Five-star forward recruit T.J. Leaf from Foothills Christian High (El Cajon) signed his national letter of intent with UCLA Thursday with SDSU and Oregon coming in second place for his services.
Leaf, ranked the No. 13 prospect of the class of 2016 by ESPN, had verbally committed to Arizona, but backed out of that commitment this past August.
After that, it came down to UCLA, SDSU and Oregon, with UCLA seemingly being the favorite due to Leaf’s familiarity with players on the team and relationship with coach Steve Alford.
“Every time I go there, it just felt like home. I just did a lot of thinking and prayer about it, and I just feel like that’s where I’m supposed to be,” Leaf said to ESPNU shortly after his announcement.
Leaf had the Aztec faithful hopeful as he showed up to his announcement on ESPNU wearing a red and black tie, seemingly a precursor to the school he was going to choose.
TJ Leaf wears a red and black tie to his live ESPNU announcement … and then picks UCLA.
— Mark Zeigler (@sdutzeigler) November 12, 2015
TJ Leaf is trolling SDSU haaaaard with that tie.
— Sleeveless (Show) (@NoSleeves4You) November 12, 2015
The Aztecs’ only national letter of intent signed so far by the class of 2016 came from 6-foot-9, four-star prospect Jalen McDaniels from Federal High in Tacoma.
We saw him in the spring and liked him,” Fisher said to the San Diego Union Tribune. “He played on a heck of an AAU team”