Seven Lakes Offensive Guard Caleb Benenoch Commits to UCLA
Seven Lakes offensive guard Caleb Benenoch has seen progressively more interest in him as a player over the past year. Originally a Michigan State commit, the high three-star prospect received new offers from Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, and UCLA.
The 6-foot-5, 321-pound Benenoch decided to de-commit from Michigan State in June. After showing interest in several schools he was between two programs – Baylor and UCLA – and officially visited both campuses in recent weeks.
On Monday morning, in front of a small gathering of his fellow senior teammates at Seven Lakes, Benenoch announced his commitment. He started by thanking his teammates.
“I want to tell everybody ‘Thank you.’ Thank you for being my teammates – some of y’all for four years,” Benenoch said. “Y’all are a big part of my success. We shed blood, sweat and tears together for four years. It’s been really great being a part of this.”
He then talked about the process of choosing a school.
“As far as college goes, I committed to Michigan State a while ago, early in the process, and then opened my recruitment back up,” he said. “It’s been a long process and I’ve had a lot of fun but I want it to come to an end today. It took a lot to make this decision. I talked to my parents and prayed about it for a long time.”
Benenoch then let his intentions be known that he would be a UCLA Bruin.
“I wanted to stay closer to home so y’all can watch me play and to be close to my family and friends,” he said. “After taking all my visits, though, I’ve decided that the best option for me is to go to Westwood and play for UCLA.”
He chose to play at the Pac-12 program for several reasons but a big one was offensive line coach Adrian Klemm.
“I really just felt at home there,” he said of UCLA. “I really like the offensive line coach, coach Klemm. He played in the NFL so he knows what it takes to get there. The other offensive linemen in the class, it’s a really good class and we have a chance to be a part of something big. I’m really excited.”
Benenoch’s older brother, Josh Benenoch, plays for Baylor and the Bears also received his last visit. It was not quite enough to make up ground on UCLA though.
“It was tough to pick against Baylor and they really made me think when I visited there,” he said. “I could have played with my brother, which I haven’t done since I was a freshman, but my heart was just set on UCLA.”
Benenoch is ranked as the No. 25 offensive guard in the country and the No. 76 overall prospect in the state of Texas. He is commitment No. 19 in the class for UCLA and the seventh offensive line pledge for the Bruins.
