Big recruiting weekend brewing for the UCLA Bruins
The eyes of the college football world will be on UCLA this weekend, as the 5-2 Bruins host the 5-1 Oregon Ducks in one of the biggest games of the weekend.
With ESPN’s College Gameday in town and a 3:30 p.m. nationally televised kickoff, it’s the perfect opportunity for Chip Kelly and Co. to bring some important targets to campus for official and unofficial visits.
UCLA looks to lock up QB Justyn Martin
The biggest name on the visit list is On300 quarterback Justyn Martin of Inglewood (Calif.) High.
Most intel indicates UCLA has been the leader in the recruitment of Martin ever since the Bruins extended an offer earlier this summer. The Bruins’ offer was a big reason why Martin backed off an earlier commitment to Cal.
Ole Miss hosted Martin earlier this season on an official visit, and he said he really liked his time in Oxford.
But the four-star signal-caller has been looking toward this visit for quite some time. With a commitment coming at 2 p.m. Oct. 28 at his high school, the visit to UCLA makes sense from a timing standpoint.
The Bruins do not have a 2022 quarterback locked up and have zeroed in on Martin as their top target.
Bruins hosting other key targets
Justyn Martin will be joined on the official visit by two of his teammates – Bruin commitments safety Clint Stephens and running back Tomarion Harden.
Stephens has been one of UCLA’s most firm commits in the 2022 class. He picked to the Bruins in the spring and has not wavered a bit. USC has pushed for Harden. He’s visited twice for games this season, so the trip this weekend could help UCLA solidify that commitment.
There’s also buzz that Washington State consensus three-star linebacker commitment Taariq Al-Uqdah of Inglewood will also be at UCLA this weekend. With the Cougars looking for a new head coach, it’d only make sense for the Bruins to target Al-Uqdah.
Another potential visitor is consensus three-star cornerback Jomarion Briggs of Stockton (Calif.) Lincoln could be on campus for a visit. He was due in earlier this season for the Arizona State game, but the visit didn’t materialize.
Top high school game could keep some names away
While normally a game like this would attract a long list of unofficial visitors, one thing that will keep some of the elite SoCal talent away is that Anaheim (Calif.) Servite and Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei play against each other on Saturday night.
It’s a game that’ll feature double-digit major college prospects and also will have high school national championship implications. Mater Dei is ranked in the county as the top high school team, while Servite is No. 7.