All Bruins

UCLA Men's Basketball Offers Class of 2025 Wing Tounde Yessoufou

A fast-rising local wing picked up his third Pac-12 offer when the Bruins and assistant coach Rod Palmer sent him one Thursday.

Benjamin Royer

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The Bruins have entered the recruitment battle early for one of the top rising prospects in Southern California.

Coach Mick Cronin and UCLA men’s basketball sent a scholarship offer to class of 2025 guard/forward Tounde Yessoufou, the prospect announced Thursday afternoon on Twitter. The St. Joseph High School (CA) emerging wing thanked assistant coach Rod Palmer for his offer from the blue and gold.

UCLA becomes the seventh program to offer Yessoufou, joining Pac-12 foes Arizona State and Washington State, as well as Portland, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly.

Yessoufou is a five-star prospect according to Rivals, while 247Sports, ESPN and On3 have the 6-foot-5 wing listed as a four-star. According to 247Sports, Yessoufou is the No. 3 small forward, the No. 2 prospect in California and the No. 15 overall recruit in the country.

The Santa Maria Times named Yessoufou their All-Area MVP for his performance as a freshman in the 2021-22 season. The Santa Maria native averaged 26.4 points per game and 12.3 rebounds per game for St. Joseph en route to the CIF Central Section Open Division finals, where they fell in overtime.

Yessoufou showed out at the Pangos All-American Camp in June, right before playing at the Section 7 Team Tournament in Scottsdale a few weeks later. Playing for Team WhyNot on the Nike EYBL circuit, Yessoufou further burst onto the scene at Peach Jam in July, catching the attention of programs like UCLA with both his physical attributes and production.

In July, 247Sports' Eric Bossi wrote that Yessoufou “looks like a college junior or senior already.”

Power Six programs from east of the Rocky Mountains have not publicly been involved in Yessoufou's recruitment so far, and the Bruins could be banking on getting in on the prized West Coast prospect at the beginning stages of his process.

Yessoufou is the sixth class of 2025 prospect that UCLA has offered so far, and he is the third small forward to make that list. Offerrees Koa Peat and Isiah Harwell are both out-of-state prospects, and they are both five-star recruits.

Because power forward Cooper Flagg, power forward Chris Nwuli and shooting guard Jerry Easter are also not from California, Yessoufou becomes the first in-state recruit in his class to earn an offer from Cronin.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF TOUNDE YESSOUFOU/INSTAGRAM

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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.