Had Rancho’s Goodman made trip to LSU, he ‘wouldn’t have committed yet’

Tahaan Goodman ended the suspense earlier than expected when the Rancho Cucamonga safety verbally committed to UCLA Wednesday. Goodman, who had more than 40 scholarship offers, was still considering nine schools as of last week and trying to squeeze in as many visits as possible before Feb. 6, National Signing Day.

He didn’t take a scheduled official visit to LSU last weekend when his travel materials weren’t delivered on time, opting instead to visit UCLA. Had he made the visit to LSU, Goodman imagines things could have gone differently.

“I think I wouldn’t have committed yet,” Goodman said. “I think I would have more to think about.”

Turns out the visit to UCLA certainly had an impact on not only the destination but the timing of Goodman’s commitment.

“I was talking with some of the players that were there (at UCLA) with me that were committed or were going to commit,” Goodman said, “and we were just saying, if we commit earlier than signing day then we could get more players to come and have a better team.”

Goodman placed three hats in front of him before his announcement on Wednesday: UCLA, USC and Oklahoma. His official visit to Oklahoma Jan. 11 wasn’t “anything too special,” and he said he hadn’t spoken with a coach from USC in quite some time.

Goodman also stated last week that he hadn’t visited a school out of state that felt like somewhere he could live, making UCLA a natural choice especially given the Bruins’ success under first-year head coach Jim Mora Jr.

“I don’t think UCLA’s success this season had a lot to do with his decision,” Rancho Cucamonga head coach Nick Baiz said. “He’s not a frontrunner. It’s just more where he’s comfortable. It could have been a last-place team or even a smaller conference team.”

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