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football Edit

Stevens no longer committed

After committing to UCLA this past weekend, Hemet (Calif.) offensive lineman Hamani Stevens faced a lot of questions about how solid his commitment really was. Stevens took an unofficial visit to UCLA earlier today and now says he is no longer committed anywhere.
Stevens, 6-3, 280 pounds is one of the elite linemen in the West this year. He was the top overall prospect we saw at the NIKE Camp in Oregon and although that might not impress anyone, he would have also been the top offensive lineman at the Nike Camp at Stanford, a camp that had some pretty good talent there.
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Stevens made a commitment to UCLA last weekend but made some interesting comments in several of post-commitment stories. The recurring theme Stevens seemed to mention was he felt pressured in to making the commitment and he still was open to other schools despite his commitment.
Today, the lineman drove down to UCLA a long with his parents to talk about his commitment and get on the same page with the Bruin coaches.
"We had a great meeting, I was very happy with how things went," Stevens said. "Where I'm at now is I'm no longer committed anywhere. I told them that I just didn't feel ready when I committed but that I didn't want to risk losing a spot there.
"Coach Dorrell and Coach Connelly were really cool and re-assured me that they would be happy to take a commitment from at any time and no matter what, they would still have a spot for me. That was good to hear and it takes a lot of the pressure off that I was feeling.
"Coach Dorrell told me he thinks I'm the kind of player that you can build a program around and also said they have a big need at center and guard and I could come in and compete for time right away. He said they only have a handful of scholarships left but said there's about four or five players that they like enough to take no matter when they wanted to commit.
"So right now, I'm not committed to UCLA but I still see myself committing there before the summer is over. I still plan to make a commitment before the school year so I can just focus on my senior season and doing well in the classroom. I know a lot of people are saying that as soon as USC offers me, I'm just going to commit there on the spot but that won't happen.
"My parents made a point to tell the coaches today that they both really want me to go to UCLA and they think that's the best place for me. USC is a great school and it would be big to get an offer from them but I'm really leaning towards to UCLA right now."
As for still taking other official visits, Stevens backed off that a bit as well.
"I'm going to leave that up to UCLA," Stevens said. "I want to take some visits just to see some new places but it wouldn't be because I really have a sincere interest in anyone else. I'm going to talk with the coaches at UCLA about that though. If they're fine with it, I'll take some trips but if they're not comfortable with it, that's fine too and I'll be fine with just taking my one visit to UCLA."
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