Top West Coast Running Back Recruit Jayden Limar Earns UCLA Football Offer

The Bruins have made a scholarship offer to a ball-carrier who is being heavily pursued by Oregon, Washington and Notre Dame.

Running backs have carried the Bruins' offense throughout the Chip Kelly era, and the program is already looking for which one could continue the trend in the future.

UCLA football offered a scholarship to class of 2023 running back Jayden Limar on Thursday, the highly-sought after prospect announced on Twitter. The Bruins have been recruiting Limar, who is entering his senior season at Lake Stevens (WA), since the September 2021.

Limar already has offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, Boston College, Cal, Colorado, Louisville, Miami (FL), Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon, Oregon State, Texas A&M, USC, Utah, Washington and Washington State.

God continues to bless me! After a great talk with @DeShaunFoster26 I am blessed to announce I have received an offer from UCLA🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/AIuZBBNdTV

— Jayden Limar (@jayden_limar) February 17, 2022

Across the board, Limar is a top-250 player and top-15 running back in his class. The 247Sports Composite, Rivals and ESPN all have Limar pegged as a four-star recruit.

The 5-foot-11, 190-pound running back is ranked as the No. 12 player at his position by both 247Sports and Rivals, with ESPN penciling him in at No. 15. Limar is also a consensus top-five player in Washington and the No. 1 running back in his state.

Limar also runs track and plays basketball at Lake Stevens, and he has had experience as a receiver and linebacker on the gridiron.

As a freshman, Limar rushed for 154 yards and two touchdowns on just 21 carries. Limar has taken major strides since then, becoming his team's primary ball-carrier with over 1,000 rushing yards and leading Lake Stevens to an 11-1 record in the process.

Across camps and visits, Limar has been on campus at Washington, Notre Dame, Oregon, Texas A&M, Michigan and Ohio State last summer and fall. According to a report from 247Sports' Bruin Report Online, Limar is set to take a visit to Westwood in March. 

Limar told Sports Illustrated's Irish Breakdown last month that he wants to commit before the start of next high school season and that he plans to enroll early wherever he ends up next.

UCLA is far from the first team to jump on Limar, but he could still be the next in a long line of Bruin running backs to take the Pac-12 by storm over the past few years. Johnathan Franklin and Paul Perkins were among the top rushers in the country in the Jim Mora era, then Joshua Kelley, Demetric Felton, Brittain Brown and Zach Charbonnet have stepped up to impress under Kelly.

Running backs coach DeShaun Foster has been in Westwood through them all, and he is handling the recruiting of Limar. The West Coast prospect became the first 2023 running back to pick up an offer from Foster and the Bruins, who made a second offer to Roderick Robinson II later Thursday afternoon.

The signed incoming 2022 class features one running back, local product Tomarion Harden. Charbonnet came back for another year, and Keegan Jones, Christian Grubb and Deshun Murrell will be there to back him up.

Whether Limar and Robinson will join Murrell and Harden moving forward remains to be seen, but the interest is there at least from the UCLA side.

No 2023 recruits have committed to the Bruins as of Thursday.

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