Competing in the Big Ten from a skill-position standpoint is one thing, but UCLA needed to show it can gain traction in the trenches if it expects to become a major player in the near future.
Second-year head coach DeShaun Foster and the staff took a step in the right direction Saturday by securing the biggest high school commitment in his short tenure to date.
Vero Beach (Fla.) four-star offensive tackle Micah Champion Smith, who took an official visit the weekend of May 17, announced his decision to join the Bruins’ 2026 recruiting class in a ceremony at his high school that was live-streamed on YouTube.
Smith is currently ranked 160th overall nationally in the class by Rivals, including 17th at his position.
UCLA beat out Alabama, Illinois, Ohio State, South Carolina and Tennessee.
“My family and I had an incredible time at UCLA. The love and genuineness was real,” Smith wrote in a social media post after his official visit.
The Bruins first offered Smith last August and landed in his initial top six three months later.
But UCLA underwent plenty of change not long after, including the replacement of former offensive line coach Juan Castillo.
Among the huge turning points, though, was a Jan. 21 trip from Foster and former director of player personnel Stacey Ford to see Smith in Florida. Six days later, new offensive line coach Andy Kwon made an in-home visit with Smith and his family.
“It shows that I’m a priority to the Bruins,” Smith told Bruin Blitz at the time.
By late March and early April, the buzz around Smith’s projected landing spot still centered around the likes of Ohio State, Miami and Alabama.
Things turned up another notch in UCLA’s favor after a multi-day unofficial visit to Westwood the week of the Friday Night Lights spring practice April 18.
It was a month prior to Smith’s official visit, giving him an opportunity to see Kwon coach the Bruins’ linemen. After the practice, Kwon and Smith were spotted by Bruin Blitz having a lengthy conversation that included demonstrating blocking tips.
“Watching 1-on-1s and watching coach Kwon interact with the players, that was the main reason of me coming up here,” Smith said after the visit.
“We talked about just a few little technical things me and my dad noticed.”
Smith’s first-ever trip to California ramped up the conversations about returning for his eventual official visit.
In addition to the relationships with the staff, the idea of seeing the field early and obtaining a degree from the school were major selling points in April.
“I feel like I can come in here and play. I can be successful here at UCLA,” Smith said.
“Getting a UCLA degree is huge to me. Education is a big part of my family. Every single of one of my immediate family members has a degree, so getting a degree from the prestige of UCLA is a pretty big thing to me. So it’s not only the football aspect of things, but really the off-the-field things too that UCLA really catches my eye.”
The Bruins remained in play when Smith updated his contenders with a revised top six in late May.
Smith is the fifth four-star commitment for UCLA and the first offensive lineman. He is the Bruins’ highest-rated offensive lineman on the Rivals rating scale since Sean Rhyan, who developed into a third-round NFL draft pick after signing in the 2019 recruiting class.
The Bruins now have nine total commits in the 2026 class and are finishing up a third wave of official visits this weekend.
