4-star edge rusher flips UCLA commitment to head to Ohio State

A tough loss for UCLA.

4-star edge rusher Epi Sitanilei committed to UCLA back in June but on Wednesday Sitanilei flipped to the Ohio State Buckeyes.

It’s not hard to imagine why Sitanilei might want to join the 10-2 school that’s produced six NFL first round picks over the last three years but it will sting for the Big Ten rival Bruins. 

“All glory to God – I’m home! Go Bucks!” Sitanilei, the Bellflower, California native posted on Twitter Wednesday. 

Sitanilei visited UCLA back in May months before initially committing to the Bruins. Ohio State then hosted Sitanilei over the weekend on an official visit which did enough to win over his commitment. 

Sitanilei is ranked as the #21 prospect in California according to On3’s Industry Rankings and is ranked as their #28 edge rusher. Before flipping to Ohio State, Sitanilei was the Bruins’ highest ranked in their 2025 class.

 National recruiting director for Rivals.com Adam Gorney called Sitanilei said that “Maybe no DE has a higher ceiling than Epi Sitanilei in this recruiting class.”