June 11, 2012

Edward Lewis
BruinSportsReport.com Publisher

Dan: Saw that you were at like seven events this weekend. Who was the best recruit you saw?

Ha, it wasn't quite seven, but we were at both UCLA camps and the Dana Hills Airstrike 7-on-7 tournament this weekend. The evaluations were a little tough, because the 7-on-7 camp took place on six different fields, the UCLA skills positions camp took place on three different fields and the Bruins linemen camp featured little-to-no Division I recruits. But with that said, overall, I think the five best players I saw this weekend were tight end Thomas Duarte, receiver Steven Mitchell, offensive lineman Cameron Hunt, defensive lineman Solomon Thomas and linebacker Dwight Williams. Honorable mention goes to linebacker Cameron Judge and defensive back Terin Solomon, who were both fairly impressive in their own right as well.

Duarte was the standout of the weekend for me, though. I've seen Su'a Cravens play receiver a bunch this year on the 7-on-7 circuit, and Duarte, while not as athletic, has very, very similar size and skills. They're both around 6 feet 3, 220 pounds, they both have great body control in the air, both have outstanding ball skills and both are almost unguardable in the street ball scene that is 7-on-7. We'll have a story up with some highlights on Duarte sometime this week, so you can see what I mean, but he was a flat out beast. Should be a high-priority recruit for UCLA from here on out.

Sometime on Tuesday we should have some complete evaluations of the standouts from the weekend as well. Stay tuned.

Juanfrombz: If you had to give us a list of ten uncommitted 2013 football players you think have a better than average chance of being Bruins, who would they be?

It's really way too early for this, but I'll take the bait, since this question has become more and more common here. I think that list has to start with four-star offensive lineman Nico Falah. He's out at UCLA often, and watching him out at Spaulding Field this past weekend with Adrian Klemm and Jim Mora, it was just too hard to see him ending up anywhere else. Then I'd say three defensive backs who all have UCLA as either No. 1 or No. 2 at the moment: Daquawn Brown, L.J. Moore and Hatari Byrd. Then I'd go with two more offensive linemen in Sean Harlow and Christian Morris, who both are very high on UCLA at the moment. Then I think the Bruins ultimately decide to take Terin Solomon's commitment, because he's a versatile athlete whose ceiling at safety and outside linebacker is fairly hard to pass up. Then I'd go with receiver Ryan Jenkins, because his quarterback Eddie Printz is a Bruin and he has Westwood visits planned. And for the last two spots here, I have a gut feeling that tells me the Bruins land the epic package deal of Tahaan Goodman and Priest Willis.

Those are completely my guesses, and I know there are a ton of DBs there, but this year's crop is so loaded that I think UCLA would take them all if they wanted to come. All of the players on that 10-man list could change at any minute, but it's always fun to speculate, especially in mid-June.

Bruinmanny: Ed, considering we just offered Tyler Foreman on June 8 Friday, what's the thinking behind a possible Terin Solomon offer? If he was offered even at all?

First of all, I think UCLA is really taking a look at Solomon more as an outside linebacker than a true safety. Second, just because he doesn't have a few stars next to his name doesn't mean the kid can't play. I saw UCLA's coaches pay extra close attention to two recruits this weekend. One was 2014 DL Solomon Thomas, who should be a Rivals150 player in his class. The other was Solomon. Coach Demetrice Martin was all over him, watching him very closely and giving him extra reps and everything. I've also seen Solomon out at a few 7-on-7 tournaments this spring (he initially popped because of his big hair with a huge red streak in it), but the kid has game. Don't sleep on him.

I believe UCLA went through a similar, but less public situation with Inoke Lotulelei. There were rumblings of him committing way back in March when the Bruins first offered, then there were rumblings of him committing two weeks ago, and then finally it came out that UCLA had officially accepted his commitment last weekend. I think the Bruins do ultimately accept Solomon's verbal. But we'll see.

Upsmann20: Now that Steven Mitchell is off the board, who is the third WR behind Sebastian LaRue and Francis Owusu that we go hard after? Demorea Stringfellow? Darrell Daniels? X'avier Shepherd?

I think it'd be a tossup between Georgia wideout Ryan Jenkins and local products John Ross and Julius Wilson. There's a bit of Chicken Little happening here, with Mitchell committing to USC and Larue seriously pondering that same move, but UCLA was only going to take three receivers here anyway, and they've always been in good graces with Owusu, Ross and Jenkins. Plus they already have the Lotulelei commit, although he might not be available in 2013 or 2014 because of his mission.

Either way, I wouldn't be slamming on the receiver panic button just yet. Especially because I think some of these kids are going to see what Noel Mazzone's pass-happy offense is like in the fall and seriously consider going to UCLA once again.