UCLA UPDATE: UCLA INTENT ON RECRUITS SUCCESS HELPS LURE PROSPECTS.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

UCLA coaches spent two days this week watching high school games and visiting schools to evaluate videotape of prospects. And for the first time in years, they didn't have to cringe when people wanted to talk about their defense.

The Bruins have managed solid recruiting classes the last two years despite losing 15 of their last 25 games. But their lack of success on the field made it a struggle to sign players outside California and also hampered their efforts to land premier players in the weeks leading up to the early-February signing period.

If the Bruins can continue the momentum from their 4-0 start and No. 7 ranking when they play Washington this week, that should change.

``The top national guys are usually going to wait and see what kind of team you have,'' said Randy Taylor, UCLA's director of football operations. ``A lot of those guys you try to hang in there with, and when you have a great season, it makes it easier to keep their attention.''

UCLA has recruited nationally, particularly in Texas, for more than two decades. But selling out-of-state and premier players hasn't been easy the last three seasons. The Bruins lost their final two games of 1998, floundered to 4-7 in 1999 and lost their final three games last year - including their second consecutive loss to rival USC.

It's not a coincidence, then, that of the 48 high school players the Bruins have signed the last three years, only eight have been from out of state. In that span, they've lost out at the wire on such high-profile recruits as running back Julius Jones (Notre Dame), linebacker Michael Craven (Stanford), defensive lineman Travis Johnson (Florida State) and defensive end Shaun Cody (USC).

By contrast, when the Bruins won their final 10 games of 1997, they landed eight out-of-state players the next February. That 25-member class also included two premier Californians, Robert Thomas and DeShaun Foster, whom they landed just before signing day.

UCLA, which has 25 scholarships to offer next year, has already received commitments from 13 players, including two high-profile ones: Long Beach Poly tight end Marcedes Lewis and Gardena Serra defensive back Eric McNeal. One area of concern is at receiver, where an already-thin position gets thinner next year without three of their top six: Brian Poli-Dixon, Cody Joyce and Devon Reese.

The Bruins don't have a commitment from a receiver and had only one (Jacques Lazarus) in this year's class, though Junior Taylor of Tucson, Ariz., is expected to enroll once he gets a qualifying test score.

The Bruins have made some headway in addressing two other pressing needs: quarterback and defensive line.

With only one scholarship quarterback from the last three classes (John Sciarra), the Bruins got a commitment from Hart's Matt Moore and are among the contenders for two of the nation's best, Ben Olson of Thousand Oaks and Trent Edwards of Los Gatos. They're also recruiting Drew Olson of Piedmont.

While the defensive line is the Bruins' strength this season, they haven't brought in a high school lineman the last two years. Thus far, they've received commitments from Kevin Harbour of Loyola, C.J. Niusulu of Barstow and Thomas Patton of Oakland Tech. But they're also after some of the best prospects in the country: Haloti Ngata of Salt Lake City Highland, Larry Dibbles of Lancaster, Texas, and Brian Pickryl of Jenks, Okla.

The Bruins are also in on three of the better linebacker prospects in the country: Zach Latimer of Aurora, Colo., David Richard of St. Louis and Kai Parham of Virginia Beach, Va.

Among the other prime out-of-state recruits the Bruins are targeting are running back Selvin Young of Houston, cornerback Vickiel Vaughn of Plano, Texas, and Tony Ugoh of Spring, Texas.

How they close on these might depend on how they close the season. ``The present success of a program is a real thermometer,'' said linebackers coach Marc Dove, who spent Thursday and Friday looking at prospects in Texas. ``For most high school kids, it's not what you're going to do, it's what you're doing that matters. ``The premier players are going to look at the direction they perceive your program to be moving and they're going to be viewing where they fit. It kind of feeds itself.