UCLA Football: Evaluating 2024 OL Commit Jensen Somerville
Lehi (Lehi, UT) 2024 offensive tackle Jensen Somerville committed to UCLA back in June, joining a handful of other offensive linemen in UCLA's 2024 recruiting class. We linked our evaluations of the other OL commits at the bottom of this article.
Somerville comes in at a self-reported 6-8, 295 pounds. He recently released his senior season highlight tape on Hudl, so we decided to compare his senior season to his junior and sophomore season film to understand how he has developed as a tackle.
Somerville has shown tremendous growth throughout his high school career. He has learned to trust his technique and be aggressive in his pass sets. He's got quick feet and can transition from his kick step to a power step with ease. He uses his arm length well to get hands on the rusher early in the rep to make the defender work harder.
He has been comfortable using the hop-back technique in his pass sets since he was a sophomore, showing us and college recruiters that he's coachable and not just getting by with his size. His junior season film was a clinic on footwork, especially in the run game. He was effective not only as an anchor on double teams, but also pulling and lead blocking on the edge.
His senior season highlight tape was the icing on the pancake. at 6-8 ~300 pounds, he shouldn't be moving as quick as he does. In both the run and pass game, Somerville is excellent. He looks balanced and calm in his pass sets, but once he gets his hands on the defender, it's usually game over. The rushers he face on his senior season didn't seem all that special, so he may have some growing pains adjusting to the speed of edge rushers at the next level.
All in all, if Somerville and continue at his current pace, Bruins fans should looks for him to earn significant playing time in year two of his college career. Somerville is ranked as a three-star prospect by 247 Sports and the 76th best offensive tackle prospect in the country. The staff at AllBruins.com suspects this is non representative of his skillset, and while three-star prospects are excellent players, we think Somerville is still undervalued in that regard.
UCLA got a good one in Somerville.
The Bruins currently have 13 commits in their 2024 recruiting class, and four of them are offensive tackles.
Eastlake (Chula Vista, CA) Offensive Tackle Joshua Glanz Evaluation
Mount Tahoma (Tacoma, WA) Offensive Tackle Marquise Thorpe-Taylor Evaluation
Mission Viejo (Mission Viejo, CA) Offensive Tackle Mark Schroller Evaluation
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