Upland TE Devin Mahina looking to visit UCLA in fall

Devin Mahina looking to visit in fall

Four-star Upland (Calif.) tight end Devin Mahina has narrowed his college choices down to two schools, and now looks at setting up official visits to both places.

It's down to two for four-star TE, Devin Mahina.

The decision to narrow his list of choices to two was not a hard decision according to the 6-6, 220-pound prospect, and now he looks forward to the final phase of the process.

"I narrowed it down to UCLA and BYU," Mahina said. "I knew UCLA was going to be one of the schools I wanted to go to as well as BYU was one of the schools I wanted to go to, so once I got offers from both of those, I knew right away it was going to be those two schools."

Now that he has that aspect of the recruiting process set, Mahina plans to keep in touch with both coaching staffs throughout the remainder of the process and start looking at dates to set up official visits. He does have one scheduled for Jan. 12 to BYU, but may move that date around.

"I'll probably see if I can reschedule for a different time just because I'd like to see how everything works on game day," Mahina said. "I really want to go during their season, that way I can go to a game. I know I will be going to a lot of the [UCLA] home games anyway. I'll just have to talk to Coach [John] Wristen, who is my recruiting coach, and ask him when would be the best time for me to come."

Although he also held offers from the likes of Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, San Diego State and Washington State, he is comfortable with his top two and talked about what stood out about each program.

"I know that if you get a degree from UCLA, you've got it made, especially in this area," he said. "They are coming along to be a great football team as well. I like Coach [Karl] Dorrell and the rest of the coaches. Coach John Wristen is a great coach.

"I mainly just watched the Cougars when I was growing up. I'm Mormon, so it's a school for my religion and I'd feel comfortable there. Also, they have great academics and a great tradition as well."

As a junior, Mahina was named all-league on both sides of the ball after tallying 50 tackles and three sacks on defense. He played behind now Oregon State freshman John Reese at tight end during his junior season, so did not see a regular starter's share of the passes on offense.