Bakersfield-Liberty defensive lineman Grant Buckey has been committed to USC since June when he picked the Trojans over offers from schools such as Oregon, Michigan, Washington and Stanford — where his father, Jeff, starred and where his brother is currently on the roster.

Thursday, the high three-star prospect caught some fans by surprise when he quietly announced his decision to flip his commitment from the Trojans to their crosstown rival. The 6-foot-5 recruit will be headed to play for UCLA next season after announcing his choice with a short social media post.

“When I made my decision they (UCLA and USC) were my top two," he told Bruin Blitz Thursday after announcing his choice. "Recently, USC has told me they’re looking in the portal a lot. They just wanted to let me know that. So, I felt it was in my best interest and that I would have the most opportunity going to UCLA. I know coach [Chip] Kelly, he uses the portal as well, but they told me that they were going to make sure that I get the development that I need. There’s kind of just more opportunity I feel like I’ll have there, so that’s the main reason I flipped.

“... It was definitely a long process. I started to see things within both programs that stood out to me. Things that I really like about both of them. Some things I disliked. And, I decided UCLA was the best fit.”

Buckey is the 11th commitment in the class for the Bruins continuing an impressive fall on the recruiting trail for Chip Kelly and his staff in Westwood. Since the start of the season, UCLA has added commitments from six prospects with only one of them being rated lower than a 5.7 (high three-star) in the Rivals Rankings.

The Bruins added four-star recruits RJ Jones and Jeremiah McClure since October with linebacker Solomone Malafu and athlete Ethan O'Connor being the other two high three-star commits for UCLA this fall in addition to Buckey.

The addition of Buckey might be somewhat surprising at this point in the process, but the relationship with the Bruins has been growing since early in the process. UCLA was one of the schools to host him on an official visit prior to his original commitment, and the staff has been consistent in its pursuit since becoming involved.

"I saw that they are really building something over there and see kind of how they run their program," Buckey previously said after his summer visit with the Bruins. "Definitely, I loved it. I wouldn't have anything bad to say about it — it's pretty top-tier in terms of their development, player life, keeping people healthy and making sure they're performing the best."

The family connections to the Cardinal certainly seemed to indicate early that Buckey could end up following that same path. However, the new UCLA commit remained consistent that he was open to finding a school that fit him best.

"I kind of just want to do my own thing," he said.

Buckey's senior season is ongoing with Liberty still alive in the state playoffs. This weekend his team will make the trek down to Orange County for a matchup with Yorba Linda HS in the CIF Division 1-A State Regional Finals, so he is just two wins away from a state title to end his senior season.

This season at Liberty, Buckey has come up with 52 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 5 sacks and 20 quarterback hurries. He also has a fumble recovery and forced fumble.