Earnest Thomas III

UCLA's recruiting efforts out of the state are paying off. On Wedensday, the Bruins picked up a verbal from Michigan Safety Earnest Thomas III. The kid is big, at 6'2" and 210 lbs. He could morph into an outside linebacker if he adds more weight to his frame, which I think he could without too much effort.

Even though the recruiting services only have him as a 3-star, Thomas had offers from a number big-time BCS programs. He was being pursued by Stanford, Missouri, Wisconsin, Penn State, and West Virginia. Ultimately he chose UCLA and one of the reasons may have been family members who live in the south land.

This commitment is a good sign for the program. UCLA has not had any kind of national presence in recent years and this recruiting season. Already this season, two of our five commitments are from outside of California and the three in-state commits are all from up North. It's cool to see us beating out a different set of schools instead of the same old PAC-10 and Mountain West schools that we battle every year. The Bruins are always going to get the bulk of their kids from Southern California but picking up some stars from other areas is encouraging.

From watching his video, he definitely looks like an aggressive, physical, hard hitting strong safety. He kind of reminds me of Horton.