Spencer Shannon has been a regular visitor on UCLA’s campus this offseason. He has made multiple unofficial trips to Westwood to meet with the coaches, watch practice and spend some time with the team. It was no surprise then when the Santa Ana-Mater Dei tight end scheduled his first official visit with the Bruins.

The 6-foot-7 tight end prospect clearly has built a connection with Chip Kelly’s program, and he was able to begin the official visit portion of his recruitment close to home by visiting UCLA once again this weekend.

Shannon has official visits planned to Texas and Washington coming up in June, but the visit with the Bruins has given him a nice starting point for what to expect as he pushes forward into the next phase of the process.

“It was awesome,” Shannon said. “It was great to finally get that scheduled and get that done. Get to see all the players and the coaches. It’s a great staff over there. I’d say the difference was the amount time I got to spend with the players, one-on-one time with the players, and getting to see the players away from the coaches.

“See what they really think and how it matches up with what the coaches are preaching and what the coaches see for the program. The players and coaches seem to be on the same page, and that’s a really cool thing to see.”

Earlier in the spring Shannon was able to spend an evening with UCLA tight ends coach Jeff Faris and the entire tight group, but this time around his weekend was mostly centered around his interactions with the current team more than the staff.

Getting an opportunity to visit with the players offered Shannon a chance to experience the reality of being a member of the team, and his player host, Carsen Ryan, helped the 2023 recruit confirm a lot of the opinions he has already formed about Kelly and the rest of the staff.

It was an important step in that regard for Shannon as his evaluation of the Bruins continues.