Take the poll: Are you worried now that two UCLA recruits have de-committed?

If this were basketball, with some 12 players, it would be big. But football has got about 85 scholarship kids.

And these kids are not true commits when they can opt out of their "promises."

Besides, at the college level there is not a lot of difference between a 5-star and 3-star athlete, and each player makes up only 1/11 of the team on the field.

Yes, I agree somewhat with The Truth. But there is a big diff. between a 5 star and a 3 star recruit, especially if you start losing several of them.

At least we are losing them to Big time programs and not to a lesser know programs. As a football recruit teenager you always want to go to the traditional powerhouses and usually these guys are not recruited until closer to their Sr. seasons by the big time programs.

Now that we have 2 more available spots, maybe we can go after some other linemen that have verbals at other schools.

losing these recruits is damaging,its not about the talent its about perception, neuheisel was bought in to compete with Pete Carroll for recruits,now he has lost two of his best recruits,he better get it together or the perception will be reality.

Actually, it IS about talent. Our problems over the last few years have, for the most part, stemmed from talent. When we had elite offensive talent i.e. Maurice Drew, Marcedes Lewis, Drew Olson (version 4.0), and a good offensive line, our offense was very good. When we had all-americans Justin Hickman and Bruce Davis at ends and the talented Chris Horton, Dennis Keyes, and Trey Brown in the defensive backfield, the defense was stellar. Ask Trojan fans what the difference between having Petros Papadakis and LenDale White as a big back was like.

While any time you lose a recruit its a shame, there is over half a year left until signing day, including an entire season with the best pair of coordinators in the land. I don't care about perception, I just care about how the team plays.

Unfortunately, we are getting dominated on the recruiting trail. We all thought that Nue and Chow were going to bring in a ton of great recruits, but they have yet to do so. In fact, they have LOST more talent they have gotten so far.

I agree, Alex, it IS about talent, but how do you get that talent? From recruiting!

Lets be honest, this season is not going to go well for us, which means it will be even harder to bring in top talent. In essence, what we have is a circle of losing games and therefore, losing recruits.

Many recruits are "kicking the tires," seeing if UCLA football is for real. It seems like a lot of top recruits have us in their top four or five schools. If Neu/Chow/Walker produce a good product on the field, they will come!

This is to be expected with USC across town and a team that hasn't consistently been great in ten years. we'll be fine, and once our coaches start making their mark we'll start keeping ALL those recruits.

The Fresno Bee and a Fresno State sports forum (BarkBoard.com) have reported that Greg Capella has committed to UCLA. I'm surprised that none of the local papers have mentioned it since, according to Scout.com, he is the top rated offensive guard in California (and #28 overall).

@CrouchingBruin: news tends to be biased towards the bad and the really exciting

anywho... I think people are expecting too much. Rick/Chow/Walker really haven't been together for that long, so one knows what to expect. Why take a chance in an unknown system when you can go down to the ghettos and play for an already winning team?

Give it a couple seasons, really.