Similar to a child who just learned to walk, new UCLA head coach Jim L. Mora wanted to go everywhere. And he did.
"We signed players today from 10 states and three countries, believe it or not" Mora said Wednesday. "We went to the United States, Canada and we went as far as Russia to get a guy."
Well, not exactly everywhere.
"We didn't actually send anyone to Russia. I didn't make a home visit in Russia but we got a guy of Russian descent," explained Mora, speaking of Santa Monica College transfer Alexandru Ceachir, who hails from Moldov, which is between Romania and Ukraine.
He had five weeks to assemble a formidable recruiting class and according to Scout.com, Mora and company put together the 11th-best class in the country and the second-best in the Pac-12, only trailing Stanford.
"We signed the class that we worked to sign. We signed the guys that we wanted to sign and we're very happy about (the) results," Mora said.
A relative newcomer to recruiting, he learned what it was all about while trying to assemble his first recruiting class.
"I thought I knew what recruiting was but I really didn't and I leaned heavily on (my assistant coaches) to guide me through it. It was a five-week sprint for us and we attacked it hard and I think it paid off with the guys we were able to sign today," Mora said.
He attacked until the very end.
Mora was able to flip Oaks Christian wide receiver Jordan Payton from the Washington commitment he announced on Tuesday.
Payton said he told himself, after making his announcement to become a Husky on national television, if he heard from Mora, his decision would change. Sure enough, Mora called Payton and two talked for about an hour on Tuesday night. That sealed the deal.
"I'm happy it's all over. I'm happy I'm going to be a Bruin," said Payton. "I feel great and I feel that I made the best decision and now it's just about moving forward."
The signing of Payton was the biggest news on signing day for the Bruins. He's one of four U.S. Army All-Americans to ink a letter of intent with UCLA.
The other three are five-star defensive tackle Ellis McCarthy, four-star quarterback Devin Fuller, and four-star cornerback Ishmael Adams –a teammate of Payton's at UCLA.
In all, UCLA received faxed letters of intent from 25 high schoolers and one junior college transfer, Ceachir.
Locally, Long Beach Poly wide receiver Randall Goforth announced on Prime Ticket his decision to sign with UCLA. He was previously an Arizona State commit. Vista Murrieta defensive end Jeremy Castro, a former Oregon and Washington commit, reaffirmed his commitment to the Bruins with a signed letter of intent. Also among the 25 high school players were three local offensive linemen: Dominguez's Lacy Westbrook, Esperanza's Carl Hulick, and Mission Viejo's Colby Cyburt.
Mora loves his first class.
"We are confident that we have recruited a class of young men that will represent UCLA well, both on and off the field," he said.
