Juarez to use a visit on a local school?
In what's becoming a staple here of the Bruin Bite, we have another update on five-star linebacker Mique Juarez, who spoke in-depth about his recruitment with our Chris Swanson this week.
The latest news for Juarez (outside of the fact that he's visiting Ole Miss this weekend), is the five-star is now considering spending an official visit on one of the local schools.
"The fifth one, I'm going to decide that with my parents, so we're going to see," Juarez said. "Basically, it's probably between USC and UCLA. It's going to be based on what my parents want to do."
You can probably bet the school he takes that official to is likely the one he'll pick at the Army game in January. In the meantime, he said he'll be at next week's UCLA-USC game for an unofficial.
For what it's worth, Juarez's mom posted this on her Instagram page after the Bruins' big win over Utah on Saturday:
De La Salle update
I had the opportunity to speak with a source very close to the De La Salle program and its top two players Boss Tagaloa and Devin Asiasi. As we've reported here since USC took a commitment from national tight end Cary Angeline, Asiasi isn't too keen on the Trojans anymore, leaving the door open for a package deal with Tagaloa (who's basically been a Bruin commitment since the spring) to UCLA.
The source said, however, that there's one hangup with all of that: The Asiasis believe UCLA will make the four-star tight end a defensive end when he gets to Westwood. At 270 pounds as a senior in high school, there's a thought that he could grow into a monster DL at the next level. But he doesn't want to hear any of that, preferring to play tight end. So, the source said if UCLA can't convince him that he'll for sure be a tight end, the De La Salle package deal may not come to fruition.
Asiasi is slated to visit UCLA with Tagaloa in December. You can bet that will be a key visit when it comes to figuring all this out.
Friday night lights updates
The Rivals.com West Coast team of Blair Angulo and Adam Gorney was out at the only two UCLA-relevant playoff games Friday night (Mater Dei-Serra, Amat-Oaks Christian). Here were their notes:
-Four-star ATH Brandon Burton is expected to visit Ohio State this weekend and four-star DE Wole Betiku is looking at Florida for next weekend but sources keep saying that both Serra standouts will probably stay local. UCLA still looks good for Burton although he is taking trips all across the country and USC might be a top choice for Betiku but both still remain open to all options.
-Four-star WR Michael Pittman destroyed Amat to the tune of 18 catches for over 380 yards and five scores. But as we see Pittman more and more, the more it becomes apparent he's likely going to stick with his USC pledge. While we continue to hear there are some in his immediate family that would like to see him in a UCLA uniform, he continues to do and say all the things that make you think he'll stick with the Trojans. He isn't officially visiting USC this coming weekend anymore because the coaches want him to come in December and he did said a UCLA official is still possible. But he's a "hard commit" to USC until everything is settled with the staff. Even if the staff changes over, though, it's becoming hard to see this one going the Bruins' way.
-Three-star UCLA DB commit Chris Gaston was partially responsible for Pittman's huge night. So much so, Amat coaches elected to try to cover Pittman with Tyler Vaughns in the second half.
A small Alloway update
Four-star receiver Damian Alloway returned from his Notre Dame official visit last week and didn't seem too keen on it.
So I spoke with a source close to his recruitment this week to get a feel for where Alloway was at, and the source said he has no idea what the four-star is doing anymore at this point.
"I don't know," the source said. "He's going to lose his spot at UCLA if he doesn't hurry up."
The source said the holdup is the Bruins' depth at the F-back spot. With Darren Andrews and Stephen Johnson emerging this year, Alloway would probably be a redshirt candidate.
"He doesn't want to be a redshirt," the source said. "That is the problem. These kids don't believe in that."
Alloway is supposed to officially visit UCLA this winter. Like they have to do with Asiasi, the Bruins look like they will have to do some convincing here with Alloway on that visit as well.
Long still in play?
Our Chris Swanson also caught up with four-star Stanford commit David Long this week. Long, who's still waiting on Stanford admissions, sure sounds more open to staying in Los Angeles than he ever did.
"My family doesn't put pressure on me to stay home, but I feel there's some sense of obligation to stay home with my siblings and make it easier for my family to see me play," Long said. "It would just be a lot easier; my trainer is in L.A. and a lot of things are in L.A. that would just make it easier. For the most part, I haven't been pressured to stay in L.A."
If for some reason Long doesn't make it into Stanford, UCLA looks like it could be a serious contender here with USC once again.
Short Shots
-In case you missed, four-star tackle Alex Akingbulu, who visited Utah for its loss to UCLA on Saturday, told Rivals.com he has a top three of UCLA, Utah and Cal.
-New punter offeree Austin Kent is listed as a UCLA commit on Chris Sailer's website, but the punter told us he has not committed yet. He's looking to officially visit UCLA in January.
