Here's some stuff from around our network and more on UCLA targets:
-From our Oklahoma site, on Addison Gumbs: So we know that Addison Gumbs didn't visit Texas A&M this weekend, right?
Right.
But that's not the whole story.
I've been told that Gumbs officially visited UCLA this weekend.
I know that almost nothing matters after you all read what I just said but this is basically what we've been talking about for weeks - a trip that some in his family wanted to see him take.
I don't know that I see this as anything to get overly concerned about as it could very well be Addison appeasing his family by taking another look. That being said, it's obviously not nothing either.
I'll try and speak with Addison today - so far he has remained quiet - and see what he has to say about the thing.
-From our Ohio State site, on Darnay Holmes: Posted the other day that Darnay Holmes was essentially down to two schools, UCLA and Ohio State and that is what I am continuing to hear as Holmes did not visit Michigan over the weekend, really the only other school that could have maybe made things interesting here.
So now we're at the point in every December-Signing Day announcement where a second team has to emerge to push the favorite or else there is no point of having a big announcement. We saw it with Baron Browning, we saw it with Trey Smith and we've seen it time after time with other kids over the years.
But is this different? Does Ohio State really have a chance here?
I know I have been asked at various times on the board and recently in one of the chats about OSU pulling off a late surprise and which guy I would pick if I had to. Holmes has been the one guy I have always pointed to because of the number of times he visited Ohio State all the way from California. That indicated to me that things were serious. He visited several more times than say, Trey Smith, who is within driving distance.
I am sticking with UCLA as my pick here for now, but I am willing to take this a little more seriously than I did the Trey Smith stuff.
-UCLA lost out on three-star guard Orlando Umana to Utah this weekend and that might have been an even bigger blow than when they lost out on Aaron Banks on Friday. Umana had really close ties to both Adrian Klemm and Angus McClure and I know there was a strong feeling in Westwood that they could wrap him up. Per our Utah site, Umana does not plan to take his UCLA official visit that he had previously scheduled now that he's committed.
-Four-star receiver Jamire Calvin officially ended the UCLA flirtation this weekend, cutting his list to Notre Dame, Alabama, Nebraska and Washington State. I'll be really interested to follow his college career. I watched John Ross in high school and his skill set and body type are so similar to Calvin's. I really wonder how big of a swing and miss by the Bruins this was to not even offer him. Maybe UCLA sees something we all don't.
-Washington hosted four-star DB Chaz Ah You this weekend. Here are his comments on that trip. He added that UCLA, BYU, UDub and Stanford are his favorites.
-UCLA played host to Tayler Katoa a few weekends ago. He's a Utah athlete/linebacker that UCLA pivoted to after losing Baron Browning and Anthony Hines. Per our Utah site, however, UCLA doesn't look to have much of a shot here: I just got off the phone with Tayler Katoa and he said the plan is for him to announce on Wednesday, most likely on Twitter. He said his mind is going a million different ways after his five officials in five weeks and he needs a few days to decompress.
At this point in time, I really get the sense it's 50/50 between Utah and USC. USC blew him away, but I know Utah made up tremendous ground, this weekend.
More to come, but his parents made the trip so the program spent some good time with him at their Business school and at the LDS Institute.
-Our Arizona reporter Matt Moreno was watching hoops this weekend and saw Odua Isibor on the court. I had him interview Isibor for me and send me the audio (story will be up Tuesday). Here were my takeaways from the Isibor update: Isibor said his finalists are UCLA, TAMU, Yale, ASU and Harvard. He said he's looking to take visits to TAMU on Jan. 27, ASU on Jan. 20 and UCLA on Jan. 13. The interesting part about the interview, though, was he said he wants to make a decision immediately after his UCLA visit. Which kind of tells me if the Bruins show him what he wants to see, he'll end it there. The thing with Isibor is he's tremendously into academics. Like maybe more so than any recruit I've ever seen. He wants to be a doctor, but he also wants to maximize his football potential. So he's looking for a school that has both, and for now, in my opinion, he sees UCLA as the lone school from his finalists that can do that for him. So my takeaway from the interview was if UCLA can sell him on their medical education, it'll be a wrap. If not, he'll have a lot more thinking to do before Signing Day, likely ending up at ASU.
-Four UCLA coaches stopped by to see San Diego RB and recent UCLA offeree C.J. Verdell on Sunday:
-Four-star DB Thomas Graham says his final six are Arizona, ASU, Nebraska, UCLA, Notre Dame and Oregon. He said he'll decide on Friday. I don't think UCLA will be the pick here.
