Chip Kelly shares relationship with Hasselbeck family after signing son Henry

Chip Kelly was excited to add Henry Hasselbeck, the son of former NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, to UCLA on National Signing Day.

Henry Hasselbeck was originally committed to Michigan State, but amid the coaching change to Jonathan Smith, he reopened his recruitment. That’s where Kelly stepped in.

But he made sure to recruit the kid and respected Matt and the family for letting Henry get recruited, rather than put in the good ole word for him as former pros.

“I’ve known Matt and Timmy, the two brothers and the third brother Nathaniel, known them for a while,” Kelly said. “It just kind of happened organically as we were looking at the high school ranks and quarterbacks.

“Henry was originally committed to Michigan State, and then they obviously had a coaching change. And then I think he opened up his recruiting so you know, it wasn’t anything where Matt really, as a dad, actually stayed out of recruiting. (He said): ‘I want my son to be recruited because my son is good enough to be recruited not because I know someone.’” 

Kelly likes Henry Hasselbeck as a prospect and was intrigued with him before ever talking to Matt or even Tim for that matter.

“I talked to Henry first before I ever talked to Matt, you know, to kind of find out what Henry’s thought process was and what he wanted to do after being committed to Michigan State,” Kelly said. “So that’s kind of how it came about. But I have known the family for a while. I think they’re a great family and obviously they’ve had a tremendous amount of success in football … So you know, it’s in the family, and that’s always a good thing.”

As a member of the Class of 2024, Hasselbeck was a three-star recruit out of Boston (Ma.) Xaverian Brothers, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 7 overall prospect in the state, the No. 76 quarterback in the class and the No. 1,367 overall prospect in the class.

With Dante Moore’s transfer to Oregon, Ethan Garbers is expected to be the starter in 2024. Hasselbeck will join a quarterback room and develop for now.

But as UCLA fans saw in 2023 under Kelly, the quarterback room could be in a constant rotation as Kelly used three different quarterbacks under center this fall.