In what's becoming a staple here of the Bruin Bite, we have another update on five-star linebacker Mique Juarez, who spoke in-depth about his recruitment with our Chris Swanson this week.
The latest news for Juarez (outside of the fact that he's visiting Ole Miss this weekend), is the five-star is now considering spending an official visit on one of the local schools.
"The fifth one, I'm going to decide that with my parents, so we're going to see," Juarez said. "Basically, it's probably between USC and UCLA. It's going to be based on what my parents want to do."
You can probably bet the school he takes that official to is likely the one he'll pick at the Army game in January. In the meantime, he said he'll be at next week's UCLA-USC game for an unofficial.
For what it's worth, Juarez's mom posted this on her Instagram page after the Bruins' big win over Utah on Saturday:
De La Salle update
I had the opportunity to speak with a source very close to the De La Salle program and its top two players Boss Tagaloa and Devin Asiasi. As we've reported here since USC took a commitment from national tight end Cary Angeline, Asiasi isn't too keen on the Trojans anymore, leaving the door open for a package deal with Tagaloa (who's basically been a Bruin commitment since the spring) to UCLA.
The source said, however, that there's one hangup with all of that: The Asiasis believe UCLA will make the four-star tight end a defensive end when he gets to Westwood. At 270 pounds as a senior in high school, there's a thought that he could grow into a monster DL at the next level. But he doesn't want to hear any of that, preferring to play tight end. So, the source said if UCLA can't convince him that he'll for sure be a tight end, the De La Salle package deal may not come to fruition.
Asiasi is slated to visit UCLA with Tagaloa in December. You can bet that will be a key visit when it comes to figuring all this out.
Friday night lights updates
The Rivals.com West Coast team of Blair Angulo and Adam Gorney was out at the only two UCLA-relevant playoff games Friday night (Mater Dei-Serra, Amat-Oaks Christian). Here were their notes:
-Four-star ATH Brandon Burton is expected to visit Ohio State this weekend and four-star DE Wole Betiku is looking at Florida for next weekend but sources keep saying that both Serra standouts will probably stay local. UCLA still looks good for Burton although he is taking trips all across the country and USC might be a top choice for Betiku but both still remain open to all options.
-Four-star WR Michael Pittman destroyed Amat to the tune of 18 catches for over 380 yards and five scores. But as we see Pittman more and more, the more it becomes apparent he's likely going to stick with his USC pledge. While we continue to hear there are some in his immediate family that would like to see him in a UCLA uniform, he continues to do and say all the things that make you think he'll stick with the Trojans. He isn't officially visiting USC this coming weekend anymore because the coaches want him to come in December and he did said a UCLA official is still possible. But he's a "hard commit" to USC until everything is settled with the staff. Even if the staff changes over, though, it's becoming hard to see this one going the Bruins' way.
-Three-star UCLA DB commit Chris Gaston was partially responsible for Pittman's huge night. So much so, Amat coaches elected to try to cover Pittman with Tyler Vaughns in the second half.
A small Alloway update
Four-star receiver Damian Alloway returned from his Notre Dame official visit last week and didn't seem too keen on it.
So I spoke with a source close to his recruitment this week to get a feel for where Alloway was at, and the source said he has no idea what the four-star is doing anymore at this point.
"I don't know," the source said. "He's going to lose his spot at UCLA if he doesn't hurry up."
The source said the holdup is the Bruins' depth at the F-back spot. With Darren Andrews and Stephen Johnson emerging this year, Alloway would probably be a redshirt candidate.
"He doesn't want to be a redshirt," the source said. "That is the problem. These kids don't believe in that."
Alloway is supposed to officially visit UCLA this winter. Like they have to do with Asiasi, the Bruins look like they will have to do some convincing here with Alloway on that visit as well.
Long still in play?
Our Chris Swanson also caught up with four-star Stanford commit David Long this week. Long, who's still waiting on Stanford admissions, sure sounds more open to staying in Los Angeles than he ever did.
"My family doesn't put pressure on me to stay home, but I feel there's some sense of obligation to stay home with my siblings and make it easier for my family to see me play," Long said. "It would just be a lot easier; my trainer is in L.A. and a lot of things are in L.A. that would just make it easier. For the most part, I haven't been pressured to stay in L.A."
If for some reason Long doesn't make it into Stanford, UCLA looks like it could be a serious contender here with USC once again.
Short Shots
-In case you missed, four-star tackle Alex Akingbulu, who visited Utah for its loss to UCLA on Saturday, told Rivals.com he has a top three of UCLA, Utah and Cal.
-New punter offeree Austin Kent is listed as a UCLA commit on Chris Sailer's website, but the punter told us he has not committed yet. He's looking to officially visit UCLA in January.
