Breaking: UCLA lands commitment from 4-star 2023 PF Brandon Williams

Stay home or make a move across the country to play for a blue blood program on the West Coast? That was the decision in front of four-star power forward Brandon Williams on Monday. He chose the latter, and will now be suiting up for UCLA next year after giving Mick Cronin and the Bruins his pledge at a ceremony in the gym at Christ the King High School in New York.

The 6-foot-8 senior picked UCLA over staying home to play at St. John's. The hometown program is less than seven miles away from his high school and looked to be in position to land his commitment for a long time.

However, once Williams made an official visit out to UCLA back in August the process began to change. The Bruins sold Williams on the opportunity to develop him like it has other versatile forwards, and the outlook for his future on the West Coast pushed him to make his choice.

Williams now joins fellow big man Devin Williams as the second member of UCLA's 2023 class. Both four-star recruits took their official visits to Westwood during the same week and overlapped at one point.

Before cutting his list down to two schools, UCLA and St. John's, Williams narrowed his choices to also include Illinois, Oklahoma State and UConn.

He also held offers from USC, Missouri, Creighton, Kansas State, LSU, Seton Hall and West Virginia among others.

Williams is currently ranked as the 23rd-best power forward in the class and the 115th-best prospect in the class. Devin Williams is also a four-star prospect, and he checks in at No. 93 overall in the class after receiving a big bump up the Rivals rankings in the last update.

The Bruins continue to be involved in pursuing several high-level targets including four-star shooting guard Andrej Stojakovic, four-star point guard Elmarko Jackson, and four-star wing Cody Williams among others in the 2023 class. UCLA also remains on the short list for five-star point guard Isaiah Collier.