UCLA Football Offers Class of 2024 WR Ryan Pellum, Nephew of Former Coach

Just two months after Don Pellum announced his retirement as the Bruins' inside linebackers coach, the staff in Westwood offered his nephew.

A receiver with strong Bruin ties and a laundry list of offers from elite national programs has now picked one up from the blue and gold.

UCLA football offered a scholarship to class of 2024 wideout Ryan Pellum, he announced Tuesday afternoon on Twitter. The Long Beach native has starred for Millikan (CA) the past two seasons, where the nephew of the Bruins' now-former inside linebackers coach Don Pellum has drawn attention from across the country.

Pellum already had offers from San Jose State, Kansas, Nevada, Arizona State and BYU heading into his freshman year, and he only picked up steam from there. By the start of the 2021 fall season, Miami (FL), Florida State, Oregon State, Purdue, Arizona, UNLV, Utah, Mississippi State, Washington State, Colorado, Michigan State, Oregon, Florida Atlantic, Arkansas, Pittsburgh, LSU, Cal, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Texas, Minnesota, Nebraska and Penn State were on board we well.

USC, Auburn, Alabama, Ohio State, Marshall, Washington, Cincinnati, Georgia, Tennessee and Michigan all offered Pellum from the start of his sophomore season through this past February, and UCLA marked his first offer in two months.

Pellum has taken visits to Utah, Texas, Cal, Oregon, Ohio State and Michigan over the past 14 months. Tuesday morning, he was one of a dozen or so recruits in attendance for the Bruins' spring camp session at Wasserman Football Center, and it presumably ended in an offer for Pellum.

His sophomore year at Millikan, Pellum racked up 721 yards and 10 touchdowns on 42 receptions in eight games, also adding 35 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Pellum also accounted for 33 yards as a punt returner and 186 yards and a touchdown as a kick returner.

Pellum was named Moore League Player of the Year in 2021 before showing out at the Ohio Under Armour Regional camp in March and earning an invite to Under Armour’s 2024 All-America Game further down the road.

247Sports and Rivals both have Pellum pegged as a four-star recruit. Pellum is the No. 35 player in the country, according to the 247Sports Composite, also coming in as the No. 6 receiver in his class, the No. 4 player in California and the consensus top-ranked wideout in the state.

Coming in at 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, Pellum does not boast unmatchable size or strength that jumps off the page. Instead, Pellum has thrived using his speed and agility, turning screens and checkdowns into chunk plays and long scores while lining up all over the field.

UCLA has now offered six prospects in the class of 2024. The staff's first five offers went to quarterbacks and offensive linemen earlier this offseason, four of which are also local players. Two of those offerrees – Mater Dei (CA) offensive tackles Brandon Baker and DeAndre Carter – were visiting Westwood at the same time as Pellum on Tuesday, and Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown was the first recruit in the class to pick up an offer from coach Chip Kelly's staff.

Kelly's first five recruiting cycles have been dominated by three-stars and supposed overlooked dark horses, but there may be a different approach in store for 2024. While all of these four and five-star targets are also being heavily courted by other elite Power Five programs, the Bruins are laying the groundwork earlier than they have in the past for the most highly-coveted SoCal prospects.

In the case of Pellum, UCLA was the 39th school to offer the receiver, but at least in terms of the internal timeline they've worked within throughout the Kelly era, this does feel like a change of pace.

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