Chip Kelly gives evaluation of 2024 recruiting class

With National Signing Day now in the rearview mirror, college head coaches can now take a look at their most recent signing class as a full body of work ahead of the 2024 season.

UCLA head coach Chip Kelly signed 10 high school players in his 2024 class, and following signing day broke down and assessed the team’s newest additions to the media.

“I think recruiting has drastically changed in the last couple years, it’s a combination of you’re taking high school kids but you’re also taking portal kids, and you can’t announce portal kids until they actually step on campus,” Kelly said. “So we’ll supplement this group that we have now but we feel we really good about the 10 guys we have.”

Kelly’s most recent class is highlighted by two quarterback signees. One that’s been committed to the Bruins for quite some time another late addition to the group that’s last name holds weight in the football landscape, especially at the quarterback position.

“We added two quarterbacks, obviously Karson Gordon who everybody knew about,” Kelly said. “Carson’s the state of Texas triple jump champion, I think he’s gone over 52 plus feet in the triple jump which I think is the state record. So he’s a tremendous athlete but a really sharp kid at a high school where they really do a lot of really neat things and do a lot that’s put on the quarterback’s plate.”

“And then we added Henry Hasselbeck who was the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Massachusetts, led his high school to a state championship there. Another really really good athlete, was originally committed to Maryland for lacrosse. He’s a multi-sport athlete, he’s a lacrosse, track, football player,” Kelly explained. “Comes from a great family football players, his dad Matt played in the NFL for a long long time, his uncle Timmy played in the NFL for a long time, his grandfather played in the NFL for a long time. So there’s great history and tradition in that family and Henry’s a great kid that I think will fit in here perfectly.”

Both quarterbacks sound like tremendous athletes and it will be intriguing to see if one of the two becomes the quarterback of the future for the Bruins down the road. But regardless, they’ll likely be joined in the backfield by a running back who’s ranked as one of the top 50 rushers in the nation and overall players in the state of California according to On3’s Industry Ranking.

“Cameron Jones is a local kid, running back from St. John Bosco that DeShaun [Foster] has been high on for a really long time and myself included. He’s a big, strong, physical running back and kind of the mold we like here. Big, tough, downhill football player, feel really good about him,” Kelly said.

“Took three really good offensive lineman, and I know Drev [Tim Drevno] had a chance to have all those kids. They were either in camp or we got a chance to see them personally work out and we feel really good about them.”

Rounding out the offensive signees is wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer, who’s the highest-ranked player in Kelly’s 2024 class at No. 217 overall in On3’s Industry Ranking. But on the defensive side of the ball, there’s plenty to be excited about as well.

“Got a linebacker in Isaiah Patterson who had an outstanding year up in the state of Washington. Tough, hard-nosed, physical player that can really run a defense. He’s smart, he’s intelligent. And then we got two DBs, Jamir [Benjamin] and Khristian [Dunbar-Hawkins],” Kelly said. “We’ve known of Khristian for a long time, he’s been in our camp, we know all about him and then Jamir was a kid that was committed originally to Northwestern and then got in contact with him this summer when there was a coaching change there and really fits. Is a really good student, is a really good football player so I think part of us moving into the Big Ten and moving into the Midwest is attractive to some kids so we were excited to get Jamir to be a part of it.”

The Bruins have all their bases covered on both sides of the ball, yet their 2024 signing class ranks 16th in the Big Ten according to On3’s 2024 Industry Football Team Rankings as UCLA enters its first season in the conference. But Kelly is confident that he’ll round out the class with transfer portal additions throughout the offseason.