UCLA Football: How Does NFL Legacy Prospect Compare To Current Bruins LBs?
Charter Oak (Covina, CA) 2025 linebacker LaVar Arrington II took to X/Twitter this week to announce he has received an offer to play for UCLA. Head coach Chip Kelly put in the call to the 6-foot-4, 215-pound backer out of Southern California.
If that name sounds familiar, it's because his father, LaVar Arrington, was once a legendary linebacker at Penn State, and made the pro bowl a couple times in the NFL in the early 2000's.
247Sports considers Arrington II a three-star prospect and among the top 100 players coming out of California in the 2025 cycle. He is an absolute weapon in the defensive box. If football was chess, Arrington II would be a queen. He's extremely versatile and his film reflects that (his best plays from his junior season are embedded at the bottom of this article).
I ran through all of Arrington's publicly available film and compared it with the film of a current UCLA linebacker to try to understand what Arrington II could bring to the table for the Bruins should he commit. The closest comp I found currently on the UCLA roster is Kain Medrano, a former high school wide receiver/linebacker. The two are similar size (6-foot-3 pus) and both are exceptionally coordinated for their size.
Medrano's development at linebacker during his junior year in high school is very similar to where Arrington II currently is. Like Arrington II, Medrano was a three-star recruit coming out of high school, but the main difference between the two prospects is Arrington II's experience playing along the line of scrimmage. During his junior Arrington II lined up at inside and outside linebacker, and occasionally with his hand in the dirt on the edge of the line of scrimmage. He's physical yet exceptionally agile, both necessary traits for modern-day linebackers.
So, if Arrington II were to enroll at UCLA next winter/spring, using Medrano as a blue print, how soon could he make an impact for the Bruins? Medrano saw action in one game during his true freshman season, but it wasn't until his third year in college that he started making meaningful contributions to the Bruin defense. Medrano finished 2023 with 56 total tackles while playing middle linebacker for D'Anton Lynn.
Safe to say that it will take a year or two of development for Arrington II, but the blueprint for his development is there.