Darian Owens to Nebraska?
Darian Owens' recruitment is now officially in the hand-wringing stage if you're a UCLA fan.
Coming off a Nebraska visit last weekend, sources close to the Huskers program told our Nebraska Rivals.com site that the Huskers were not only "confident" they'd be flipping Owens, but it'd be "soon" as well.
Hours after the four-star's visit to Nebraska, in fact, Owens deleted "UCLA commitment" off his Twitter bio, and on Friday, a source close to Owens said he received more than 20 recruiting letters from the Huskers.
Owens is still boycotting doing interviews after he said his words to an Oregon paper were twisted a few weeks ago. So when we reached out to a source close to Owens to inquire about his commitment status, the source said, "I haven't heard that (he's decommitted)."
Owens has since re-added "UCLA '16" to his bio, but there's plenty of smoke here to know the Bruins may be in danger of losing their one-time firm commitment. Keep an eye on this the next few days / weeks.
Another backup option?
Last week, we spoke with four-star receiver Javon McKinley and he sure sounded like a guy who was ready to move UCLA to the top of his list if the Bruins came hard after him.
This week, we spoke with four-star receiver Dylan Crawford and came away with a similar vibe.
"I’ve been talking to coach (Eric) Yarber a lot more now," Crawford told our Blair Angulo after his game Friday night. "We have a good connection - I actually talked to him before this game (Friday). I'm going to check out their next home game and definitely plan on being at the Rose Bowl a few times this season."
So while UCLA may be in danger of losing Owens' pledge, its chances at both McKinley and Crawford appear to have greatly increased over the last few weeks.
National D-linemen on the radar
UCLA is in good shape with its D-line commitments. While Wole Betiku has been talking a lot about other visits, a source reaffirmed to Rivals.com this week that, barring something insanely unforeseen, he'll end up in Westwood on Signing Day.
Osa Odighizuwa and Marcus Moore are also not going anywhere. You can probably toss Boss Tagaloa in here as well.
Those three (or four, perhaps) firm commitments have allowed McClure to recruit nationally over the past few months, and we're hearing he's actually getting a few bites.
Four-star DE Amani Bledsoe is slated to take an official visit this weekend for the BYU game. Four-star DE Rashard Lawrence is set to visit two weekends after that for the ASU game. And, get this, we've heard five-star DL and the nation's former No. 1 overall recruit Dexter Lawrence is planning a trip with his mother soon for UCLA as well.
The Bruins, while probably running third at the moment, are still in four-star DE Carlo Kemp's top three as well.
More from Bryson
It's unclear what position Bryson Young will play at the next level (OLB or DE), but one thing that's not so murky anymore is his likely college destination. We spoke with a source very close to Young this weekend who told us UCLA leads big for the Fresno pass rusher. He has a final three of Tennessee, Oregon and UCLA, but it's feeling like a matter of weeks before he makes a UCLA commitment now.
Weird story here
UCLA 2017 linebacker commitment Rahyme Johnson has found himself in a little bit of drama. Per the L.A. Times, La Canada is adamant a player on Salesian's roster purposely rubbed an Icy Hot-like substance on one of their player's faces during a game earlier this month.</a> The Valley Sun reports that player was Johnson.
It's probably unlikely any punishment comes down on Johnson for the incident, considering no flags or ejections were called during the game. But it's certainly a weird story worth filing for later.
Short Shots
-In case you missed it, our Chris Swanson scored some exclusives with Theo Howard and Jack Jones this week. Howard said he's pushing back his decision date, while Jones says three schools are currently standing out to him.
-We continue to hear that UCLA has a growing chance with four-star TE Devin Asiasi. Washington still looks to be standing out, but the package deal with Asiasi and Tagaloa is definitely a dream that's still alive for the Bruins.
-We went out to Crespi Friday night to check out Jalen Starks and Marcus Moore. Starks was extremely impressive. It's hard to envision him being a 20-carry type guy at UCLA, but a Mike Alstott role - maybe even as a true freshman - is not farfetched at all. Moore showed good quickness and a good motor, but at 235 pounds on a body that doesn't look like it's going to support too much more weight, it's hard to envision a huge ceiling for him at the moment.
-Angus McClure was out at Crespi Friday night as well, watching Starks, Moore and his 2018 son Hamish. The night before, McClure was out in Las Vegas catching four-star 2017 DL Greg Rogers. We've also heard McClure saw L.A. High 2017 D-lineman Martin Andrus last week.
