Theo Howard commits to UCLA

Jim Mora has been at UCLA for nearly four years. In that time, he has never landed a receiver rated in the top 35 of the Rivals.com national rankings. In fact, when you take out Devin Fuller, who was listed as an athlete, Mora hasn't landed a wideout in the top 90 in his UCLA tenure.

That all changed Sunday, however, when Theo Howard made the call for Mora's Bruins.

In a career celebrated for two 10-win seasons, numerous NFL Draft picks and two big bowl wins, the one bugaboo that has plagued Mora in his time in Westwood has been landing a top-flight playmaker on the outsides for his quarterbacks.

UCLA came oh-so-close to Malachi Dupre in 2014 and Christian Kirk and Ryan Newsome in 2015, but as Mora once put it, the Bruins have often found themselves the "bridesmaids" for the nation's top receiver talents.

Yet with Howard's pledge, that all has changed.

Howard, while technically still the second-best receiver west of Texas (just currently five spots behind four-star Tyler Vaughns), has as much upside as any wideout in the country. The Westlake Village (Calif.) Westlake prospect once clocked a 4.38 40-yard dash at this past spring's Nike Camp in Northern California. He's also had a standout senior season, logging 49 catches for 815 yards and eight scores.

Now, he's ready to take that talent to UCLA, providing a scary weapon for Mora and Josh Rosen for at least the next two years.

"It just makes it more comfortable just knowing that you have a quarterback that can get the ball there," Howard told BruinSportsReport.com earlier in October when asked what Rosen's early success means for his recruitment. "And when I come in, he can show me how to do stuff and how things are run, so it's great."