UCLA football recruiting: Klemm suspension could have huge effect on Pac-12 recruiting

Adrian Klemm is the offensive line coach at UCLA, but also holds the title of running game coordinator and associate head coach.

Those additional titles mean little when it comes to responsibilities, but they mean a whole lot more when it comes to pay. Those titles are why Klemm is paid $750,000 a year. And he's paid that much and has those titles primarily because of one thing: recruiting.

Klemm finished as the 19th ranked recruiter in the nation in 2015 according to 247Sports and was also listed in the top 25 recruiters nationally by Rivals.com. The only coaches in the Pac-12 ranked above him by 247Sports coach at that other school in LA.

That's the same other school in LA that tried to woo him away from the Bruins when Steve Sarkisian was hired. That's the same Sarkisian that stole defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi away from Cal when he was at Washington. And why? Because 'crootin.

Head coaches know that recruiting is the lifeblood of a college football program and it's why Klemm was a coach that Sarkisian wanted to steal away and why Jim Mora wanted to do everything he could to keep him. It's also why Klemm getting suspended for alleged and undisclosed NCAA rules violations is a huge deal that could have ripple effects in recruiting throughout the conference.

So far, there have been no details about what happened with Klemm and the alleged violations. All we have right now is speculation. With that in mind, there is no way to know how this could possibly affect UCLA in terms of potential repercussions against the program. What we do know is that this is definitely going to affect the Bruins recruiting in the interim.

Klemm was primarily responsible for landing a great offensive line class that included blue chip prospects Andre James, Josh Wariboko, Fred Ulu-Perry, and Tevita Halalilo. He's also the Bruins primary recruiter in Texas and played a big part in the recruitment of 5 star running back Soso Jamabo. Without Klemm, it's doubtful that UCLA would have been in the mix for most of these players. That's the kind of impact he has as a recruiter.

With him now on the sidelines for what could be an indefinite length of time, the door is now open for other programs to make up some ground versus the Bruins. 2016 offensive line recruits like Frank Martin (Mater Dei), Jonah Williams (Folsom), Nathan Smith (Mesa), and Luke Wattenberg (J Serra Catholic) are all 4 star prospects from California with UCLA offers. No matter where they are in their recruiting process, this puts the UCLA part of that process on pause and the longer the suspension lasts, the worse it is going to end up being for the Bruins. The other Pac-12 programs recruiting these kids immediately will get a boost because of this.

For the Texas kids that UCLA recruits, this may not have a direct effect on Pac-12 schools because not many of them have done as well in Texas in the last few years. In terms of overall talent though, this could be a big blow. Klemm was able to go in and help land Jamabo, 4 star linebacker Zack Whitly, and 4 star wide receiver Eldridge Massington out of Texas the last few cycles. With USC re-establishing recruiting dominance in California again, UCLA needs to keep landing blue chip out of state talent to keep up with, or stay ahead of, the Trojans.

There is a still a lot of unknown with what's going to happen with this situation. What we do know is that Klemm is going to be on the shelf when it comes to recruiting. That's bad news for the Bruins, but an opportunity for the rest of the Pac-12 to take advantage of.