The home run hire by UCLA of Chip Kelly is already having a dramatic impact.
Just to give you an idea of how much weight Kelly carries in the football world, one Bruins recruit said he was “star struck” to receive a phone call from the new UCLA head coach.
UCLA commit Stephan Blaylock of St John Bosco said he received a phone call last night and didn’t recognize the number. “It’s Chip Kelly, man,” the caller said. “I was star struck,” Blaylock said.
— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) November 27, 2017
Blaylock is a safety who received scholarship offers from most of the schools in the Pac-12 before deciding on UCLA in May. Imagine his surprise to see his commitment to Jim Mora’s program evolve into one to Kelly’s.
After officially announcing the Kelly hire on Saturday, UCLA held an introductory press conference on Monday. The conference drew a much larger crowd than your ordinary Monday press conference.
Not your usual Monday press conference at UCLA. pic.twitter.com/SqHeSrZqyi
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) November 27, 2017
Cheerleaders, the Bruin mascot, probably 200 donors/media; a bar and a spread of food.. have seen a bunch of intro press conferences out here in SoCal for new college coaches. Haven't seen a event like this one today at #UCLA for Chip Kelly.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 27, 2017
Though Kelly has only been on the job for a few days, he’s already getting to work. In addition to his phone call with Blaylock, he met with top recruit Brendan Radley-Hiles:
5-Star DB Brendan Radley-Hiles (@Bookie_44) with new #UCLA FB Head Coach Chip Kelly. #8CLAP pic.twitter.com/tR8J4GyeiL
— UCLA Recruiting (@UCLA_Recruiting) November 26, 2017
UCLA has a fairly highly rated recruiting class coming in next season, which should make Kelly’s transition a lot smoother.
