How Bob Chesney has reshaped UCLA's recruiting surge

Bob Chesney became UCLA's head coach just six months ago and already has one of the nation's best recruiting classes

(Imagn)

PASADENA, Calif. – Sounds of hammers, drills and other tools filled the south end of the Rose Bowl during UCLA’s Spring Game on Saturday as construction continued on the stadium’s latest renovation project – the South End Zone Field Club.

Just across the way along the north end zone, a different kind of foundation was being laid. The rising voices of nearly a hundred UCLA recruits were just as loud as the construction on the other end of the field – yet inspired far more optimism about the program’s future than any luxury stadium section ever could.

UCLA has seen its biggest recruiting surge since the Jim Mora era just five months into coach Bob Chesney’s tenure in Westwood. Fresh off seven new commitments from the class of 2027 – seven four-stars and three three-stars – over the weekend, the Bruins hold the No. 4 recruiting class in the nation, according to 247Sports.

Four-star Long Beach Poly cornerback JuJu Johnson and four-star Cherry Creek (Colorado) Englewood offensive lineman Jackson Roper were among the recruits gathered along the north end zone, watching the Bruins take the field on Saturday. Johnson, the nation’s No. 12 cornerback, announced his commitment just hours before the Spring Game. Roper, the top recruit in Colorado, announced his a day earlier.

So, what’s the secret? What is Chesney doing on the recruiting trail that so many of his predecessors in Westwood couldn’t? Well, it has little to do with football.

“Just think about this for a minute,” Chesney told reporters on Saturday. “Where we’re sitting and as a coaching staff at a university. It’s the number one public university in the country, right? And then you add the fact that it’s the most applied-to school in the country.”

According to College Transitions, a group of expert college consultants, UCLA was the most applied-to university in the nation, with 145,904 applicants and an 11.6% acceptance rate in 2025. The group projects that for the class of 2027, the university will remain atop the list. Chesney emphasized the school’s competitive acceptance rate, which consistently remains the lowest among public universities in the nation: “That’s elite.”