Bob Chesney and UCLA get huge recruiting win by landing 5-star George Toia

The UCLA Bruins have picked up easily the biggest commitment, so far, of the Bob Chesney era.

Despite facing a ton of major competition, namely the Texas Tech Red Raiders, Texas Longhorns, Oregon Ducks, LSU Tigers and Oklahoma Sooners, Chesney and the Bruins have picked up one of the top defensive line recruits in the country.

That would be George Toia, a 4-star defensive lineman from Trophy Club, Texas.

Toia is ranked as the No. 8 defensive lineman in the 2027 class, according to the 247Sports Composite.

His older brother, Jay Toia, played at UCLA and was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft. This was a commitment Chesney and the Bruins won fair and square, though.

“I’m excited to be coming back home to Cali,” Toia said, via Greg Biggins of Rivals. “I really believe in coach Chesney and his vision for the program. UCLA is a totally different program right now and this staff is going to turn things around.”

Interestingly enough, Toia revealed that UCLA wasn’t even on his radar as recently as just a few months ago. The hiring of Chesney made a big difference with him, clearly.