UCLA’s 2027 recruiting class just got a little more locked in.
Consensus four-star safety Khalil Terry, who committed to the Bruins in April after being flipped from Notre Dame, is shutting down his recruitment, according to a report Monday. Rivals has Terry ranked as the 340th prospect nationally, the 30th safety, and the 30th player in California.
Terry is a big piece of what UCLA is building in the secondary. He’s one of three four-star safeties in the Bruins’ 2027 class, alongside Lawndale Leuzinger’s Pole Moala and Sierra Canyon’s Myles Baker. UCLA also holds a safety commitment from another four-star prospect in that group, giving the class real depth at the position.
The class itself is sitting 17th nationally and fifth in the Big Ten in the Rivals rankings.
At Tustin High School, Terry has shown he can impact the game on both sides of the ball. As a junior, he logged 33 carries for 261 yards and four touchdowns on offense, while also piling up 62 tackles, 5.0 tackles for loss, and one sack on defense, according to MaxPreps.
He’s listed at 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, which is average size for a safety. Moala checks in at 6-foot-0, 165 pounds, and Baker is 6-foot-1, 200 pounds.
UCLA’s pass defense was one of the steadier parts of the team in 2025. The Bruins finished 35th nationally by allowing 196.6 passing yards per game. They were 117th in completion percentage allowed at 66.0 percent, 118th in passer rating against at 147.56, and 70th in yards per pass attempt allowed at 7.2.
Terry explained what drew him to UCLA in an interview with Rivals, saying, “I was really starting to think about it and I went to go see a practice and I felt how different it was and you could just tell things were definitely changing... Just his winning culture...
I know what he’s bringing to UCLA and UCLA is just a great place...all the energy and the juice they bring and I could tell they love football... It just attracted me and I could tell they’re building something special."
Hudson Standish, a 247Sports National Analyst, described Terry as an "instinctive and versatile playmaker with three years of starting experience in multiple roles." Standish also said Terry has "Superb ball skills at the catch point."
That versatility shows up in how Terry plays. He can work near the line of scrimmage as a slot corner, but he also brings the kind of open-field tackling that makes him useful all over the field. Standish projects him as a high-floor player who can start for multiple years and has NFL Draft potential.
For Bob Chesney, Terry is another important building block. The new UCLA head coach has the Bruins in position to sign their first top-20 class since 2018, and he has never had a losing record in 16 seasons as a head coach. The 2027 group is starting to look like the foundation for whatever comes next in Westwood.
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