The Miami Hurricanes may still be in the driver's seat to land four-star wide receiver Eli Woodard out of Temecula, California, but another team has entered the mix for his commitment. Woodard has been tied to both Miami and Cal since recently de-committing from USC. While he only has an official visit lined up with Miami for this weekend, he does plan to visit at least one other school of note soon.
Woodard quote tweeted this post from Rivals by saying that he plans to take an official visit to UCLA.
I will also be taking a visit to UCLA, We are still working on a date ! https://t.co/VgK8JdNbHi
— Eli Woodard 4⭐️ (@EliWoodard_) May 25, 2026
According to the 247Sports Composite, Woodard is the No. 15 player from California, the No. 23 wide receiver in the country, and the No. 178 overall player nationally. He has 20 official offers, but it seems as though he is really only looking at Miami, Cal, and now UCLA, since de-committing from USC on May 19. One would think that Woodard will take his time in finding his new school after recent events.
What could this mean for Miami in its chances of landing a player from the other side of the country?
Miami has to view UCLA as a real threat to potentially land Eli Woodard
While it does make sense for a West Coast player like Woodard to at least see what programs like Cal and UCLA have to offer under their new coaching regimes, Bob Chesney is putting in some serious work on the recruiting trail since coming over from James Madison. He had JMU in the College Football Playoff after his second year on the job. He surprisingly took the UCLA job, but it is working.
Having a well-thought-of head coach in Southern California outside of USC certainly complicates things for programs like Miami who want to poach to prospects way outside of their geographical footprint. Again, he may just want to see what Chesney has to say. No it would not be shocking if he did end up visiting Berkeley soon to see what Cal has to offer under its new head coach in Tosh Lupoi.
Overall, Miami should still feel quite comfortable about its chances of landing Woodard. His On3/Rivals profile has him at 98.6-percent likelihood that he will end up committing to Miami. Then again, West Coast schools are nowhere to be found inside his top five when it comes to Cal and UCLA. We might seem them bubble to the surface here in a bit, but probably only just barely for him.
Read more: Miami trying to hold off Notre Dame in battle for 4-star WR from St. Thomas Aquinas
Ultimately, Miami fans should not be terribly worried here. Mario Cristobal and his staff do seem to be out to a massive lead for him. They are the only ones who have Woodard officially on the books for a scheduled visit. Of course, he only just recently de-committed from Cal. Thus, we should not expect him to commit to Miami right away. It would be smart for him to take his time, and we should accept it.
For now, Miami has to accept that Woodward now has at least one more suitor for his commitment.
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