Flip season is officially here as the Washington Huskies recruiting class lost Mater Dei defensive back CJ Lavender to the UCLA Bruins.
On X Lavender wrote, “After building a strong connection with (Khary Darlington, UCLA’s General Manager, Recruiting & Personnel) and spending valuable time with the UCLA coaching and personnel staff, I knew this was the right fit for me. I’m incredibly grateful and excited to announce my commitment to UCLA!”
Washington seemed like a good fit for him, especially He posted his official offer from Washington in early August then later that month he posted a personal video message from Washington head coach Jedd Fisch and even made it to Seattle for the Ohio State game at the end of September.
This slows or stops the recruiting bleed for the Bruins who had seen a series of decommitments take their recruiting class down to 10 pledges.
“Interim head coach Skipper isn’t acting like an interim head coach,” said RealDawg.com’s Trevor Mueller. “He’s 3-0 as a head coach and he’s added 2 commits, including the flip of Lavender from the Purple and Gold.”
Lavender has 24 total tackles and 4 interceptions for the 5-2 Mater Dei Monarchs. Despite the two losses the Monarchs are ranked 12th in the nation by MaxPreps.
He won a national championship with Mater Dei last season with current Washington quarterback Dash Beierly, but now he’s Westwood bound.
The Huskies are left with 4-star Jeron Jones, 3-star Rahsjon Duncan, 3-star Elijah Durr and 3-star Ksani Jiles. Of the 5 commits, Lavender was the only one under 6-foot and the second lowest-rated of its DBs.