-From our Oklahoma site, on Addison Gumbs: So we know that Addison Gumbs didn't visit Texas A&M this weekend, right?
Right.
But that's not the whole story.
I've been told that Gumbs officially visited UCLA this weekend.
I know that almost nothing matters after you all read what I just said but this is basically what we've been talking about for weeks - a trip that some in his family wanted to see him take.
I don't know that I see this as anything to get overly concerned about as it could very well be Addison appeasing his family by taking another look. That being said, it's obviously not nothing either.
I'll try and speak with Addison today - so far he has remained quiet - and see what he has to say about the thing.
-From our Ohio State site, on Darnay Holmes: Posted the other day that Darnay Holmes was essentially down to two schools, UCLA and Ohio State and that is what I am continuing to hear as Holmes did not visit Michigan over the weekend, really the only other school that could have maybe made things interesting here.
So now we're at the point in every December-Signing Day announcement where a second team has to emerge to push the favorite or else there is no point of having a big announcement. We saw it with Baron Browning, we saw it with Trey Smith and we've seen it time after time with other kids over the years.
But is this different? Does Ohio State really have a chance here?
I know I have been asked at various times on the board and recently in one of the chats about OSU pulling off a late surprise and which guy I would pick if I had to. Holmes has been the one guy I have always pointed to because of the number of times he visited Ohio State all the way from California. That indicated to me that things were serious. He visited several more times than say, Trey Smith, who is within driving distance.
I am sticking with UCLA as my pick here for now, but I am willing to take this a little more seriously than I did the Trey Smith stuff.
-UCLA lost out on three-star guard Orlando Umana to Utah this weekend and that might have been an even bigger blow than when they lost out on Aaron Banks on Friday. Umana had really close ties to both Adrian Klemm and Angus McClure and I know there was a strong feeling in Westwood that they could wrap him up. Per our Utah site, Umana does not plan to take his UCLA official visit that he had previously scheduled now that he's committed.
-Four-star receiver Jamire Calvin officially ended the UCLA flirtation this weekend, cutting his list to Notre Dame, Alabama, Nebraska and Washington State. I'll be really interested to follow his college career. I watched John Ross in high school and his skill set and body type are so similar to Calvin's. I really wonder how big of a swing and miss by the Bruins this was to not even offer him. Maybe UCLA sees something we all don't.
-Washington hosted four-star DB Chaz Ah You this weekend. Here are his comments on that trip. He added that UCLA, BYU, UDub and Stanford are his favorites.
-UCLA played host to Tayler Katoa a few weekends ago. He's a Utah athlete/linebacker that UCLA pivoted to after losing Baron Browning and Anthony Hines. Per our Utah site, however, UCLA doesn't look to have much of a shot here: I just got off the phone with Tayler Katoa and he said the plan is for him to announce on Wednesday, most likely on Twitter. He said his mind is going a million different ways after his five officials in five weeks and he needs a few days to decompress.
At this point in time, I really get the sense it's 50/50 between Utah and USC. USC blew him away, but I know Utah made up tremendous ground, this weekend.
More to come, but his parents made the trip so the program spent some good time with him at their Business school and at the LDS Institute.
-Our Arizona reporter Matt Moreno was watching hoops this weekend and saw Odua Isibor on the court. I had him interview Isibor for me and send me the audio (story will be up Tuesday). Here were my takeaways from the Isibor update: Isibor said his finalists are UCLA, TAMU, Yale, ASU and Harvard. He said he's looking to take visits to TAMU on Jan. 27, ASU on Jan. 20 and UCLA on Jan. 13. The interesting part about the interview, though, was he said he wants to make a decision immediately after his UCLA visit. Which kind of tells me if the Bruins show him what he wants to see, he'll end it there. The thing with Isibor is he's tremendously into academics. Like maybe more so than any recruit I've ever seen. He wants to be a doctor, but he also wants to maximize his football potential. So he's looking for a school that has both, and for now, in my opinion, he sees UCLA as the lone school from his finalists that can do that for him. So my takeaway from the interview was if UCLA can sell him on their medical education, it'll be a wrap. If not, he'll have a lot more thinking to do before Signing Day, likely ending up at ASU.
-Four UCLA coaches stopped by to see San Diego RB and recent UCLA offeree C.J. Verdell on Sunday:
-Four-star DB Thomas Graham says his final six are Arizona, ASU, Nebraska, UCLA, Notre Dame and Oregon. He said he'll decide on Friday. I don't think UCLA will be the pick here.
