UCLA Football: Recruiting Expert Blasts Chip Kelly’s Work In That Department

The writing may have always been on the wall for UCLA

In case you haven't heard, soon-to-be-ex-UCLA Bruins head coach Chip Kelly is reportedly taking the offensive coordinator position at Ohio State after the Buckeyes' discussions with their last candidate Bill O'Brien fell through. 

O'Brien will instead be the new head coach of Boston College, leaving the window for Kelly's exodus wide open. While many UCLA fans have long expressed doubts about Kelly's commitment to the program, concrete evidence of Kelly's agenda came to light during a time when other head coaches were out on the recruiting trail trying to build their next roster. Instead of selling the Bruins to recruits, Kelly was selling Kelly to other football programs both in the NFL and around college. 

Kelly interviewed for the Seahawks' offensive coordinator job this week and had been reportedly in contact with other NFL teams for that same role. 

On National Signing Day this week, one recruiting expert confirmed what many Bruin fans suspected with a sharp indictment of Kelly's ability and willingness ot recruit high school players. Brandon Huffman of 247 Sports had this to say about UCLA's lackluster 2024 recruiting class:

"There's hardly anybody in it. This is the 92nd-ranked class on 247 Sports. This is a program that is in Los Angeles, it's in California, it's had a coach that coached in the NFL as a head coach, who coached in the national championship game, and there has been little to no effort to recruit high school. They have relied so heavily on the portal and this year it blew up in their face. They have not only lost a ton of players in the portal, they lost some across town to USC, but they're backfilling with players from the division three ranks and service academy so they're not making equal trades". 

In hindsight, it all makes sense. But now, UCLA faces an ever tougher transition into the Big 10 in 2024, without any continuity in their coaching staff carrying over from last season.