No. 1 IOL Recruit in Colorado Delivers Bad News to Four College Football Programs

The race to recruit premier prospects in the class of 2027 has ramped up in May of the 2026 college football offseason.

Over the next two months, a bevy of prospects will officially visit the college football programs that interest them most before announcing their commitments. Other prospects have decided to announce their college commitments before taking official visits.

One of the latest decisions in the cycle came from four-star interior offensive lineman Jackson Roper, who committed to UCLA on Friday.

The 6-foot-4, 290-pounder from Englewood, Colorado, ranks as the No. 15 interior offensive line, No. 1 prospect in Colorado and No. 219 overall prospect in the class of 2027.

Roper played his first two seasons of high school football at Regis Jesuit High School before transferring to Cherry Creek High School. He has played on both the offensive and defensive lines in his first three seasons of high school football.

The Bruins offered Roper his scholarship in late January, about two months after they hired Bob Chesney as their next head coach.

Roper is the second offensive lineman to commit to UCLA in the last month, and he marks the first four-star offensive lineman to commit to the Bruins since offensive tackle Thomas Cole committed to them in the 2021 cycle.

The battle to recruit Roper was a challenging one for UCLA. Hayes Fawcett of Rivals reported that four other Power Four programs were in the mix to land Roper's commitment.

Michigan

The Wolverines offered Roper a scholarship in September of 2025. Roper visited Michigan for a spring practice in April, but he never scheduled an official visit to Ann Arbor.

Michigan currently holds two offensive line commitments in the class of 2027, one of which is from three-star interior offensive lineman Louis Esposito. If Michigan had landed Roper's commitment, it would have marked the first from a four-star interior offensive lineman since Raheem Anderson II in the 2021 class.

Auburn

The Tigers did not begin making their push for Roper until after they fired Hugh Freeze; they offered him a scholarship in early February. Roper visited Auburn for a spring practice in March, but like with Michigan, he never scheduled an official visit there for the summer.

Three-star interior offensive lineman Jaylon Moore committed to the Tigers on Wednesday, but he is their only current offensive line commit in the class of 2027. The wait for a four-star interior offensive lineman has not been as long at Auburn as it has at UCLA or Michigan, but it has not signed one since DeAndre Carter in the 2024 cycle.

Texas A&M

Mike Elko in the College Football Playoff. — Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko reacts during the second half of the first round game of the CFP Playoff | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

The Aggies were on Roper the earliest of his finalists, offering him a scholarship while at a camp in June of 2025. Roper has visited Texas A&M twice since picking up his offer and has an official visit scheduled there for June 5.

Texas A&M added a pair of SEC transfers in Coen Echols (LSU) and Trovon Baugh (South Carolina) and freshmen Zaden Krempin (four-star) and Sam Roseborough (three-star) to the interior of its offensive line in 2026.

While it does not hold any interior offensive line commits in its 2027 class, Texas A&M already boasts commitments from three of the top offensive tackles in the class in Kennedy Brown, Kaeden Scott and DeMarrion Johnson.

Ohio State

Like its counterpart in "The Game," Ohio State also offered Roper a scholarship back in September of 2025. He visited the Buckeyes for a spring practice and scheduled an official visit to Ohio State for June 12.

Ohio State reeled in three interior offensive linemen in the 2026 recruiting cycle: four-star Max Riley and three-stars Mason Wilhelm and Tucker Smith. Five of the Buckeyes' 11 current commitments are from offensive tackles, three of which are rated as four-star prospects.

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