Darian Owens' recruitment is now officially in the hand-wringing stage if you're a UCLA fan.
Coming off a Nebraska visit last weekend, sources close to the Huskers program told our Nebraska Rivals.com site that the Huskers were not only "confident" they'd be flipping Owens, but it'd be "soon" as well.
Hours after the four-star's visit to Nebraska, in fact, Owens deleted "UCLA commitment" off his Twitter bio, and on Friday, a source close to Owens said he received more than 20 recruiting letters from the Huskers.
Owens is still boycotting doing interviews after he said his words to an Oregon paper were twisted a few weeks ago. So when we reached out to a source close to Owens to inquire about his commitment status, the source said, "I haven't heard that (he's decommitted)."
Owens has since re-added "UCLA '16" to his bio, but there's plenty of smoke here to know the Bruins may be in danger of losing their one-time firm commitment. Keep an eye on this the next few days / weeks.
Another backup option?
Last week, we spoke with four-star receiver Javon McKinley and he sure sounded like a guy who was ready to move UCLA to the top of his list if the Bruins came hard after him.
This week, we spoke with four-star receiver Dylan Crawford and came away with a similar vibe.
"I’ve been talking to coach (Eric) Yarber a lot more now," Crawford told our Blair Angulo after his game Friday night. "We have a good connection - I actually talked to him before this game (Friday). I'm going to check out their next home game and definitely plan on being at the Rose Bowl a few times this season."
So while UCLA may be in danger of losing Owens' pledge, its chances at both McKinley and Crawford appear to have greatly increased over the last few weeks.
National D-linemen on the radar
UCLA is in good shape with its D-line commitments. While Wole Betiku has been talking a lot about other visits, a source reaffirmed to Rivals.com this week that, barring something insanely unforeseen, he'll end up in Westwood on Signing Day.
Osa Odighizuwa and Marcus Moore are also not going anywhere. You can probably toss Boss Tagaloa in here as well.
Those three (or four, perhaps) firm commitments have allowed McClure to recruit nationally over the past few months, and we're hearing he's actually getting a few bites.
Four-star DE Amani Bledsoe is slated to take an official visit this weekend for the BYU game. Four-star DE Rashard Lawrence is set to visit two weekends after that for the ASU game. And, get this, we've heard five-star DL and the nation's former No. 1 overall recruit Dexter Lawrence is planning a trip with his mother soon for UCLA as well.
The Bruins, while probably running third at the moment, are still in four-star DE Carlo Kemp's top three as well.
More from Bryson
It's unclear what position Bryson Young will play at the next level (OLB or DE), but one thing that's not so murky anymore is his likely college destination. We spoke with a source very close to Young this weekend who told us UCLA leads big for the Fresno pass rusher. He has a final three of Tennessee, Oregon and UCLA, but it's feeling like a matter of weeks before he makes a UCLA commitment now.
Weird story here
UCLA 2017 linebacker commitment Rahyme Johnson has found himself in a little bit of drama. Per the L.A. Times, La Canada is adamant a player on Salesian's roster purposely rubbed an Icy Hot-like substance on one of their player's faces during a game earlier this month.</a> The Valley Sun reports that player was Johnson.
It's probably unlikely any punishment comes down on Johnson for the incident, considering no flags or ejections were called during the game. But it's certainly a weird story worth filing for later.
Short Shots
-In case you missed it, our Chris Swanson scored some exclusives with Theo Howard and Jack Jones this week. Howard said he's pushing back his decision date, while Jones says three schools are currently standing out to him.
-We continue to hear that UCLA has a growing chance with four-star TE Devin Asiasi. Washington still looks to be standing out, but the package deal with Asiasi and Tagaloa is definitely a dream that's still alive for the Bruins.
-We went out to Crespi Friday night to check out Jalen Starks and Marcus Moore. Starks was extremely impressive. It's hard to envision him being a 20-carry type guy at UCLA, but a Mike Alstott role - maybe even as a true freshman - is not farfetched at all. Moore showed good quickness and a good motor, but at 235 pounds on a body that doesn't look like it's going to support too much more weight, it's hard to envision a huge ceiling for him at the moment.
-Angus McClure was out at Crespi Friday night as well, watching Starks, Moore and his 2018 son Hamish. The night before, McClure was out in Las Vegas catching four-star 2017 DL Greg Rogers. We've also heard McClure saw L.A. High 2017 D-lineman Martin Andrus last week.
