Arkansas-Committed CB Jaylon Braxton Earns UCLA Football Offer

The Bruins are making a late push for the four-star defensive back, despite the prospect committing to the Razorbacks in July.
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With the regular season over and the recruiting trail heating up, the Bruins are making a surprise push for a supposedly SEC-bound defensive back.

UCLA football sent a scholarship offer to class of 2023 cornerback Jaylon Braxton, the Lone Star High School (TX) prospect announced Monday night on Twitter. Braxton committed to Arkansas in July, though, and the Bruins were not particularly active in his recruitment before that point.

Oklahoma State, Penn State, Nebraska, Michigan State, TCU, Baylor and Cal were the other finalists Braxton picked the Razorbacks over in the summer, and he was previously committed to Michigan State. He also had offers from Austin Peay, Boston College, Campbell, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Kansas State, LSU, Maryland, Miami (FL), North Texas, Northwestern, Ole Miss, Oregon State, SMU, Stanford, Tennessee, Utah, Utah State, UTSA and Vanderbilt.

UCLA is the second team to offer Braxton since he committed to Arkansas, with Tennessee sending him one in September. The young cornerback still has one official visit left in his back pocket after he took ones to Michigan State, Baylor, Arkansas and Miami in June.

Braxton measures in at 5-foot-11.5 and 170 pounds, and he has been clocked running a 10.83-second 100-meter dash.

In 12 games for Lone Star High School this season, Braxton racked up 27 tackles, 1.0 tackle for loss, five interceptions and 10 passes defended. Braxton also added 566 yards and six touchdowns on 41 receptions while blocking a field goal and handling punt and kickoff return duties on special teams.

Braxton is a four-star prospect, according to 247Sports, Rivals, ESPN and On3. In the 247Sports Composite, Braxton is currently ranked as the No. 15 cornerback in the country, the No. 28 player in Texas and the No. 135 overall recruit in his class.

UCLA has 10 commits in its 2023 recruiting class, but only one is expected to play corner at the college level – three-star athlete Ethan O'Connor. The Bruins already struck out on West Coast four-stars Daylen Austin, Caleb Presley, Cole Martin, Aaron Williams and Maliki Crawford, the last of whom actually committed to UCLA in July 2021 before decommitting in January and eventually picking crosstown rival USC.

Midwestern four-star Jyaire Hill has unofficially cut his list down to Michigan and Illinois, leaving local four-star Rodrick Pleasant as the only uncommitted cornerback left on the Bruins' recruiting board.

Braxton may be committed elsewhere, but it appears UCLA is trying to flip him in the near future, given that he has one official visit left to burn and that the early signing period opens in just over three weeks on Dec. 21.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF JAYLON BRAXTON/INSTAGRAM


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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon was the Publisher and Managing Editor at Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s All Bruins from 2021 to 2023. He is now a staff writer at Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s Fastball. He previously covered UCLA football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, men's soccer, cross country and golf for The Daily Bruin from 2017 to 2021, serving as the paper's Sports Editor from 2019 to 2020. Connon has also been a contributor for 247Sports' Bruin Report Online, Rivals' BruinBlitz, Dash Sports TV, SuperWestSports, Prime Time Sports Talk, The Sports Life Blog and Patriots Country, Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s New England Patriots site. His work as a sports columnist has been awarded by the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon graduated from UCLA in June 2021 and is originally from Winchester, Massachusetts.