Four-star Rivals250 linebacker Tre Edwards commits to UCLA
It has been quite a week for UCLA. For the second consecutive day, the Bruins have landed a commitment from one of the top targets on their recruiting board. Friday afternoon, four-star Rivals250 inside linebacker Tre Edwards made the call in favor of the Bruins over a final group that included Oregon, Cal and Arizona.
Edwards used an official visit on a trip to UCLA last weekend and promptly moved to announce his pledge shortly after that visit came to an end. Now he is the highest-rated commit for the Bruins in the 2023 class.
“The main thing with UCLA is my connection with coach Ken Norton, Jr.,” Edwards said. “He’s an amazing person. Me and him just have a really good bond. ... Ken Norton, he’s one of the best to do it.”
Edwards added that learning under a coach who has NFL experience both as a player and coach is something he wants, and that played a big role in helping determine his decision.
The UCLA linebackers coach quickly built a connection with Edwards, who was unsure about where the process would lead with the Bruins when Don Pellum retired earlier in the year. The four-star linebacker had a strong relationship with Pellum, but before long he had done the same with the Bruins’ new assistant.
“For me it was just patience,” Edwards said. “I knew when coach Pellum retired, they were gonna bring in a new guy. So, I just had to wait patiently until they brought somebody else in and build a new connection with him, and that’s kind of how it went.”
Edwards has only used one of his five official visits, and the trip last weekend to UCLA was key in pushing the process forward. The trip to Westwood allowed the new commit to have an opportunity to spend time around the players and get a feel for how he will fit with the team in the future.
“The main thing about the trip was just being able to hang out with the players and see what they players are about,” he said. “See what the locker room is like. Their locker room is full of like-minded guys. All good guys.
“Being able to hand out with the players, being able to connect with them on a different level and just overall vibe with them.”
Edwards had an outstanding junior season at Mater Dei Catholic in Chula Vista racking up around 100 tackles in 2021. He has a knack for making plays against the run, and he expects to fit in as an inside linebacker in the revamped UCLA defensive scheme.
“They still want me to play inside backer, but their new defensive coordinator he coached in the NFL so I expect to see a lot of new schemes and different things that you normally don’t see from UCLA,” Edwards said. “They brought in a very experienced defensive coordinator, and I feel like that will be a big part of it. They brought other defensive coaches that are very experienced as well.”
Edwards is another recruiting highlight for the Bruins after high three-star running back Roderick Robinson II committed to the team Thursday morning over a host of impressive offers including Georgia, Oregon, Texas A&M and many others. Robinson, like Edwards, is from the San Diego area and getting the opportunity to play on the same team in the future as someone he knows already is a plus for the new UCLA linebacker commit.
“Originally, we got a couple of the same offers and we talked about going to school together,” Edwards said. “Rod’s a great guy ... like a brother. I wouldn’t die without having another guy from San Diego coming to college with me, but being able to have another guy from home is a bonus.”
Edwards and Robinson are part of what is now a four-man 2023 class for the Bruins that features exclusively California recruits including Norco High School receiver Grant Gray and St. John Bosco (Bellflower, California) safety/linebacker Ty Lee.
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