College Basketball

UCLA lands five-star cornerback Darnay Holmes

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 2:08 a.m. ET

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Sports Illustrated, Scout.com/Sports Illustrated

Darnay Holmes made it a good day for Bruin Nation when he put on a UCLA hat at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

During the television telecast of the game, Holmes made his announcement that he had verbally committed to UCLA.

He chose UCLA over Ohio State, Nebraska and USC. It was well-known UCLA was the long-time leader for the No. 1 cornerback prospect in the nation from Calabasas (Calif.) In fact, some programs stopped recruiting him since they believed he was sewn up for UCLA.

However, in the last month or so that seemingly changed. He took an official visit to Ohio State for the weekend of its rivalry game with Michigan in late November. Since then the general word around his recruitment was that Ohio State was the leader for Holmes. It was rumored that in the last couple of weeks he had taped his Bleacher Report commitment video for Ohio State. 

In the last week it was USC that looked like it had gained some momentum in the Holmes sweepstakes. There were reports that his mother wanted him at USC, while his father preferred him at UCLA, and that the mother was winning the marital battle.

Rumors flew in the last few days, with an equal amount of them indicating that Holmes was invariably picking UCLA, Ohio State or USC.

He ended all the rumors and speculation when he donned the Bruin hat Saturday. 

It's a big pick-up for UCLA, getting a second five-star prospect along with current UCLA commitment, defensive end Jaelan Phillips.  Holmes was always considered, along with Phillips, the prime jewel of UCLA's 2017 recruiting class.  His commitment is significant not only for the name recognition but the impact he projects to have on UCLA's team immediately next season. Holmes very well could step into a starting role at cornerback and perhaps be used on offense as a situation receiver.  It also shows that UCLA, despite a 4–8 season, can still out-recruit the likes of Ohio State and USC.

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