UCLA Football Offers Class of 2025 Offensive Tackle Douglas Utu

The top lineman in the West is officially on the Bruins' radar as the blue and gold try to reel in yet another Bishop Gorman (NV) product.
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The Bruins aren't done building out their future recruiting board.

Class of 2025 offensive tackle Douglas Utu has picked up an offer from UCLA football, the Bishop Gorman (NV) product announced Wednesday on Twitter. Coming in at 6-foot-5 and 300 pounds, Utu set himself apart as one of the most highly-regarded recruits in the region by starring for one of the most dominant high school programs in the country. 

Utu's other offers are from Arizona, Auburn, BYU, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Miami (FL), Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Stanford, USC, Utah and Washington State.

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Utu has been reeling in those offers since he was in eighth grade, but he hadn't been on any documented unofficial visits until he went to UCLA in March. Shortly after, Utu stopped by Oklahoma and Utah.

Utu is a four-star recruit, according to 247Sports, Rivals, ESPN and On3. In the 247Sports Composite, Utu is ranked as the No. 1 player in Nevada, the No. 7 offensive tackle in the country and the No. 54 overall prospect in his class.

Among all offensive linemen in the West and Mountain regions, Utu ranks No. 1. He also plays alongside the No. 1 interior offensive linemen in the country at Bishop Gorman – Seuseu Alofaituli, who also unofficially visited UCLA with Utu in March.

Behind Utu and Alofaituli's success blocking up front, Bishop Gorman averaged 57.2 points per game and went 14-1 in 2022. Utu was named to MaxPreps' High School Football Sophomore All-America First Team in January, and he earned Offensive Line MVP honors at the Rivals Camp Series in Los Angeles in March.

UCLA has now offered 12 players in the class of 2025, with Utu joining Spanish Fork (UT) four-star Aaron Dunn as the only other offensive tackle in that group. Utu's Bishop Gorman teammate – linebacker Landon McComber – has also earned an offer from the Bruins, as has Faith Lutheran (NV) safety Matai Tagoa'i.

After failing to build a strong foundation up front over the past few cycles, offensive line coach Tim Drevno has started to turn things around. UCLA already has three offensive tackle commits for its 2024 recruiting class – Mark Schroller, Joshua Glanz and Marquise Thorpe-Taylor – and it is in contention for two or three more.

Drevno will try to keep that momentum rolling into 2025, with Utu immediately becoming one of the biggest targets on the Bruins' board.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF DOUGLAS UTU/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.