Four-star makes the call
It came down to two for the services of four-star running back, Malcolm Jones (6-1, 210, 4.6) from Westlake Village (Calif.) Oaks Christian. The two schools were UCLA and Stanford. The talented running back has made his decision.
"It's UCLA," Oaks Christian coach Bill Redell said. "He felt really comfortable with UCLA, liked the atmosphere and liked Coach Rick Neuheisel."
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The Bruins win this tough recruiting battle over Stanford. Jones had offers from the likes of Arizona, Cal, Oregon, USC, Colorado, Oklahoma and Notre Dame.
There is pretty good reason why there were so many of the nation's top programs recruiting Jones. In an earlier interview with Redell, he had the following to say about his running back.
"Malcolm has it all for a running back," Redell said. "He has size, strength, speed and quickness. He is also outstanding out of the backfield catching the football."
Jones reminds some of former Oaks Christian and current USC running back Marc Tyler. Jones may be taller than Tyler, but both players have about the same speed and can run with power and take it to the house.
In four games as a senior, Jones has helped Oaks Christian to a perfect 4-0 record while rushing for 870 yards and nine touchdowns with a 6.1 yards-per-carry average with a long run of 69 yards. He also has five catches for 35 yards and one receiving touchdown.
Also a star on defense, Jones has racked up 24 tackles, one sack and pass defended from his linebacker spot.
As a junior, Jones earned League Player of the Year, Area Offensive Player of the Year, Coach's County Offensive Player of the Year, Section CIF Offensive Player of the Year, all sections first-team all-CIF and first-team all-state.
Jones rushed for 1,504 yards and 26 touchdowns as a junior while averaging 10.1 yards per rush. The complete back, Jones is also a dangerous threat catching the ball out of the backfield. He ended up with 20 receptions for 340 yards and six more touchdowns with an average of 17 yards per catch.
The Bruins get a player in Jones, who earned a spot on the Rivals.com Rivals100 for the class of 2010 and is ranked as the nation's No. 78 prospect at any position. He was also selected to the Rivals.com California Preseason Top 100 landing as the Golden State's No. 12 prospect at any position.