Friday morning 2023 cornerback Maliki Crawford narrowed the focus in his recruitment down to just five schools. The one-time UCLA commit has been able to fully experience the recruiting process since backing away from his pledge to the Bruins early in the winter.

He has had some freedom to get to know more coaches, and that has prompted him to take several visits over the last few months. UCLA remains in the picture as Crawford now turns his attention to a smaller group of schools with USC, Oregon, Cal and Washington being the other programs that make up his new list.

So far, Crawford has one official visit under his belt after getting the opportunity to once again visit with the Bruins last weekend while he has a full slate of visits coming up throughout the month of June.

His travels will begin with an official visit to Oregon next weekend followed by official visits to Cal, USC and Washington over the following three weeks. Crawford has been clear that he doesn’t want to rush into a decision, but by the time June comes to a close he will have taken official visits to all five of the schools on his final list.

“I’m looking for the best spot where I can be developed,” he said earlier this month. “I’ve started to ask coaches recently: What’s my development plan? At the end of the day, I am a cornerback, I am 6-foot-4, I am 180 pounds. I’m kind of a bigger-bodied corner.

“So, unless you’re around the right coach, you might be moved in different spots. When I ask this question, I try to get a feel for what they’re thinking.”

The Bruins have remained a big part of the process despite Crawford backing off his pledge to the program. That decision came amid coaching staff changes for the UCLA defense giving the three-star recruit a reason to hit the reset button on his process.

Still, the Bruins never exited his mind as an option, and Crawford has been able to continue building a strong relationship with the staff in Westwood.

“To be honest, they never really left the equation,” he said. “For me, literally, I decommitted just to see all my options because I did commit early as a sophomore. So, it was literally just that. So, they never really left the equation. I still kept a consistent relationship with the coaches and I still talked to them.”

Backing away from his commitment allowed other programs to become more heavily involved, and Cal is one of the schools that began to make its push early in the year. Crawford is close with current Bears safety commit RJ Jones after playing on the same 7-on-7 team giving the cornerback prospect a connection to the Bay Area school.

That has helped Crawford form a bond with the staff in Berkeley.

“What stands out to me is that’s a defensive staff,” he said earlier this spring. “The head coach is a defensive guy. Obviously, you got the D-coordinator. You got two defensive backs coaches on the staff and the best FCS corners coach [Allen Brown] on the staff as well, as an analyst. So, they’re definitely trying to build that DBU out at Cal. So, that’s something that stands out to me as well.”

Oregon is a school that has started to make some headway with the California cornerback leading to his official visit to Eugene next weekend. Even just a couple weeks ago Crawford had not set the trip with the Ducks. However, he has a relationship with Demetrice Martin that goes back to when the Oregon defensive backs coach was pursuing Crawford while at Colorado.

The Ducks have certainly focused on adding high-level prospects in the secondary since head coach Dan Lanning took over the program, and having a defensive-minded head coach who is focused on building out the position group is certainly meaningful for Crawford as he evaluates his options.

“When you got a lot of eyes on the defensive back group that just means that there’s gonna be a lot of development at that position,” he said.

There might not be a school that Crawford has become more familiar with over the last several months than USC. The Trojans have hosted him for multiple visits already this offseason, and he has built a strong connection with that coaching staff.

USC has remained active in its pursuit of Crawford, and his relationship with the staff goes beyond just his position recruiter.

“I keep a constant relationship with coach Donte [Williams], coach [Alex] Grinch and coach [Lincoln] Riley,” Crawford said. “They call me pretty much all the time. Coach Donte and coach Grinch are always texting me. When coach Riley is not busy he’s texting me too. They’re pushing for me pretty hard. It’s been great.”

Washington has quietly been building as a top contender for Crawford since his decision to back away from his commitment early in the year. He has made the trip to Seattle and has a strong impression of the new coaching staff at UW under Kalen DeBoer. It is another program that has made him a big priority over the last few months.

“They’re a school that the new staff came in and they instantly wanted to build a relationship with me,” he said this spring. “So over time, this has really been great. When I was at Washington, though, I loved the energy there. It was very good vibes with the players and the coaching staff and everything. The coaches, coming from Fresno State, they were winning all the time.

“The head coach has a really, really good record and win percentage, so that’s something that stands out to me as well. They consistently beat Pac-12 schools, so you can’t count them out of the equation as well.”

The official visit process is going to help determine quite a bit about where Crawford ends up. As his recruitment has moved along how he fits in with the program and school overall has become increasingly important, and he will have the chance to spend more time around the teams over the next month.

The school that ultimately makes him feel most comfortable while also proving to him that it will be the best for his development will win out.

“I'm a recruit now, but when I pick a school, I'm gonna be a player and a teammate,” he said. “So that's very important, as well as seeing how I vibe with the guys that are already in the building. And, also making sure that I'm picking the best spot that I can be developed the best.”

Crawford finished his junior season at Oxnard (Calif.) Pacifica with with 63 tackles, seven pass breakups and one interception. Michigan, Miami, Florida State, Michigan State, Arizona State, Minnesota and Colorado are some of the schools that have offered Crawford but did not make his final five.