I’ll try my best to keep this updated as the coaching staff makes stops around the country and try to gather intel on who specifically they are getting a look at.

Will he be allowed to return?? UCLA's depth at RB is not great and it could be a win-win situation??

Tyree Thompson has returned to UCLA as a defensive analyst, the program announced Tuesday.

A linebacker for the Bruins in 2018 and 2019, Thompson previously served as a graduate assistant at Arizona State (2024) and Hawaii (2022-23) before making his return.

I thought he played well enough but I thought he needed another year

Todd Centeio, a former James Madison quarterback who was coached by Tino Sunseri, is heading to UCLA to be a graduate assistant. So that’s another person familiar with what Sunseri wants to do and who will be tasked with helping the QBs develop.

Matt Biondi is coming on as an offensive analyst. He was a graduate assistant at James Madison and before that was a student assistant at Florida State, his alma mater.

National Title Game: ND and OSU have the NIL$ to bring in the best high level players available in the Portal and in HS. Will Howard (OSU) and Riley Leonard (ND) came from KSU and Duke respecively. Why can't our LA big city connections donate to UCLA NIL?? Casey Wasserman and others where are you?
BTW, ND was forced to play a non ACC or non-military academy in a big big game and were outmatched. And they take a bye as an independednt while other CFPS teams play for a league title.

recruiting Brady Smigiel. Why is this important? Because Foster is prioritizing Smigiel, perhaps Nuimber 5 QB in latest ranking. And Newbury Park used to be a school that UCLA would often go to find players….eons ago.

How refreshing…I haven’t seen this energy put into HS recruiting since the early Mora days.

They shot well and had really good matchups, so I can’t put too much emphasis on it. Yet it’s nice to win a game where we looked to be moving on offense. Bilo’s foul trouble opened the door for extended minutes for Kyle. He played well and showed what Dailey can do if he’s not working so hard out of position.

I loved Clark and Andrews’ games. My only criticism is that if we can’t break a press with our older guards, why not play Perry more? He has shown that he can see things the others can’t. I feel frustrated on his behalf watching us get torched by freshmen and he can only scrounge minutes because of his experience level.

Mara not playing was strange but I have no idea what happens between Mick’s ears.

A pair of big stories in the last few days involving the revenue-sharing model and Title IX’s role in it that upend things and now Wisconsin going after Miami with tampering allegations.

Ross Dellenger on the U.S. Department of Education’s assertion that third-party NIL compensation goes against Title IX:


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And Dellenger on the situation between Miami, Wisconsin and DB Xavier Lucas:


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If you just want the highlights from the ongoing thread about where UCLA is recruiting, I put the comments from Krew Jones and Lopeti Moala Jr. in a story that just went up about the notable items from Friday:

Focus back to basketball for the rest of the night

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William Kyle III, Skyy Clark, Eric Dailey Jr.:

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We’ll talk to Mick Cronin and players starting at around 9 a.m. before practice gets underway

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OUTGOING:
-DE Collins Acheampong (12/2)
-QB Justyn Martin (12/2)
-RB T.J. Harden (12/2)
-PK Joseph Firebaugh Jr. (12/3)
-Safety RJ Jones (12/3)
-Safety Clint Stephens (12/3)
-Safety D.J. Justice (12/3)
-WR Logan Loya (12/4)
-WR Braden Pegan (12/4)
-PK David Dellenbach (12/5)
-LS Trent Middleton (12/5)
-RB Deshun Murrell (12/6)
-RB Isaiah Carlson (12/6)
-PK Blake Glessner (12/9)
-LT Niki Prongos (12/9)
-WR J.Michael Sturdivant (12/10)
-CB Jaylin Davies (12/17)
-OL Tavake Tuikolovatu (12/17)
-P Chase Barry (12/18)
-WR Devanti Dillard (12/23)
-OL Devin Delgado (12/25)
-WR Elijah Rodriguez (12/28)
-DE Drew Tuazama (1/16)
-DB Isaiah Newcombe (1/17)

