BRO Exclusive: Newest UCLA Commit William Kyle III Discusses Why He Decided to be a Bruin.
In this exclusive interview, newest UCLA commitment William Kyle III talks about why he became a Bruin, what stood out to him on his official visit, what he’ll bring to the table, and much more. This interview was made possible thanks to Men of Westwood.
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William Kyle III, the transfer center from South Dakota State, has verbally committed to UCLA.
“After my first call with the coaching staff, they absolutely knocked it out of the park,” Kyle told BRO’s Dave Woods in an exclusive Zoom interview (which we’ll publish soon). “Definitely a bright future ahead here at UCLA, and I knew it was definitely something I wanted to be a part of. I know coach emphasized how hard they work and I’m a worker myself. I see myself coming in and working really hard and competing for a national championship.”
The 6-9, 230-pounder chose UCLA over two other finalists, Nebraska, his hometown school, and Wake Forest. He also seriously considered Iowa State and Kansas State.
Kyle arrived on his UCLA official visit Monday night, and it didn’t take him long to make his commitment, committing by late Tuesday.
He officially visited Wake Forest last weekend, and the word was out that he was down to Wake Forest and Nebraska. UCLA, which had been recruiting Kyle pretty much since he entered the portal in late March, quickly booked an official visit with the athletic post directly after his Wake Forest visit. He was supposed to officially visit Nebraska this weekend.
If there’s a transfer post out there who would probably step in and be the best facsimile of Adem Bona, who left UCLA for the NBA, it’s probably Kyle. He’s a little leaner than Bona and maybe not quite as strong at this stage, but he might actually be more explosive off the floor and have similar athleticism. For South Dakota State as a sophomore, he averaged very similar numbers to Bona — 13 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game. He was Summit League Defensive Player of the Year.
He’s the No. 113rd overall transfer prospect, according to 247Sports.
A sophomore last season, he’ll have two more years of college eligibility.
With Kyle’s commitment, UCLA continues to significantly upgrade its roster talent for next season. Kyle joins 6-6 wing Kobe Johnson (USC), the No. 6-ranked transfer; 6-9 wing forward Eric Dailey
(Oklahoma State), the No. 42-ranked transfer; 6-9 wing forward Tyler Bilodeau (Oregon State), the No. 53-ranked transfer, and 6-3 combo guard Skyy Clark (Louisville), the No. 66-ranked transfer. It also is pretty well-accepted that 6-4 LMU transfer guard Dominick Harris is sewn up for UCLA.
