ESPN West recruiting Blog

Posted by Greg Biggins

Defensive back Cullen Christian (Pittsburgh Pa./Penn Hills) took an official visit to UCLA in mid-October and the buzz from his time in Westwood was still prevalent a few weeks later.

"I had a great trip, I really liked it there," Christian said. "Coach [Rick] Neuheisel showed all the recruits a lot of love and I liked him a lot. He had us over at his house for dinner one night and gave us a personal tour of the campus, which you don't see a lot of head coaches doing.

"The game atmosphere was cool too and I like the Pac-10. Everyone was really pumped up and I could tell all the other recruits like Lache Seastrunk (Temple, Texas/Temple) were really feeling the visit and everything about UCLA as well."

Christian added that he likes the direction the Bruins program is headed in.

"I see how hard they work and I think they're on their way to being a good program," Christian said. "They have a real young team and I can definitely see them getting back to prominence. I really liked the guys on the team a lot and I got a good feeling that everyone there is on the same page and striving hard to get better.

"Distance will not be a factor for me at all. UCLA is definitely in the mix for me and I would put them in my top three along with Michigan and West Virginia. I still have three visits to take over the next three weeks and I'm going to Pitt, Ohio State and Michigan. I like UCLA a lot though. I think I would have a great shot to play early there and that's a huge factor for me."

Washington enjoys Arizona

Defensive lineman Tony Washington (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Los Osos) took his third official visit this year to Arizona this past weekend. The lineman has already visited UTEP and Oregon with one final visit left before it's decision time.

"I liked Arizona a lot," Washington said. "Overall, it was just a great experience for me. I liked the campus, the city of Tucson and I like the coaches a lot as well. The team is playing well and coach [Mike] Stoops is known as a good defensive coach.

"My trip to Oregon was really good, but I would put the visit to UA right up there with it. The only downside was I didn't get to spend a lot of time with the players and I was hoping to do that. I met a few of the players but I wasn't around the team, as a whole, very much.

"Right now, I'm pretty confused and don't really know what I'm going to do. "I have my Oregon State visit set for [Nov. 10] and that will likely be my final trip. I'm just weighing all my options, but I really have no idea where I want to go."