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Elite Class of 2024 Edge Elijah Rushing Earns UCLA Football Offer

One of the top pass rushers in the nation is officially on the Bruins' radar as the staff shifts their focus to next year's cycle.

Benjamin Royer

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The Bruins are expanding their recruiting focus into next year’s cycle and have offered one of the top defensive players in the West as a result.

Salpointe Catholic High School (AZ) class of 2024 edge rusher Elijah Rushing became the latest prospect to pick up an offer from UCLA football, the junior revealed Saturday morning on Twitter. The 6-foot-6 edge rusher has burst onto the Arizona high school football scene and has received numerous offers from across the nation.

Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Jackson State, Kentucky, Louisville, UMass, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Nevada, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, Oregon State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, USC, Utah, Utah State, Washington and Wisconsin have all offered Rushing, making UCLA the 31st program to have offered the Tuscon, Arizona, native.

Rushing tagged outside linebackers coach Ikaika Malloe in his announcement tweet, signaling the former Washington co-defensive coordinator as the staff member in charge of his recruitment. The Huskies made their offer to Rushing back in October 2021, when Malloe was still working up in Seattle.

The Fighting Irish have already hosted Rushing for a visit, and the Gators have set up a game day visit as well.

Rushing is a four-star prospect, according to 247Sports, ESPN, On3 and Rivals, but he has five stars in the 247Sports Composite. In the composite rankings, the 2024 Under Armour All-American is the No. 3 edge in the nation, the No. 2 recruit in Arizona and the No. 17 overall player in his class.

So far in the 2022 campaign with Salpointe Catholic, Rushing has tallied 10 tackles, 1.0 sack and has forced 15 quarterback hurries across just two games. Last year, Rushing played in 14 games and accumulated 75 tackles, 7.5 sacks and 9.0 tackles for loss, helping his team to an 11-3 record.

UCLA has missed out on the vast majority of prospects the staff targeted for the class of 2023, and the Bruins will likely try to fill in the gaps via the transfer portal again if the current trend continues.

However, in the class of 2024, Rushing became the 20th prospect to receive an offer from the Bruins. Only one targeted prospect has made a verbal commitment thus far – linebacker Dylan Williams, who inside linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. is attempting to flip from USC – leaving plenty of opportunities for UCLA to try and secure recruits before they switch conferences to the Big Ten.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF ELIJAH RUSHING/TWITTER

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Benjamin Royer
BENJAMIN ROYER

Benjamin Royer is a contributing writer at All Bruins, in association with the FanNation and Sports Illustrated networks. Royer is a third-year student at UCLA, where he is a Sports contributor for the school's award-winning student-run newspaper, The Daily Bruin. Royer was previously the Sports Editor at The Valley Star, Los Angeles Valley College's independent newspaper, and he helped develop the Twinger Talk YouTube channel and The Double Play podcast. He is also a professional actor, previously appearing in programs on Showtime, ABC, Disney Channel, FOX and CBS.

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