Hutchings checks out UCLA
Michael Hutchings played in the California state bowl championship on Saturday night and then decided to take an unofficial visit to UCLA on Sunday which was even a surprise to the Bruins' coaches.
The 2013 outside linebacker from Concord (Calif.) De La Salle only informed the new UCLA staff he wanted to tour the campus on his way over and Hutchings said they were more than willing to show him around
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"It was beautiful," Hutchings said. "The campus was nice, the facilities were nice and they're redoing some parts of the school but it was really nice down there.
"They were more than happy to take me around the campus and show me everything. I just stopped by. I happened to call and I told them I was on campus and they didn't know I was there. They were pretty excited to see me on campus."
One of the top juniors in the state of California, Hutchings said he had a chance to talk with some assistant coaches and briefly with coach Jim Mora but he plans to return in the spring to chat more with UCLA's first-year coach.
A handful of UCLA coaches - including Mora - were at the Home Depot Center on Saturday night to watch De La Salle's 35-0 victory over Westlake.
"I'll be back in the spring and I'll be able to talk to them plenty more," Hutchings said.
"They were pushing a little bit because there were four or five of them at the game. They were happy I was on campus. I was going to go to take some pictures and look around but they were in the office and I caught them by surprise a little bit."
UCLA, USC, Cal, Washington and Oregon is an early top five for Hutchings, who said he's happy to have an extra season in high school just to sit back and watch how the Bruins play in the first season under Mora.
USC remains the early favorite but UCLA is within striking distance.
"I'm very happy that I have an extra year to sit back and see how he does things in his first year," Hutchings said.
"I'm glad that I'm not in the 2012 class because then you're kind of just gambling with that coaching staff to see what they're about. I can sit back next year and grade their performance a little bit."