has the tools to succeed at the next level. Arguably the biggest surprise in his recruitment occurred just a month ago, when USC trekked all the way out to Plantation to offer him a scholarship.
Eubanks expressed his feelings regarding UCLA’s lack of interest in him.
“Yeah UCLA has crossed my mind before because USC is right there. I’m surprised they haven’t offered me yet but it is what it is,” Eubanks said. “I’d be excited if they offered me because it’s the West Coast. I’m not afraid to travel.”
USC, Florida, Alabama and LSU are currently in the lead for the tight end’s services next fall.
Word from coach McClure
Despite recruiting predominantly in California, McClure said the coaching staff does reach out to other states. Once he and the other recruiters on staff feel they cannot find a recruit who fits what he calls the “Bruin Filter” in the L.A. area or California, they move into geographically assigned zones to recruit positions in need.
“If (California prospects) turn us down, we have to go outside. Then we move on to our regions,” McClure said. “When I say everyone has a region, that’s in the West Coast. So we kind of spread out, farm our land and find the best prospects. If we don’t find it there, then we go national and by position.”
UCLA has only recruited 36 players outside of California since 2012, with a few of them having transferred or left the program such as Asiantii Woulard (Florida), Sean Covington (Florida), Priest Willis (Arizona) and Chris Clark (Connecticut). Of this group, only 24 came from outside of the Western region.
McClure summed up UCLA’s view and strategy in regards to Florida recruiting.
“If we’re going to go that far, like Florida, he’s got to be a big timer,” McClure said. “You know we’re not going to go out there and get an above-average player, he has to be an elite player.”
On the Bruins’ current roster, injured senior defensive back Fabian Moreau was the first and only player from Florida to sign and successfully stay at UCLA under Mora. The senior was recruited by offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone as a running back before the staff switched him to defense his sophomore year.