It was certainly a triumphant spring in Westwood.
In April, Ben Howland brought the Bruins back to the Final Four, as the men’s basketball team marched to Atlanta and continued its leap to the top of the college ranks.
May saw the UCLA women’s water polo team win its third straight NCAA championship, No. 100 for UCLA.
And as the school year closed, the baseball team reached the Super Regionals for the first time since 2000, just two wins short of the College World Series.
UCLA’s continuous Pac-10 battles and NCAA championship runs have subsided for the summer. But don’t be fooled by the schedule; it is still a very important time for UCLA sports.
Summer is a time to replenish lost talent and integrate new faces. It’s a time when UCLA coaches see the fruits of their tireless recruiting labor and welcome a new class of Bruins.
Recruiting is the fundamental aspect of NCAA success. Every UCLA team relies on the school’s campus and rich legacy to attract top high school athletes. The results are clear; strong recruiting classes are typical in Westwood, and they have become the engine that drives the Bruins’ athletic dominance. This year is no different, as UCLA’s top teams have all added talent.
FOOTBALL: Coach Karl Dorrell had a very limited number of scholarships to offer for the 2007 year with a very small graduating class, but he filled up the recruiting class well. The headliner is defensive tackle Brian Price, one of the best defensive linemen in the country who chose UCLA over USC, among others. Price is joined by Raymond Carter, a big, fast running back from the Los Angeles area who is the best running back recruit for UCLA since Maurice Drew, and he has the potential to see significant playing time in his first year as a Bruin.
Quarterback Chris Forcier, cornerback Courtney Viney and defensive end Akeem Ayers are other key components of this small but strong recruiting class.
On the horizon for the Bruins is a monster class in 2008, which is already earning some regard from recruiting experts as one of the top 10 classes in the nation.
MEN’S BASKETBALL: Ben Howland has founded his success at UCLA in recruiting. His first class of 2004 brought former UCLA stars Arron Afflalo and Jordan Farmar, and two key leaders of the 2007-2008 team, Lorenzo Mata and Josh Shipp.
Howland has continued that success in 2007 with the addition of Kevin Love and Chace Stanback. Love, a 6-foot-10-inch power forward from Lake Oswego, Ore., was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year. The 6-7 Stanback starred at Fairfax High School, leading the team with 25.8 points per game.
The commitments have started to come in for the class of 2008 as well. Drew Gordon, Malcolm Lee and Jerime Anderson have already announced intention to play for the Bruins, and all three are ranked among the top 30 players in the class by scout.com.
BASEBALL: Of all the recruiters at UCLA, baseball coach John Savage may have the toughest job. High school baseball players have the choice to sign contracts with Major League teams, if drafted. Still, Savage has proved to be an excellent recruiter and program builder. The 2007 class is strong, though at press time it is not definite.
Two All-Americans who had signed with UCLA, Jason Heyward and Ryan Dent, were chosen very early in the MLB draft. Heyward was picked 14th by the Atlanta Braves, and the Boston Red Sox chose Dent with the 62nd selection.
While Heyward and Dent will likely choose to sign lucrative contracts and head straight to professional baseball, eight other signees look to be Westwood bound. Niko Gallego, an infielder from Yorba Linda, told the Denver Post that he will choose UCLA over the Colorado Rockies. Outfielder Brett Krill was an All-American in 2006 and was taken by the Braves late in the draft. Infielder Brandon Lodge starred at Tesoro High School and committed to UCLA in April.
Gallego, Lodge and Krill will be joined by a host of standout pitchers. Erik Goeddel (Bellarmine Prep High School, Hillsborough), Matt Grace (Palos Verdes High School, Palos Verdes), Dan Klein (Servite High School, Los Alamitos), Rob Rasmussen (Pasadena Poly, Arcadia) and Tim Schlatter (Sacramento City College, Sacramento) will join the Bruin pitching staff. The eight recruits will join a resurgent UCLA team that Savage has built into a Pac-10 contender.
WOMEN’S SOCCER: Coach Jillian Ellis has brought in the top recruiting class in the nation for 2007, according to Soccer Buzz Magazine. The 10-player class finally brought UCLA to the top of the recruiting rankings after two years in the No. 2 spot.
It’s not unusual for the Bruin team to be led by freshmen. Last season, Lauren Cheney starred at UCLA after winning Gatorade National Player of the Year honors the year before. She led the Bruins in scoring as the team reached the NCAA semifinal in Cary, N.C.
This year UCLA will expect key contributions from the three standouts of its recruiting class: Lauren Barnes, Kylie Wright and Sarah Salazar. All three have experience with the U.S. Youth National Team. Soccer Buzz rated Barnes, a defender from Upland, as the No. 2 recruit in the nation. Wright, a midfielder from Rancho Santa Margarita, and Salazar, a midfielder from Broken Arrow, Okla., were both ranked in the top 25.
MEN’S SOCCER: A young men’s soccer team reached the College Cup last year, coming up a goal short in the NCAA title game against UC Santa Barbara. The Bruins will return 24 players from that squad and will add only three recruits, Kyle McAthy, Fernando DeAlba and Brian Rowe.
McAthy, an offensive threat from Huntington Beach, chose UCLA over UCSB, where his brothers Drew and Andy McAthy played. DeAlba starred as a defender at St. Mary’s High School in Stockton. Rowe is a top goalkeeper from Eugene, Ore. It is the Bruins’ smallest recruiting class since 1999.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL: Coach Al Scates’ team fell in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs last year, a year after winning the NCAA title in 2005. Scates has added nine recruits to his roster. Weston Dunlap starred as a quick hitter at Newport Harbor High School in Orange County, and Scates has said that the 6-7 star could start next season. Jeremy Casebeer, a 6-5 outside hitter from Santa Barbara, will join Dunlap. Both were named first-team All-CIF, along with two other Bruin recruits, Phillip Darin and Darwin Edwards.
The Bruins have three more California recruits ““ David Freitag (6-6, Pacific Lutheran High School, Torrance), Alex Scattareggia (6-4, Rancho Bernardo High School, San Diego) and Jeremy Slaughter (6-8, Irvine Valley College) ““ and two out-of-state commitments from Jack Polales (6-5, New Trier High School, Winnetka, Ill.) and Marko Glisic (6-9, DuPage Community College, Glen Ellyn, Ill.).
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL: The Bruins went on a surprising run to the Final Four last season, and coach Andy Banachowski signed three high school stars to join the Bruins in 2007. Dicey McGraw is a 5-10 outside hitter from Laguna Niguel whom Banachowski expects to fit perfectly in UCLA’s quick offense. Katie Mills will join UCLA as a middle blocker after starring at Grandview High School. Stephanie Nucci is a setter from Gilbert, Ariz., who competed with the same club team as current UCLA junior Nellie Spicer.
MEN’S WATER POLO: Coach Adam Krikorian recruited four California stars to join his UCLA men’s water polo team. Bret Hays, an attacker from Fontana, won three CIF titles in his career at Bonita High School. The Bruins will add a second attacker, Cullen Hennessy, who played at Sir Francis Drake High School in Fairfax. Utility player Ben Hohl was twice an All-American after earning four letters in water polo at Menlo School in Atherton. Matthew Preciado, a center from Murrieta, led his Murrieta Valley High School team to a 30-3 record as a senior.
With reports from David Woods, Bruin Sports senior staff.