Local PF Devin Williams becomes UCLA's first 2023 commitment

UCLA is working toward building a large 2023 recruiting class, and the Bruins added the first piece to the group Sunday afternoon. Corona-Centennial big man Devin Williams has been focused on a select group of schools for a few months, and earlier in the week he officially cut down his list to the two Los Angeles schools.

Sunday, he picked the Bruins over USC giving Mick Cronin a high-energy big man to add to open up UCLA’s class. The program officially offered Williams late in the spring, but the relationship with the coaches began much earlier than that.

The 6-foot-10 power forward prospect eventually made an official visit to Westwood two weeks ago giving him a glimpse into the program. Though he has already been on campus previously, that trip helped push the Bruins to the forefront of his recruitment.

Now, he’s the first piece of UCLA’s 2023 class.

“It’s a great program over there,” he said. “They’re gonna make a big jump this year, I feel like with how they’re gonna do this season.”

As he worked through the recruiting process, Williams paid attention to how schools plan to use him and the track record of the coaching staffs having success with players at his position. The new UCLA has aspirations of reaching the next level and playing basketball professionally, and the plan with the Bruins certainly appealed to him.

“Coach Cronin is a great guy,” Williams said. “He keeps it 100, and that’s what I love about him. Then, with their bigs they do great. Obviously, Cody Riley, Jalen Hill, TJ Leaf – all those guys.”

Cronin and assistant coach Rod Palmer helped guide the process with Williams, who also held offers from programs such as UNLV, Texas Tech, Cal, Nevada, Loyola Marymount, San Diego State, Washington and Xavier among others. Arizona was another school that expressed interest in the four-star big man.

Compton Magic founder and CEO, Etop Udo-Ema, watched Williams' growth over the course of the year and feels the new Bruins commit is on an upward trajectory as he heads into his senior season and college career.

"I really, really feel like he's undervalued," Udo-Ema said. "And, I really feel like he's going to play his best basketball soon, ahead of him. Everything everyone's seen at Centennial, with us or wherever they've seen him, I think we're gonna see the best version of him in the next year or two."

A successful spring and summer with the Compton Magic travel team allowed Williams to move up the rankings in recent months. He began the spring as an unranked prospect but entered the Rivals150 in late July at No. 133 and made a big move up the list this week when he shot up to No. 93 overall.