Bob Chesney, UCLA Bruins turn heads with recruiting hot streak

In recent years, the UCLA Bruins have largely been irrelevant in the college football world. They struggled to find much success with Chip Kelly at the helm, and then the last two years under DaShaun Foster led them to rock bottom, which resulted in his firing midway through the 2025 season.

While there may be a long road back to relevancy, especially in the Big Ten, it appears early on that they are starting to take the necessary steps.

In today's day and age of college football, that means hiring the right coach and building a serviceable roster, both through the transfer portal and the high school ranks. Former James Madison head coach Bob Chesney is succeeding on that front.

Over the past couple of weeks, you could argue that no team in the nation has been as hot as the Bruins when it comes to the recruiting trail. On Saturday morning, they picked up another commitment from a blue-chip player — 4-star CB Juju Johnson, the No. 71 player in the class — which moved the Bruins up to No. 4 in the national recruiting rankings for the 2027 cycle.

In the last two weeks, UCLA has landed seven commitments, six of which have been 4-star players, and three of which have been rated as a top-100 player or better.

• 4-star CB Juju Johnson — No. 71 player, No. 8 CB
• 4-star DL George Toia — No. 91 player, No. 8 DL
• 4-star S Jerry Outhouse Jr. — No. 100 player, No. 14 S
• 4-star OL Jackson Roper — No. 221 player, No. 12 IOL
• 4-star S Khalil Terry — No. 260 player, No. 25 S
• 4-star RB Jayshon Gibson — No. 399 player, No. 31 RB

Of course, we won't see how any of Chesney's success plays out until the Bruins take the field this fall, but the early returns on his time in Los Angeles have been overwhelmingly positive. If he can continue to recruit at this level and drive the interest in the Bruins' program up, then it won't be long before UCLA is relevant once again in college football.

After the last few years in Pasadena, that's all you can ask for.