Class of 2024 Athlete Peyton Waters Lists UCLA Football in Top 7

The dynamic local recruit is considering a handful of Pac-12 programs for his eventual college destination.

Fresh off welcoming him to Westwood, the Bruins are hanging around in the race for one of their top local targets.

Class of 2024 athlete Peyton Waters revealed his top seven semifinalists on Thursday, and UCLA football was one of the programs that made the cut for the Birmingham Community Charter High School (CA) prospect. Northwestern, Oregon, Washington, Stanford, Utah and USC are the other teams in Waters' top seven alongside the Bruins.

Waters also had offers from Arizona, Boston College, Cal, Colorado State, Oregon State and Washington State, but those schools now appear to be out of the running for his commitment.

Thank you to all the coaches for recruiting me up until this point.

With that being said!

Top 7️⃣… Where’s Home ?@latsondheimer @GregBiggins @adamgorney @bcchsfbpatriots @MohrRecruiting pic.twitter.com/8ah78OjB6a

— Peyton Waters (@Peyton17Waters) June 1, 2023

In what is mostly a race between Pac-12 programs, Northwestern became the first school to host Waters for an official visit earlier in May. Waters took an official to UCLA the weekend of May 26, and he has ones coming up with Stanford, Utah and Washington in June.

Washington, USC, UCLA, Oregon State and Oregon all hosted Waters on unofficial visits this spring, and he went to camps at UCLA and Arizona last summer. Waters had more chances to showcase his talent this offseason, earning invites to the National Combine in San Antonio from Jan. 5-7 and the Under Armour Next Camp Series in Los Angeles on April 2.

The local 6-foot-2, 170-pound recruit has starred as a wide receiver, running back, cornerback, safety and kick returner for Birmingham, which won the CIF city championship in 2022.

Waters reeled in 60 catches for 1,077 yards and 11 touchdowns last fall, in addition to his 491 yards and 11 touchdowns on 59 carries. On the other side of the ball, Waters racked up 51 tackles, four interceptions, four passes defended, two fumble recoveries, one forced fumble and a pick six

The do-it-all athlete also stood out on special teams, blocking two field goals, attempting nine punts, fielding six kickoffs and returning three punts – one of which he brought back for a touchdown.

Waters is a four-star prospect, according to Rivals and ESPN, but 247Sports has him pegged as a three-star. In the 247Sports Composite, Waters is ranked as the No. 29 player in California, the No. 36 athlete in the country and the No. 391 overall prospect in his class.

If Waters were listed as a receiver, he would rank No. 58 in the country at his position. Waters would be the No. 36 safety or the No. 37 cornerback, if that was how he was designated by 247Sports.

Since Waters' offer came from safeties coach Brian Norwood back on May 11, it appears UCLA is currently interested in him as a defensive back. However, Waters told 247Sports that he has also been in contact with wide receivers coach Jerry Neuheisel, who recently visited a Birmingham practice alongside Norwood.

The Bruins currently have five commits for their 2024 recruiting class – four-star defensive back Khristian Dunbar-Hawkins, three-star offensive tackle Mark Schroller, three-star offensive tackle Marquise Thorpe-Taylor, three-star offensive tackle Joshua Glanz and three-star linebacker Isaiah Patterson. UCLA's 2024 recruiting class ranks No. 42 in the country and No. 3 in the Pac-12.

UCLA is also one of the top contenders for several other prospects who have narrowed their lists – Waters, four-star offensive tackle Nathan Roy, four-star offensive tackle Isaiah Garcia, four-star athlete Davis Andrews, four-star offensive tackle Manasse Itete, four-star wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer, four-star linebacker Brayden Platt, four-star linebacker Dylan Williams, four-star cornerback Marcelles Williams, four-star receiver Ryan Pellum and three-star wide receiver David Washington.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF PEYTON WATERS/TWITTER