UCLA Football: Five 2025 Recruits UCLA Should Focus On

With zero commits in their 2025 class, UCLA has some ground to cover

While still very early in the cycle, class of 2025 recruiting is beginning to heat up. UCLA currently holds signed letters of intent from 10 2024 recruits, with Utah-based linebacker Blake Tabaracci still unsigned. 

The last seven national champions, including Michigan, have all been able of recruit near or at the top of the pack in terms of both quantity and quality of recruits. UCLA is nowhere near those schools like Alabama, Ohio State, and Georgia in terms of recruiting (granted UCLA has tougher academic standards than most schools). 

All that being said, the Bruins need to have a good 2025 cycle if they hope to establish themselves as a contender not just in the Big 10 next season, but as a contender for the national title.

Here are five recruits that will help UCLA get to where they want to be in two years:

Five 2025 Recruits UCLA Should Focus On

#5: Carmel High (Carmel, CA) Offensive Tackle Jackson Lloyd

Lloyd is a three-sport athlete (basketball and baseball) so he's very athletic but still extrmeely powerful and built for the game of football. He's got size (6'7, 290-pounds) and quick feet which offensive tackles need. He's powerful and plays with a mean streak, consistently finishing his blocks with the defender on the ground. If he can work on his leverage (given he's a taller guy) the sky is the limi for Lloyd, who was named to both 1st team all league and 1st team all county after his junior season. He also holds his school's record for back squat (545 pounds). UCLA was the first division one program to offer him, so that should help the Bruin's case. 

#4: Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco, CA) OL/DL Tommy Tofi

Not unlike Jackson Lloyd, Tommy Tofi is a multi-sport athlete (basketball) and is relatively new to football. He just wrapped up his second full season of football, but already holds offers from some of the top programs in the country. He's extremely athletic even for a 300+ pounder and has the footwork and length (6'6) to play anywhere on the offensive line, but projects best perhaps out at offensive tackle. He is also being recruited as a defensive tackle prospect. Regardless of position, Tofi is a rare prospect given how good he is in just his second year of football. UCLA has yet to offer, but given Tofi currently holds an offer from Stanford, he likely checks UCLA's academics boxes. His recruitment is set to explode this offseason. 

#3: Mater Dei (Santa Ana, CA) Linebacker Abduall Sanders Jr.

With offers from UCLA, Michigan, Oklahoma, Miami, Auburn, and Washington to name a few, Sanders Jr. has plenty of options to choose from. But fresh off a junior season that earned him a coveted spot on the first-time All-Trinity League list, Sanders Jr. sticks out even amongst the best players at his age in the country. Extremely agile and viciously physical, and with his junior highlight tape hot off the press, Sanders Jr.'s offer list should continue to grow. He's a modern day Mike linebacker prospect that any power 5 team would be luck to have. 

#2 Junipero Serra Catholic (San Juan Capistrano, CA) Linebacker Madden Faraimo

247 Sports thinks Faraimo is one of the top players coming out of the State of California in the 2025 cycle, and for good reason. He's a former safety that transitioned to linebacker and it looks like that's where he belongs. He's speedy, but not afraid to bang around in the box. At 6-foot-3, 210-pounds, Faraimo has some room to grow into his frame. A few years back, Faraimo's sister was one of the top softball recruits in the country, and she committed to UCLA. The Bruins have a competitive advantage in that sense (in terms of Faraimo's recruitment) but it will take more than just familial ties to lure him out of the clutches of other top programs who've offered him like Alabama, Tennessee, Notre Dame, and Washington. 

#1: Mater Dei (Santa Ana, CA) Cornerback Chuck McDonald III

He's got UCLA in his top schools list, but even after dropping that list he's still reeling in more offers from programs like Georgia and San Diego State. According to On3's industry composite algorithm, which takes into account all four major recruiting networks (Rivals, On3, 247 Sports, and ESPN), McDonald is a top 150-prospect nationally. He's the type of prospect that will likely come into UCLA (should he commit there) and push the starters for playing time in his first season. He's been covering elite receivers while playing for Mater Dei already, and won't have as steep of a learning curve once he straps up in college if you compare his level of competition to other freshman cornerbacks. He should be a top prioirty for UCLA this cycle.