UCLA Football Flips 2024 Tight End Rob Booker II From Wisconsin
Rob Booker II had been pledged to his hometown team for nearly five months, but the recruit has decided to pivot and go west instead.
The class of 2024 tight end out of Waunakee (WI) decommitted from Wisconsin on Wednesday, then committed to UCLA football on Thursday. Those career-defining decisions came after an official visit to Madison on June 2 and an unofficial to Westwood on Tuesday.
Booker was also sitting on offers from Iowa State, Minnesota, Kansas, Pittsburgh, Iowa, Michigan State, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, UNLV, Purdue and Syracuse. According to an interview he did with The Athletic, Booker had also been hearing from Texas A&M, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, Illinois and Georgia Tech since he had committed to Wisconsin on Jan. 31.
In 2022, Booker caught 27 passes for 360 yards and six touchdowns for Waunakee, which is located just 10 miles north of Madison. The 6-foot-6, 225-pound tight end earned spots on the All-State and All-Conference First Teams in the process.
Booker is pegged as a three-star recruit by 247Sports, Rivals and ESPN, but On3 has him rated as a four-star. In the 247Sports Composite, Booker is ranked as the No. 5 player in Wisconsin, the No. 26 tight end in the country and the No. 466 overall prospect in his class.
UCLA now has eight commitments for its 2024 recruiting class, with Booker emerging as the first skill-position player in that group. Booker also ranks No. 2 in the class behind only four-star offensive tackle Mark Schroller.
In his interview with The Athletic, Booker said he was close with Schroller, who was previously a Wisconsin target himself. Schroller supposedly passed Booker's game film on to tight ends coach Jeff Faris and offensive line coach Tim Drevno, who flew out to visit Booker in May.
Booker joins Schroller, three-star cornerback Khristian Dunbar-Hawkins, three-star offensive tackle Marquis Thorpe Taylor, three-star offensive tackle Joshua Glanz, three-star offensive tackle Jensen Somerville, three-star linebacker Blake Tabaracci and three-star linebacker Isaiah Patterson to make up the No. 46 recruiting class in the country.
After finding their first three commits in-state – Dunbar-Hawkins, Glanz and Schroller – the Bruins have now rattled off five out-of-state commitments in a row.
The class ranks No. 6 in the Pac-12, but since the Bruins are set to change conferences next summer, its No. 12 ranking in the new Big Ten is the more relevant figure. UCLA ranks No. 8 in terms of average recruit rating, though.
UCLA has been a tight end factory under coach Chip Kelly, constantly producing pro-level players at the position regardless of the position coach. Caleb Wilson was a seventh round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, while Devin Asiasi went in the third in 2020 and Greg Dulcich went in the third in 2022. Even part-time starter Michael Ezeike signed with the Los Angeles Chargers as an undrafted free agent this spring.
The Bruins did not add a tight end in their 2023 recruiting class, although they did reel in Oregon transfer Moliki Matavao. The team signed four-stars Jack Pederson and Carsen Ryan in 2022, but that was after failing to add a tight end in 2021 or 2020.
By the time Booker gets to campus ahead of the 2024 season, Matavao will be a senior, Ryan will be a junior and Pederson will be a redshirt sophomore.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF ROB BOOKER II/TWITTER
