Mora has sights on top-10 class for UCLA

The 8-clap. It's a form of celebration for the UCLA Bruins. When things are going well at a Bruins sporting event, the fans will break out into the 8-clap. New UCLA football coach Jim L. Mora spoke to Bruins fans at a basketball game recently and sought their tutelage on how to 8-clap. In the world of recruiting, it's a win. Whenever UCLA offensive line coach Adrian Klemm gets a verbal commitment from a player, he goes to Twitter. His tweet: "8-clap." It seemed as if 8-clap has been a trending topic recently. Six days away from National Signing Day, the Bruins currently have 25 verbal commits and a class that is ranked 10th in the country by Scout.com. Mora, a rookie in the world of college recruiting, made expert recruiters his first hires to get the ball rolling. The two most important on the recruiting trail are Klemm, who came from SMU and secondary coach Demetrice Martin, who joined the staff from Washington. Martin is partly responsible for the Bruins biggest flip yet, five-star defensive tackle Ellis McCarthy from Monrovia. McCarthy is one of two major commits to flip their allegiance to UCLA in the last 10 days. Earlier this month, McCarthy announced his commitment to Cal on national TV at the Army All-American Game. That changed when former Cal defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi, who recruited McCarthy, left for Washington. McCarthy is considered the best player in the state, regardless of position. Vista Murrieta defensive end Jeremy Castro was an Oregon commit since October. Before that, he was committed to Washington. He flipped to UCLA last Sunday. Klemm, who's made a name for himself as a top shelf recruiter, has been able to get verbals from Oaks Christian defensive back Ishmael Adams, Mission Viejo offensive lineman Colby Cyburt, Esperanza offensive lineman Carl Hulick, and Kenny Orijoke from Georgia. As Signing Day nears, some targets for Klemm include Oaks Christian wide receiver Jordan Payton and St. John Bosco wide receiver Bryce Treggs. Both are committed to Cal but are considering UCLA. Dorsey linebacker Jeremiah Allison is a Klemm target as well. His final choices are Washington State, Nevada, UCLA, and Duke. Fourteen of the 25 have committed since Mora was named head coach last December.At the top of the class is one five-star recruit, McCarthy, and four four-star recruits according to Scout.com. Of the four stars --Adams, Castro, La Habra linebacker Aaron Porter, and cornerback Marcus Rios of Elk Grove -- only Porter was a commit under former head coach Rick Neuheisel. If this class remains intact, Bruins fans will definitely have something to 8-clap about come Feb. 1.