How Did Jack Pedersen Become A Bruin?
Early into Jack Pedersen's high school career, his coaches realized his potential. They saw the way that Jack Pedersen moved at his size and knew that he would immediately make an impact on the varsity team as a freshman. Jack Pedersen’s growth wasn’t linear and even though he didn't see the field very much early on his coaches felt what they saw in him was special and never gave up on him. With COVID-19 disrupting the flow of Jack Pedersen’s high school football career, he looked for alternative methods to make sure that he could keep his intensity on the field. The uncertainty of not having a football season his junior and even maybe his senior season led Jack to make the decision to transfer to IMG Academy in Florida to finish his high school career. After his successful junior year at IMG, Jack decided to come back to Vista Murrieta for his senior season. At his time at Vista Murrieta and IMG, Jack Pedersen raked in 22 offers from top-tier programs such as UCLA, USC, Oregon, Michigan State, Ole Miss, Florida State, and much of the PAC 12. Jack Pedersen had his mind set though, he wanted to stay home, on February 21st, 2021 Jack Pedersen made the decision to commit to UCLA to continue his academic and athletic career. UCLA looks to use Jack Pedersen in an important role in his upcoming seasons.
UCLA Bruins and Jack Pedersen
After starting 8-1 in the 2022 college football season the Bruins were ranked #9 in the country. The Bruins ended their season down the stretch 9-4 and with a #21 ranking UCLA missed out on some of their postseason hopes such as losing to their nearby rivals the USC Trojans, missing out on the Pac-12 Championship, not making the Rose Bowl, losing the Sun Bowl to University of Pittsburgh, and missing out on the college football playoffs. The disappointing end of the season hit the program hard due to the high hopes that were set on them just weeks before. Even with the disappointment this was the best record that UCLA has had since 2014 and only their 3rd year since over .500. No matter what the end of the season held for UCLA, their 8-5 season in 2021 and 9-4 season in 2022 go on to prove that the program is on the rise. With the program planning on making the move to the Big 10 in 2025, the monetary generation for the program has never been higher. The waves that UCLA is making in college football have been nationally recognized, with the program on the rise, their recruiting classes have been top 10 in the past couple of years, including Jack Pedersen. Many of the best current players have utilized the transfer portal to further improve UCLA’s roster.
