UCLA football receives three pledges, recovers from decommitments
Jim Mora and the football team have had an up-and-down month on the recruiting trail. The Bruins secured big-time commitments, but a couple recruits decommitted as well. (Daily Bruin file photo)
By Matt Cummings
Aug. 7, 2016 11:58 p.m.
A trio of commitments in the past week has helped soften the blow of a rare string of decommitments throughout the second half of July for UCLA football.
The Bruins received pledges from a pair of three-star defensive backs, cornerback Jaylan Shaw and safety Chris Wilson, Tuesday before four-star tight end Jimmy Jaggers committed Thursday.
Shaw is an intriguing athletic prospect who ran a 4.4 40-yard dash at UCLA’s summer camp. He chose UCLA over Boise State, USC and Washington State. He will help UCLA’s recruiting class recover from the decommitment of three-star DB Jeffrey Manning in late July.
Manning decommitted just a month after he verbally committed to UCLA, calling it his dream school. He is one of three players from Los Angeles Cathedral High School to decommit over the past few months, including defensive lineman Hunter Echols and DB Rhedi Short. Short and Echols later committed to Arizona and USC, respectively. Basketball player Kobe Paras, who had signed with UCLA but did not qualify academically, also attended Cathedral.
UCLA saw four of its first five 2017 commits back out of their pledges, though prized five-star defensive end Jaelan Phillips has confirmed his strong commitment to the school.
Wilson, a Texas product, reportedly earned interest from a handful of Big 12 schools, as well as Texas A&M. He’ll need to bulk up at the college level but shows a strong physicality already.
Jaggers’ commitment was noteworthy because recruiting experts had reported that he seemed to favor USC over UCLA.
Email Cummings at [email protected] or tweet @mbcummings15.
