UCLA Football: Top 4 targets for 2019 National Signing Day

After a 3-9 debut season for Chip Kelly, UCLA football looks to finish up strong with key signees on National Signing Day.

So maybe the bar was set too high for the long-awaited return of Chip Kelly.

The transition from Jim Mora to Chip Kelly was never going to come easily and it showed in 2018 as the UCLA Bruins slipped to 3-9 while also finishing fifth in the Pac 12 South. Despite a sub-.500 record, there were several high notes that give fans of the Bruins hope going forward.

For one, UC Davis-transfer Joshua Kelley became UCLA’s first 1,000-yard back since Paul Perkins in 2015 and he will return for one last ride in the powder blue and gold. Another high note was UCLA’s late-season success in the close losses to Arizona State and Stanford and the win over USC that gave the Bruins the Victory Bell once again (and possibly marked the beginning of the end for Clay Helton).

Recruiting for Kelly wasn’t the greatest in the early signing period as he was only able to land one four or five-star recruit of the 36 total that they offered.

It’s also important to note that UCLA had made the second-least amount of scholarship offers to recruits in the Power Five at the time of the early signing period with 76, second only to Stanford who landed eight of their 48 four or five-star offers. In his first year under the new signing rules this could just be a year we look back on as a down class before Kelly stepped his game up but if the pattern continues then Kelly’s knowingly stubborn attitude may need to be held in check.

Not all hope is lost for the Bruins this offseason, however. They still remain in contention for some of the bigger remaining recruits in the 2019 class that could come in and make an impact early.

Which recruits are the Bruins going the hardest after in the final days of the 2019 recruiting cycle?