ESPN West recruiting Blog

Posted by Greg Biggins

There haven't been too many big recruiting surprises this year, but a huge one happened Wednesday night. Carson (Calif.) tight end and Under Armour All-American Morrell Presley, the nation's top player at his position, switched his commitment from USC to UCLA just three days after his official visit to Troy.

Just a few weeks ago, there were plenty of rumors that Presley's commitment to USC was on the soft side. He had stopped attending USC home games, was no longer doing a lot of interviews and then took an official visit to UCLA the weekend the Bruins played host to USC.

Furthermore, I heard from a handful of recruits who were at UCLA that same weekend mention Presley was leaning to the Bruins. There was even a rumor that the tight end committed to UCLA on his visit.

But Presley's father, Steven Hawkins, said Presley's commitment to USC looked pretty solid after a home visit from Trojans coach Pete Carroll, which came a week after Presley's visit to UCLA. His father added he's be surprised if he ended up elsewhere.

With an official visit upcoming to USC and the opportunity to hang out with future Trojans quarterback Matt Barkley, it looked like this race was over. Presley did visit Troy last weekend and by all accounts, had a very good visit.

But a few days later Presley decided to make the switch.

"I just felt more comfortable at UCLA," Presley told the L.A. Daily News. "I've liked UCLA for a long time and I just felt like UCLA was the better overall fit for me."

The commitment of Presley is huge for UCLA. The Bruins have lacked a serious big play threat on offense ever since Maurice Jones-Drew left for the NFL three years ago and their best tight end prospect since Marcedes Lewis, who won the Mackey Award in 2005 and owns holds the UCLA record for receiving yards and TDs by a tight end. It fills a big position of need and with Presley graduating early (last day of class at Carson was Wednesday) and enrolling in time for spring ball, he'll have a legitimate chance to make an early impact as a true freshman.

The fact that UCLA was able to steal a big-time recruit from their cross-town rivals can't be underestimated either. USC has dominated in-state recruiting for the last five years and ironically, with Presley's help, was able to steal then UCLA commit Byron Moore back in the summer.

Of course now that Presley has committed, there will be speculation that Moore could jump ship as well. But that's not as likely. Presley grew up a UCLA fan and committed early to USC in part because the former UCLA staff was slow to recruit him.

Moore, on the other hand, grew up a diehard Trojans fan and committed to UCLA when it didn't look like USC was going to offer him.

This likely won't be the last battle between these two schools as USC is hoping to get a visit out of UCLA commit Stan Hasiak and UCLA is hoping to do the same with receiver De'von Flournoy.

Moten pulls the trigger
Narbonne (Harbor City, Calif.) athlete Josh Moten became the first commit for new Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian when he announced for the Huskies late Wednesday night

Moten had Sarkisian in for a home visit where the Huskies put a scholarship on the table. It didn't take long for the athlete to jump on it.

"He committed almost right away," Narbonne recruiting coordinator Byron Moore Sr. said. "They offered him as an athlete and Josh has the ability to play a number of positions in college. He's a heck of a quarterback but will likely end up at receiver or defensive back."

Moten was just offered by Colorado last week and several other schools had come in to the picture as well. The dual threat quarterback led the Gauchos to the L.A City championship and was recently named to the first team all-city squad.