Klemm at UCLA

[Stallion]

And here's one from Hiva Lutai(sp). Reconfirming dangling commitments on a new staff is a big deal-ask June Jones. All these guys specifically mentioned Adrian Klemm has a major reason for their reconfirmation of commitment when they were visiting and rating other schools highly

"I thought getting to know a new coaching staff would be a problem but it wasn't and this staff, they're more hands on," said Lutui. "They just approached it a lot differently than Neuheisel and in a good way."

Lutui said he liked offensive line coach Adrian Klemm, who recruited him when he was at nearby SMU, as well as new head coach Jim Mora.

"Coach Klemm, he's a class A guy. He's been there and done that with his three Super Bowl rings," said Lutui. "And Coach Mora brings a more aggressive attitude

[ponyinNC]

Klemm always wanted to go back west, and we all knew it was only a matter of time before a big time Pac 12 team hired him. I am as mad as anybody that we have lost so many 2012 recruits, but we all knew he would leave sooner or later and likely take his guys with him. I don't blame the commits for leaving--they are coming from 1500 miles away and their lead recruiter left.

It was fun while it lasted, but now we can focus on where we should have been looking all along - our own backyard. Just hope JP hits the trail hard and we can have some late suprises to go along with many quality recruits who have already given verbals. Do the best we can with 2012 and hit it hard for 2013 with JP, Reinbold, Odum and hopefully one more recruiter on staff.

[Dwan]

Classic Stallion. He cuts and paste the one article from Scout that might prove his point. As I said about Westbrook, he committed to UCLA on November 4th. When Neuhiesel was fired, he said he was still committed to UCLA but would take his trips. He said he was still going to UCLA but with the coaching change, he would take visits. When the new staff was hired, he basically said, oh, cool, I like Klemm from when he was recruiting me at UCLA so I already know one of the coaches really well. If you want to count that one for Klemm, go for it. So people like living in denial.

The fact is coach Martin who came Washington knew and recruited most of these kids. Two of them decommited from Washington and followed him to UCLA. The rest of them he was the point recruiter on and they seriously considered Washington when he was there. The ones I listed are the ones who Klemm was the primary recruiter on. Some of these guys are committing to UCLA and Klemm is saying "hey, I know that guy, I sent him a letter when I was at SMU." Now, Rivals, who Klemm is tight with since the named him the non-bcs recruiter of the year, he calls them and says mention me in the article. If you think I'm making this up? Does this not sound like Klemm? The new staff is actually making fun of him. Like when they signed they five star McCarthy, they joked that Klemm will claim he had been on that guy for two years and he almost got him to SMU.

Stallion, you claim that our staff should stay out of California and focus on Texas. I live 5 minutes from the UCLA campus and have friends on the staff. Take your own advice and focus on Texas and some of the BS you read on Rivals. Why does you blindly ignore the facts and root for Klemm to do well? Does it give you a sense of importance to say that we relied too much on Klemm and that you were right about that? I'm not a sunshiner, I admit Klemm is a big loss, I also admit that he is a genius recruiter and will do well at UCLA. I'm just saying it is false to say his is killing it this year. Stallion, do you have any other source's than Rivals or Scout and message boards? BTW, your own arrogance does not count as a source.

CC: Todd Dodge

[Dwan]

Just read the rivals link. Kind of a joke and kind of my point. It lists Klemm as the guy who recruited Porter, Westbrook, and Lutui. All of these guys committed to UCLA under Neuhisel and never decommitted. At best all of these guys said, I'm going to UCLA and oh, they hired Klemm? I know that guy and like him, cool. Now if you want to give the credit to Klemm credit for signing them off of that.....well, I think that is at best bending the actual facts to fit your (or Klemm's ) narrative.

Also, the coaches who recruited these kids and got them to commit to UCLA are no longer on staff and because of this, Rivals does not list them. And I guess they have to list somebody. And Klemm is the kind of guy who calls Rivals and says list me.

And with regards to Adams, he was considering UCLA and Washington. Coach Martin was recruiting him hard at Washington. He always wanted to go to UCLA but did not know what the situation was with the staff and was seriously considering UW because of coach Martin or coach Meat as he is known by the players. As soon as he was hired at UCLA, Adams committed. And Klemm did send him some letters when he was at SMU and Adams did know him and thought he was cool. To give credit to him for that signing is a joke.

[Stallion]

You are crazy-I'm tired of you. I quoted the players themselves. Every one of those guys cited Klemm. A Save for a brand new Coaching Staff is a commitment. Get it [deleted]. Klemmm was one of the only hired Coaches at the time they recommitted. SURE WISH SMU HAD A COACH WHO COULD SAVE A COMMITMENT-and we still have 8 Coaches from past staff. Get used to it Dwan-you are going to look like an idiot.

[kull]

Stallion is right.

[ebrooks11]

I am going to side with Dwan on this one. UCLA is not SMU and it is a lot easier getting a kid to stay committed to UCLA than us. Its a no brainer that UCLA has better name recognition and history than our old SMU, so i dont think you can compare the two in regards to a kid sticking to a commitment through a coaching change between the two schools. If anyone on this board really thinks that the Cali kids were going to stay when Klemm left than they are kidding themselves. There is no amount of work our other coaches could do to save those kids. I am not letting the other coaches off the hook for not recruiting hard enough mainly because I have no idea how much work they are doing and most on here do not either. The main mistake I think the staff made was putting all of the recruiting eggs in Klemms basket. Now is the time for everyone to move on to another mancrush and quit talking about Klemm, he is gone and not coming back.

