Recruiting attention heats up for Newbury Park's Brady Smigiel, offered by UCLA on Tuesday
Jaime Jaquez Jr., Gabriela Jaquez and Maya Brady have all successfully made the move to Westwood in recent years.
Will Brady Smigel be next local star in Bruins’ blue and gold?
The Newbury Park sophomore quarterback was offered a scholarship by UCLA football on Tuesday morning, shortly after head coach Chip Kelly observed the Panthers’ early morning workout.
“It was cold and wet and he ripped it,” said Newbury Park head coach Joe Smigiel, Brady’s father.
Billy Fessler, UCLA new quarterbacks coach, officially made the offer via phone later in the morning.
The Star’s All-County Offensive Player of the Year became the first quarterback, and only second player, from the Class of 2026 offered by UCLA, according to BruinReportOnline.com.
The Bruins have also offered 6-foot-6 IMG Academy offensive tackle Keenyi Pepe, who is — like Smigiel — rated as a four-star recruit, according to 247Sports.com.
This will be a busy month for Smigiel, who is scheduled to attend junior days at Notre Dame and Oregon over the next two weekends, respectively.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, Michigan quarterback coach Kirk Campbell and Penn State assistant Danny O’Brien are expected to observe Wednesday’s practice at Newbury Park.
All three schools are among the 26 schools who have offered the 6-foot-5 quarterback, who broke the Ventura County records for touchdown passes in a season and career last fall.
Colorado, Florida State, Georgia, Mississippi, Oregon and Utah are also on that list. Miami and Boston College also joined the list this week.
Smigiel was named second-team All-State and second-team Sophomore All-America by MaxPreps.com last month, after he completed 282 of 479 passes for 4,222 yards and a state-best 52 touchdowns for the CIF-Southern Section Division 5 finalist Panthers.
Smigiel is currently the No. 30-ranked football recruit nationally, and the second-ranked quarterback, in the Class of 2026 by 247Sports.com.
Joe Curley covers high school, collegiate and professional football for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcsjoecurley on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Newbury Park quarterback Brady Smigiel secures UCLA scholarship offer
