Cooks commits to dream school

Throughout his recruitment, Brandin Cooks made it no secret that Washington was his leader but the Stockton (Calif.) Lincoln wide receiver was patiently waiting for another Pac-10 offer: UCLA.

When the Bruins recently sent an offer to Cooks, an exciting 5-foot-11 prospect, he said it was only a matter of time until he committed to his "dream school."

"I had some deep-down thoughts and it's a little closer to home but it was always my dream school growing up and it was just a matter of time when they offered." Cooks said.

"Washington is a great school and they have a great coaching staff and it came down to UCLA and the coaching staff is also great and coach (Rick) Neuheisel is really energetic. I did my research and I did my pros and cons and pluses and minuses and UCLA came out on top."

Cooks was arguably the best wide receiver at the recent Palo Alto NIKE Camp and his recruitment has exploded in the last couple months with offers from Arizona, Boise State, Cal Poly, Nevada, Oregon State, UCLA, UNLV, Utah, Washington and Washington State. Rivals.com rates Cooks as the No. 39 wide receiver nationally.

Another bonus for UCLA during Cooks' recruitment is that former Stockton Lincoln prospect Phillip Ruhl plans to walk-on for the Bruins and playing together again was something the two have talked about at length.

"I camped at UCLA last year when I was a sophomore and I'm camping next week," Cooks said.

"My best friend is Phil Ruhl, he's going there this upcoming fall and we always joked around that it's our dream to play another four years together. That played a part in it. I'll have somebody there who's like my brother."