[SMUer]

SMU is appealing to a lot of Cali-kids (look at our state-wise demographics) so it isn't outrageous to think some elbow grease and sweet talk couldn't keep some of those kids at SMU. Cali-kids most likely want to stay in Cali, and absolutely UCLA is a much bigger name in sports than SMU, but I don't think they necessarily would've have been a lost cause if someone on this staff, along with Klemm, had been working and forming relationships with these recruits also. Did any of these de-commits get home visits by Jeff or June? Anything other than a phone call? If not, sad sad sad.

[Dwan]

So your point is that a kid from CA who always wanted to go to UCLA, who committed to them, never decomitted, remained committed to them during the coaching change, and when the new coach is hired says they like the new staf and like Klemm, that counts as recruiting a player and getting his commitmen?

Also, these guys all said they loved coach Mora as well. Why no Bj for hiim? And coach Martin who was on staff before Klemm and knew all these kids? This narrative of oh my god Klemm has already gotten all of these amazing commits and its all him is not at all objective.

And this just in, Hullick will likely be asked to grayshirt. With the staff changes at Cal, UCLA is in the running for some high profile guys a week ago they thought they had no chance at. They think they will be over 26 for this class and some of their marginal recruits will be asked to greyshirt

[SMU 86]

Call a truce. We are all on the same team. Both of you agree Klemm is a good recruiter. Do I wish we had Klemm and JP? Yes. They would have made a heck of a tandem. Does anyone know if JP is on campus yet or is he going to recruit from Houston until signing day and then move to Dallas?

[Stallion]

YES now you've got it!!!!!!!!!! There was no commitment to a School that had no Coaching Staff. Open your eyes. Those recruits were looking around. Look what happens when Coaches leave-See UCLA, Cal, SMU. UCLA hired Klemm because he had prior contacts and relationships with 100s of Californians. UCLA was recruiting with 3 Coaches at the time. Klemm visited the recruits to recommit them. These guys loved Klemm as seen in their quotes. They recommitted to UCLA based on their confidence in Klemm. Kleem gets a SAVE. Klemm gets a STAR. Now see what happens at SMU when there is no one like Klemm to take up the rope and fill the vacuum

[ojaipony]

Klemm visited the recruits to recommit them. These guys loved Klemm as seen in their quotes. They recommitted to UCLA based on their confidence in Klemm. Kleem gets a SAVE. Klemm gets a STAR. Now see what happens at SMU when there is no one like Klemm to take up the rope and fill the vacuum

Completely agree with this part.

[Dwan]

I think your point would be more valid had any of those kids decommitted and then after meeting with Mora and Klemm, they decided to recommit. Hard to say it is a save when none of them decommitted. But I now understand what you seem to not be getting. You dont understand what UCLA means to kids from California and in particular, Southern California. Kids from this area grow up wanting to play for USC or UCLA. So UCLA is a place that Californian kids will commit to because it is UCLA first and the coaching staff second. The same thing is true in Texas. There are kids that grow up wanting to be Aggies, Longhorns, and Sooners. And that is not my quote, that is what Will Muschamp said when he took the job at Florida and was asked if he would recruit Texas harder since he had coached there. He basically said no. Sure they will always look at some elite guys there, but it is hard to compete with the schools that this kids dream of playing at for as long as they can remember.

Don James who won a national title at Washington said the same thing about California. He said, they almost never beat USC or UCLA for a kid from that area who USC or UCLA wanted. They would get the guys who they overlooked or did not have room for and rarely, they would get a kid who they both wanted. By and large, Oregon still has the same challenge today. Occasionally they will get a DeAnthony Thomas. But worth nothing they got him the year they played for a national title, when UCLA was in the toilet, and USC was on sanctions. USC and UCLA have a very powerful pull over these kids. This isnt my opinion, this is the opinion of every coach who has recruited California.

You refer to schools like Cal and SMU in your post. Not the same thing. Elite athletes dont grow up saying "I always wanted to play at Cal" or "I always wanted to play at SMU." So in those cases, I agree, those players were committing to coaches, Klemm at SMU and Tosh at Cal. UCLA is different man. All those kids you refer to, they were going to UCLA even if they hired Todd Dodge as their head coach and Rusty Burns as the OL coach.

To claim, hell, Klemm has gotten 8 four stars in 4 weeks to go to UCLA and it is all him and the reason these kids committed to UCLA is because of Klemm is just bogus. And this comes from somebody who thinks Klemm is the bomb, had every right to leave, and agrees with you about how lazy the rest of our staff is.

But you are the expert. And an expert is defined by somebody who is frequently wrong, never in doubt, and always a [deleted] about it.

[Dwan]

And for the record, I still think Klemm could close very well and if that happens, his first year at UCLA could be what some of you currently claim it is There are guys out there who he recruited at SMU who were never going to go to SMU and have shown little interest in UCLA, but could very well say now that Klemm is at UCLA, I will take a strong look at them. That has not happened yet, but you might see it happen with guys like Jordan Payton, Kyle Murphy, Seth Jacobs, Jordan Mickens and with guys currently committed like Jordan Simmons and Max Turek. To me, that would be that WOW moment and I think he is capable of it. But you also have to consider that UCLA's current staff might be one of the best in the nation when it comes to recruiters. Martin, Broussard, and Yarber are all on par with Klemm as recruiters and specifically in Southern California. So whatever happens at UCLA, it certainly is not like it was for Klemm at SMU. I think with Martin, Broussard, Yarber, Klemm and a dynamic former NFL coach in Mora, this staff will win a lot of recruiting battles. I think some of you credit any success UCLA might have in recruiting to Klemm which if you look their staff, you know they will be successful and Klemm will be a part of that, but not the sole reason.

[smusic 00]

You seem very wise.