Quarterback Luke Duncan Picks Up Offer From UCLA Football

The Bruins have entered a hotly-contended recruiting race with the Golden Bears to pick up the class of 2023 signal-caller.

With some of the top quarterbacks on the board starting to look elsewhere, the Bruins have targeted a rising in-state star to join their next recruiting class.

UCLA football sent a scholarship offer to class of 2023 quarterback Luke Duncan on Friday, the Bay Area prospect announced on Twitter. The 6-foot-5 Miramonte (CA) signal-caller was featured at the Sacramento State Rising Stars Mega Camp, and the Bruins' staff saw enough from Duncan at the event to take the next step in their recruitment of him.

Duncan also has offers from Cal, UPenn, San Diego State, San Jose State and UNLV, and he has received additional interest from Fresno State, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State and Yale.

After a great conversation with Chip Kelly and @itsGundy I’m very thankful to have received an offer from UCLA! @UCLAFootball @BrandonHuffman @KTPrepElite @MATS_Football pic.twitter.com/k4MFMLkph1

— Luke Duncan (@lukeduncanQB) June 17, 2022

The leader in Duncan's recruitment has seemingly been Cal over the past few months, as he goes to high school just 10 miles away from the Golden Bears' campus in Berkeley.

Duncan went on an official visit to Oregon State on June 10, and he has one scheduled for Cal on June 23. The Golden Bears sent him his first offer after an unofficial visit to Berkeley in March, but he also visited Oregon in January and stopped by Cal, Oregon State, Fresno State and San Diego State for games in the fall.

Earlier in the spring, though, Duncan appeared at the UCLA Elite Camp, and he also threw at the Elite 11 Regional in Las Vegas and the ESPN300 Elite Underclassmen Camp.

Duncan is a three-star recruit, according to 247Sports, Rivals and On3. In the 247Sports Composite, Duncan is ranked as the No. 63 prospect in California, the No. 38 quarterback in the country and the No. 788 recruit in his class. Duncan is the No. 7 quarterback in California, but No. 2 among those who have yet to announce their commitments.

Throwing for 2,949 yards and 30 touchdowns his junior year at Miramonte, Duncan completed 57.0% of his passes and boasted a 147.7 passer rating on the state. Duncan worked mostly as a pocket passer, but he did rush for 180 yards on 26 carries.

Duncan runs a 4.70-second 40-yard dash and also has experience as a punter and kickoff specialist for the Matadors.

Coach Chip Kelly and quarterbacks coach Ryan Gunderson had sent offers to three class of 2023 quarterbacks before Duncan, but the Bruins were not exactly in the running for any of them by mid-June. Long Beach Poly (CA) five-star Nicholaus Iamaleava committed to Tennessee in March, while Pittsburg (CA) four-star Jaden Rashada narrowed his list to five Thursday and left out UCLA.

Martin Luther King (MI) five-star Dante Moore technically hasn't announced a list of semifinalists, but Oregon, Michigan, Notre Dame and Texas A&M are considered to be the runaway leaders for him.

That left Kelly and Gunderson back at square one heading into the summer, and they appear to be putting their eggs in Duncan's basket.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson is entering his final year of eligibility, but UCLA does have two former four-stars in Ethan Garbers and Justyn Martin waiting in the wings to take over in 2023. Beyond them, though, the Bruins were left without much long-term stability when Parker McQuarrie and Kajiya Hollawayne transferred to Independence Community College and Grambling State, respectively, earlier in the offseason.

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