The Hotline is delighted to provide West Coast fans with a regular dive into the recruiting process through the eyes and ears of Brandon Huffman, the Phoenix-based national recruiting editor for 247Sports. He submitted the following report on Nov. 6 …
Reaffirmation season
With coaching changes galore, specifically at UCLA, recruiting classes that seemed set in July were annihilated by September.
The Bruins lost more than 10 commitments once they fired DeShaun Foster.
But there is some hope in Westwood: Two of the former pledges, both from Southern California, reversed course and recommitted.
Linebacker Matthew Muasau, the brother of current New York Giant and former Bruin linebacker Darius Muasau, was the first; he was followed this w...
The Hotline is delighted to provide West Coast fans with a regular dive into the recruiting process through the eyes and ears of Brandon Huffman, the Phoenix-based national recruiting editor for 247Sports. He submitted the following report on Nov. 6 …
Reaffirmation season
With coaching changes galore, specifically at UCLA, recruiting classes that seemed set in July were annihilated by September.
The Bruins lost more than 10 commitments once they fired DeShaun Foster.
But there is some hope in Westwood: Two of the former pledges, both from Southern California, reversed course and recommitted.
Linebacker Matthew Muasau, the brother of current New York Giant and former Bruin linebacker Darius Muasau, was the first; he was followed this weekend by defensive lineman Anthony Jones.
The better news for the Bruins?
Colorado multi-sport standout Toray Davis clarified that when he tweeted his recruitment was open, he didn’t decommit from UCLA and remains pledged to the Bruins.
He is, however, monitoring the hiring process in Westwood and has taken official visits to Washington and Wisconsin since that statement, with visits to Indiana and Texas coming this month.
But Davis said he’ll take a second official visit to UCLA once a head coach is in place. (The NCAA permits players who committed to a school prior to a head coaching change to take a second official visit.)
Davis is a top-five prospect in Colorado and the frontrunner for state player of the year.
Flip season, too
The state of Utah has seen its share of flips already in this class: Kennan Pula and Jaron Pula flipped to Utah from UCLA in the summer; Esun Tafa switched from Washington to USC; and Bott Mulitalo changed his pledge to BYU from Oregon.
But there has been an uptick over the past two weeks, much to the delight of former Pac-12 schools (and to the chagrin of Minnesota).
Talented receiver Kai Meza decommitted from the Gophers in September and last week, announced he would instead play at Cal.
Then Mataalii Benjamin, the mammoth in-state lineman, decommitted from Minnesota and quickly pledged to Utah.
And while he’s not from the state of Utah, Daniel McMorris, the four-star offensive lineman from Oklahoma, also flipped from the Gophers and plans to join Meza in Berkeley.
Of course, all eyes are on what the top uncommitted prospect in the state, four-star quarterback Tradon Bessinger, will do.
Bessinger was committed to Boise State, but BYU, Iowa and UCLA all offered scholarships this fall. He decommitted from the Broncos shortly after his official visit to Iowa.
He plans to take an official visit to BYU this month and to UCLA, as well (once a head coach is named).
Another significant flip came from Georgia linebacker Hannibal Carter Navies. The three-star switched from the Kansas State Wildcats to the Arizona Wildcats, and Arizona running backs coach Alonzo Carter was a key reason why.
Carter coached Navies’ father, former Colorado standout and NFL linebacker Hannibal Navies, when he was a high school player in Berkeley.
Reclassification season, as well
The trend out West is for high school players to reclassify academically in order to enroll early in college.
During this cycle, USC commit Mark Bowman and LSU commit Havon Finney were two of the more significant players to jump from the 2027 class to the 2026 class. Both were in the top 32 in the 2027 class when they made the move.
The biggest reclassification, though, came this week when Orange (Calif.) Lutheran defensive lineman Marcus Fakatou reclassified from the 2028 class to the 2027 class.
Fakatou was the No. 1 player in the state of California in 2028 and the No. 3 recruit in the country.
But now he’ll play just one more season of high school football instead of two.
Top 2027 linemen is off the board
Arizona prospects were frequently targeted by Stanford during the tenures of Jim Harbaugh and David Shaw.
One such recruit was Andrus Peat, a five-star prospect from Tempe who became a first-round draft choice. Now, 15 classes after Peat signed with the Cardinal, Stanford returned to Arizona to land its first commitment in the 2027 class.
Mammoth offensive lineman Benjamin Lowther, a top-10 recruit in the state, committed to the Cardinal over the weekend. He is general manager Andrew Luck’s first pledge and comes without knowing who will coach the program next season.
Lowther had looked like a heavy lean to Washington. But a second game-day visit to Stanford this fall led to an offer and a subsequent commitment.
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