As some of the top quarterbacks on the board begin to look elsewhere, the Bruins have their sights set on a rising in-state star to join their next class of recruits.
UCLA football sent a scholarship offer to 2023 quarterback Luke Duncan on Friday, the Bay Area prospect announced on Twitter. The 6-foot-5 signal caller from Miramonte, CA, was featured at the Sacramento State Rising Stars Mega Camp, and the Bruins’ staff saw enough of Duncan at the event to take the next step in their recruitment of him.
Duncan also has offers from Cal, UPenn, San Diego State, San Jose State and UNLV, and he has received additional interest from Fresno State, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State and Yale.
The leader of Duncan’s recruitment for the past few months has apparently been Cal, as he attends high school just 10 miles from the Golden Bears’ Berkeley campus.
Duncan was in the state of Oregon on June 10th for an official visit, and he has one scheduled for Cal on June 23rd. The Golden Bears sent him his first offer after an unofficial visit to Berkeley in March, but he also visited Oregon in January, stopping by Cal, Oregon State, Fresno State and San Diego State for fall games.
However, earlier in the spring Duncan appeared at UCLA Elite Camp and also pitched at Elite 11 Regional in Las Vegas and ESPN300 Elite Underclassmen Camp.
According to 247Sports, Rivals and On3, Duncan is a three-star recruit. In the 247Sports Composite, Duncan is ranked #63 in California, #38 quarterback in the country, and #788 recruit in his class. Duncan is the No. 7 quarterback in California but is the No. 2 among those yet to announce signings.
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Duncan threw for 2,949 yards and 30 touchdowns, completed 57.0% of his passes and boasted a 147.7 passer rating for the state during his junior year at Miramonte. Duncan worked primarily as a pocket passer, but he ran 180 yards on 26 carries.
Duncan runs a 4.70-second, 40-yard dash and also has experience as a punter and kickoff specialist for the Matadors.
Coach Chip Kelly and quarterbacks coach Ryan Gunderson had offered three quarterbacks in the 2023 class before Duncan, but the Bruins weren’t exactly in the running for any of them until mid-June. Five-star player Nicholaus Iamaleava of Long Beach Poly (CA) signed for Tennessee in March, while four-star player Jaden Rashada of Pittsburg (CA) narrowed his list to five on Thursday and skipped UCLA.
Martin Luther King (MI) Five-star Dante Moore hasn’t technically announced a list of semifinalists, but Oregon, Michigan, Notre Dame and Texas A&M are considered the runaway frontrunners for him.
That left Kelly and Gunderson back at number one heading into the summer, and they appear to be laying their eggs in Duncan’s basket.
Dorian Thompson-Robinson is entering his final year of eligibility, but UCLA has two former four-star stars waiting in the wings to take over in 2023 in Ethan Garbers and Justyn Martin. Stability of time as Parker McQuarrie and Kajiya Hollawayne transferred to Independence Community College and Grambling State, respectively, early in the offseason.
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