After landing a commitment from Oaks Christian athlete Michael Pittman, UCLA received more good news from early 5-star prospect Breland Brandt.

"I just talked to Coach Mora and Coach Ulbrich, I'm a Bruin," Brandt said. "I know it's early but there was no reason for me to put this off when I knew where I wanted to go. I've liked UCLA for a long time and after talking to my family, the timing just felt right.

"The biggest thing for me was feeling at home at UCLA and when I took football out of the equation, I asked myself, where would I want to be and where would I be comfortable and that was definitely at UCLA. You're always an injury away from not playing and at UCLA, with the degree and the location, it was just the best overall fit."

From a football standpoint, Brandt can fill multiple roles for the Bruins.

"They want me to rush the passer," Brandt said. "They talked about me filling that Anthony Barr role as a pass rusher who can also drop in to coverage some and play in space. I think my biggest strength as a player is rushing the quarterback, I have a real passion for it that I can't describe but I love to hit and I love getting after the quarterback.

"Even though it's early and I'm just a junior, I'm really excited about this and feel a sense of relief to already have the decision behind me. I love high school and now I can just focus on enjoying myself without the stress of recruiting. I'm 100% locked in and I don't plan to visit any other schools or look around, I'm all UCLA right now."

Brandt, who said he's currently 6-4, 212 pounds, is a very good all around athlete with a ton of upside. He's currently rated the No. 12 prospect in the country and No. 2 player out West. He's still raw in some areas and has always split his time playing basketball in the spring and summer. The feeling is once he devotes his off-season to just football, his game should really take off.

"I'm still going to play basketball for Windward but this spring and summer, I don't plan on playing AAU any more," Brandt said. "I'm going to focus more on football and getting ready for the next level. I enjoy basketball but I know my future is in football so I'm going to start to focus more there.

"I can't wait to get to UCLA though, I've watched all the games and I'm ready to get out on there now. I already feel like I'm a part of the team and the commitment definitely adds to that. It's funny growing up, I never really had a certain team I rooted for and my dad was more of an NFL guy. The more I hung around UCLA though, the more I knew that's where I wanted to be, like I said, it was just the perfect fit for me."

.mediaplayer-box:before { content:""; display:block; padding-top:56.25%; }