Coach Jim Mora records a video interview following the National Signing Day press conference on Wednesday. Mora and his coaching staff landed a highly ranked recruiting class: No. 11 by Scout.com and No. 19 by ESPN.
February in Los Angeles doesn’t feel like the holiday season, but on Feb. 1, Demetrice Martin couldn’t help but be reminded of Christmas.
Yesterday was National Signing Day, when all of the nation’s top high school football players signed their letters of intent to register and faxed them to their university of choice.
“When we started getting those faxes, it’s kind of like coming downstairs on Christmas morning and seeing that present under the tree with your name on it,” said the UCLA defensive backs coach with an enormous grin.
Martin and UCLA had their fair share of presents on signing day, as they received 26 letters of intent from recruits hailing from nine different states and multiple different countries.
“We think this is a talented group of young men who we’re confident will represent UCLA in an outstanding manner both on and off the football field,” said UCLA’s new head coach Jim Mora. “We are very happy about today’s result.”
The class was headlined by 5-star defensive tackle Ellis McCarthy, who had originally committed to California at the Army All-American game on Jan. 7 but following an in-home visit with Martin, McCarthy flipped to UCLA.
“We were lucky to be close enough to Ellis where we could just drop in for a visit and I was able to stop by and walk him through the ins and outs, the positive and negatives of UCLA compared to all the other schools,” Martin said.
“Leaving the house I had a really good feeling like, we got this one. We got this one ““ now all we have to do is hang on.”
Hang on they did, as McCarthy ended up being one of the first letters of intent received by the Bruins, solidifying his spot in the class.
Going into signing day, UCLA had its eyes set on several uncommitted prospects but possibly the biggest commitment came from a committed prospect: four-star wide receiver Jordan Payton.
The word “˜commit’ was thrown around quite a bit during Payton’s recruitment as he initially committed to USC during his junior year before backing off early in his senior year.
Payton, like McCarthy, then put on a Cal hat at the Army All-American game, giving his commitment to the Golden Bears. Unfortunately for the Bears, two of their coaches, including Payton’s position coach Eric Kiesau, left for Washington.
Payton then decided to take an official visit to Washington before committing to the Huskies on the eve of National Signing Day.
The Oaks Christian then woke up the next morning and faxed his letter of intent to UCLA.
“He and I spoke late last night. It was still going down to the wire and (Payton) called this morning and had a peace of mind about his decision,” said UCLA wide receivers coach Eric Yarber.
“He said, “˜Yarbs, I’m coming to UCLA and I’m going to be a Bruin.'”
McCarthy and Payton were two of eleven recruits that UCLA signed that were once committed to other schools, a feat that the Bruins achieved only three times in the 2010 and 2011 recruiting classes.
“It was a pretty normal, everyday approach,” Martin said. “We explained why the coaching change happened in the first place and second of all, we let them know that they have another option to choose from now ““ that changes have occurred.”
These changes came from the top down and Mora made it obvious that he meant business from day one.
“He’s a natural recruiter. He’s a people person, he’s a high energy coach and he was great in front of the players,” said UCLA defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator Angus McClure. McClure was the only assistant coach to carry over from the old staff.
“He’s certainly excited about recruiting and he likes the challenge and he’s competitive. He’s going to be a great recruiter,” McClure said.
UCLA will now turn its focus to their off-season training program, which started two weeks ago, and Martin is trying to make sure that Christmas feeling translates to the field.
“Recruiting is always fun but now we have to work,” Martin said. “I can’t wait to start.”