INCOMING:
-Graduate WR Jaedon Wilson from Arkansas (11/22)
-OL Julian Armella from Florida State (12/15)
-DB Benjamin Perry from Louisville (12/16)
-CB Andre Jordan from Oregon State (12/16)
-OL Courtland Ford from Kentucky (12/17)
-Safety Bryon Threats from Central Florida (12/17)
-DE Ka’eo Akana from Utah (12/17)
-DB Key Lawrence from Ole Miss (12/17)
-OL Eugene Brooks from Oklahoma (12/18)
-CB Aaron Williams from Louisville (12/18)
-DE Nico Davillier from Arkansas (12/18)
-DL Ashton Sanders from Oklahoma (12/22)
-DB Cole Martin from Arizona State (12/22)
-LB Isaiah Chisom from Oregon State (12/24)
-CB Scooter Jackson from Utah Tech (12/24)
-CB Robert Stafford from Miami (12/25)
-WR Mikey Matthews from Cal (12/28)
-QB Joey Aguilar from Appalachian State (12/28)
-OL Ty’Kieast Crawford from Arkansas (1/6)
-OL K.D. Arnold from Jacksonville State (1/7)
-RB Anthony Woods from Utah (1/9)
-WR Kaedin Robinson from Appalachian State (1/12)

UCLA will practice Thursday morning and have it’s regular in-person media availability prior to starting.

During the start of the wildfires, the women’s basketball team’s press conference for practice were done virtually over Zoom while classes were canceled and others were done virtually.

So it looks like things improved enough in the area or at least no longer deemed a threat.

Matt Moreno is currently in Hawaii for the Polynesian Bowl, which signed 2025 running back Karson Cox and long snapper Halakilangi Muagututi’a and committed punter Lennox Miller are participating in.

Matt is currently interviewing Karson Cox and I’ll pass that interview along once he uploads it.

What I would like to see is the following:
1. More Perry at the 1.
2. Less Mack initiating the late offense.
3. Bilo at the 4 for 20 minutes a game.
4. Kyle and Mara at the 5 for 30 minutes a game.
5. A willingness for Cronin to engage his guys offensively. Perry and Kobe have shown they can see open players. Let’s set some off ball screens and run action off of them to get guys with open looks. Let’s get out and run off turnovers with the goal of finishing at the rim.
6. If we get better at offense because big guys can’t switch as readily, we can play more small ball. Our shooters will be better with more space and a catch and shoot mentality than a create a 3 mentality. Movement creates mismatches too.
7. More Bilo at 4 on D. I actually think Bilo and Kyle are a good combination. Bilo does things Kyle doesn’t and vice versa. With two bigs, our rebounding improves.

Our rotation should be something like:
Perry (25) Clark (15)
Kobe (15) Mack (15) Andrews (10)
Dailey (15) Kobe (15) Stef (10)
Bilo (25) Dailey (15)
Kyle (20) Mara (15) Bilo (5)

Mack/ Stef/ Andrews/ Clark minutes depend on matchups. Mack should not be dribbling so much. He’s the one who would benefit from off ball movement. Andrews and Clark would also benefit from having space and the element of knowing what is happening better than the defense.

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Tustin (Calif.) safety Khalil Terry, a Michigan State commit, lands a UCLA and USC offer on the same day.

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UCLA offensive lineman Alani Makihele landed an appearance in an AT&T commercial starring Tim Tebow

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And more:

Do we go 8-6 the rest of the way? We play SC twice, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Northwestern, OSU, Minnesota, MSU, Purdue, Indiana, Iowa, Penn State, and Wisconsin.

I was at the Maryland game with very good seats. Cronin was lost and pulled every wrong lever in the second half besides playing Perry more, which he promptly reversed today.

He will not be our coach in two seasons unless he changes his attitude and approach. He blames everyone but himself, asking perfection of others while allowing himself to be extremely flawed.

It will be Lazar Stefanovic getting the start over point guard Dylan Andrews today at Rutgers.

I’m still a bit limited and dealing with a headache, but I’ll be updating this thread and passing along the postgame video from UCLA.

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joining his QB from Appalachian State. Great news!!

DE Ka’eo Akana, who transferred from Utah, has decided to back off his commitment

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