Brandon Huffman on Recruiting: UCLA sizzles while USC pulls a surprise, Cal stays golden…

Bruins on a Heater

Since May 1, UCLA has been scorching with nine commitments.

Five are four-star prospects; two are the highest-rated three stars. One is the son of one of the school’s all-time greats.

The Bruins have 19 commitments from the class of 2027 and have yet to host an official visit (they start those next week).

They rank No. 4 in the Big Ten and No. 12 nationally.

After the unremarkable Chip Kelly recruiting era, which begat a slight bump under DeShaun Foster, what first-year coach Bob Chesney has done, before coaching a game, has been downright remarkable.

The big ones for the Bruins were: flipping Jerry Outhouse, an Under Armour All-American cornerback from Texas, from Georgia; landing four-star cornerback Juju Johnson out of Long Beach Poly; coming from nowhere to land the top player in Colorado in Jackson Roper; grabbing a four-star running back from Texas in Jayshon Gibson; and rounding it out with a four-star receiver from their backyard in Kingston Celifie.

For good measure, they also reeled in a legacy: De La Salle High School running back Duece Jones-Drew, the son of former Bruin All-American and NFL All-Pro Maurice Jones-Drew.

Trojans take Tuihalamaka

When Westlake Village (Calif.) Oaks Christian edge rusher Alifeleti[cq comment=”Alifieta” ] Tuihalamaka named his three official visits; it was a surprise more for which schools weren’t listed than which schools were.

Tuihalamaka named a top three of Cal, Oregon and Texas A&M.

The younger brother of Notre Dame linebacker Junior Tuihalamaka, he surprisingly left UCLA and USC out of that group. So it was an even bigger surprise when, last Saturday, Tuihalamaka committed to the Trojans.

USC looked out of the running, then landed the four-star.

While the Irish and Trojans will miss each other on the field, the rivalry has now turned sibling style with the younger Tuihalamaka picking the Trojans.

Bears stay Golden

Few coaches have had success recruiting Southern California like Tosh Lupoi — not just in his five months running the Cal program but throughout his career.

So it came as no surprise that the region produced the Bears’ newest commit.

Cal beat UCLA for Duvay Williams, the four-star cornerback from Inglewood, and a number of national programs, too.

Williams has been selected to play in both the 2027 Navy All-American Bowl and the 2027 Polynesian Bowl before he gets to Berkeley.

Linemen for the Northwest schools

While UCLA was the busiest, landing local and national recruits, Oregon, Washington, and Washington State each went outside the state lines to grab an offensive lineman.

Washington pulled in a commitment from long-time lean Reis Russell out of Valor Christian High School in Colorado.

The son of former Colorado star Matt Russell, the Huskies had been out in front of Russell for some time and landed his pledge; Russell canceled official visits to Miami and USC after having already seen Georgia.

Oregon went to Kansas for its latest commitment: four-star offensive lineman Gus Corsair out of Hays. He is the No. 2 prospect in the Jayhawk State in the Rivals Industry Rankings.

And Washington State went to California for its latest commitment — specifically, to San Francisco.

Offensive lineman Lopeti Malupo committed to the Cougars on Wednesday night.

He attends the same school, Archbishop Riordan, that produced their new transfer offensive lineman, Kalolo Ta’aga.

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