UCLA Football: What Went Wrong with Chip Kelly's Recruiting for Bruins

Kelly was criticized for his recruiting with UCLA.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

With UCLA football receiving their 14th commit to the class of 2025 over the weekend, it was another reminder that the Bruins are in a new era under new head coach DeShaun Foster.

The Bruins have of course yet to see the football field in meaningful game action since Foster took over this past winter, which will actually determine how the team will fair under his coaching, but the Bruins have already exuded a more vibrant atmosphere than was previously seen under former head coach Chip Kelly.

A key area where this has taken shape is recruiting. Kelly was known for a lack of effort in the Bruins' recruiting during his six seasons as UCLA's head coach. The Bruins' recruiting system under Kelly was a large reason for their struggles, with the need for approval on every offer hurting their efforts.

“Chip had to approve every offer,” 247 Sports recruiting analyst Greg Biggins said, according to Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times. “And so I think a lot of the staff members were just kind of tired or almost beaten up about, why even offer a guy, being told, ‘No, we can’t offer him right now.’ I think it kind of produced a little bit of a lazy recruiting environment where you just don’t even try anymore, you know what I mean?”

Under Foster, the Bruins have been open about where the coaching stuff is headed to recruit new players, and they have increasingly worked on recruiting local players from California and Southern California.

They've also taken other approaches to recruiting, including hosting a "Friday Night Lights" event ahead of their spring game, which gave high school football players and their families the chance to come watch practice and see the team.

Their enthusiastic approach to recruiting has been refreshing, and in its been reflected by the increasing commits coming into the program. This is only the start to UCLA cementing their place in the college football recruiting landscape, but a strong one at that.

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