*UPDATE* Coming Thursday morning on the blog, “Life of Riley,” a photo essay following Dietrich Riley at ESPN studios in Los Angeles.
*UPDATE* As you know by now, St. Francis’ Dietrich Riley is headed to UCLA. I was there along with our photographer Sarah Reingewirtz. We were the lone media outlet allowed to go upstairs with Riley, his mother Marika McWhorter, grandmother Margaret McWhorter, uncle Darron McWhorter and cousin Kenneth Edwards. Riley’s well-over a dozen family and friends waited in the lobby and watched it all unfold on TV. Riley’s set lofty expectations for his first season with UCLA, where he’s going to help run the Wildcat formation. Ultimately, Riley felt comfortable with UCLA and felt he belonged, a stark difference from his other trips. After I’m done writing my Signing Day story I’ll provide more insight on Riley’s announcement and the scenery at ESPN L.A.
By the way … I was right. UCLA it was.
Below: Dietrich Riley goes through some sound testing before going on the air. The rest of us waited in the green room.
*UPDATE* Dietrich Riley tweeted an hour ago that it feels like NFL Draft day. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but I’m sure this is a huge day for Riley and his family. He also tweeted that the school he’s picking will come from the Pac-10, meaning Notre Dame and LSU are now out of the picture. It’s down to UCLA and USC. Click here to follow me on Twitter!!!
Myself and a photographer got clearance late last night from ESPN to follow St. Francis’ Dietrich Riley to be at the L.A. studio when he makes his announcement at 1:30 p.m. on ESPNU. My guess is he’ll be wearing Blue & Gold next year, but nothing ever is for sure until recruits put it on paper and sign. Riley, a four-star recruit, is one of the most coveted recruits the WSGV has had in quite a while. With well over 30 scholarship offers, Riley narrowed his list to UCLA, USC, Notre Dame and LSU. We reported last week that Riley has UCLA on the top of his list. We’ll have the latest when and bring it to you when it becomes available. But we know Riley is not the only local signing today. Muir’s Jarron Williams is signing with Portland State and Alhambra’s Mitchell Crockom signed this morning with Idaho. Muir’s Taylar Mills (track) is also signing, and she’s headed to UNLV. I will be leaving for L.A. around noon, and won’t be back til around 2:30 p.m., so I’m asking all AD’s and coaches to e-mail or call me about their players if they’re signing today so they can be included in our Signing Day story.
Below: St. Francis coach Jim Bonds and Dietrich Riley pose for a picture on the set of SportsCenter Los Angeles.