Caleb Benenoch recruiting updates: Decision nearing, but is there a leader?

A consensus four-star prospect, the 6’5, 320-pounder is considered one of the 20 best offensive guards in the nation and one of the top 50 players in the state of Texas by the 247Sports composite rankings. He held offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, Auburn, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M and West Virginia, among many others.

As a prospect, Benenoch is rather raw. He has the size to play outside at tackle, but projects as a guard because he doesn’t have the foot speed in pass protection to deal with edge rushers. With his height on the interior, he will have to work on making sure that he comes off the ball low and with a flat back in college or he will have trouble with quicker defensive tackles who can get under his shoulder pads.

There were no hat games for the 6-6, 320-pounder, who chose the Bruins over his other three finalists -- Baylor, Oklahoma, and Texas.

More than all the other commits along the line, the decision from Benenoch was a little bit surprising because he had only made one visit out to California to visit the Bruins. Though it is hardly an absolute fact in recruiting, prospects that have made multiple visits to schools are generally more likely to commit to those schools than a school they have only visited once on an official visit.

After visiting Baylor over the weekend, 2013 Katy (TX) Seven Lakes offensive lineman Caleb Benenoch said that he was planning on making a decision this week. On Wednesday, he revealed that his long-awaited announcement will happen just a little bit later than previously expected:

As mentioned, the decision will come down to Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas, and UCLA, all schools that have received visits from Benenoch this fall.

The 6-6, 320-pounder expects to declare a choice by the end of the week and is down to four finalists -- Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas, and UCLA. If he has a leader, he has not been willing to share that information with the public in recent weeks.

There was a major appeal to his trip to Waco, however:

What kid wouldn’t want to take in a game at the Mecca of college football, the Rose Bowl?

Count 2013 Katy (TX) Seven Lakes offensive lineman Caleb Benenoch as one of those kids who did -- the coveted mauler made his way out to see the rising UCLA program under Jim Mora, Jr. suffer a loss to Stanford.

It will be the sole opportunity for UCLA to make an impression on Benenoch, who plans on making a decision soon after he gets back to the state of Texas. The Bruins entered his recruitment in September when they extended an offer, even though seven of the 19 commits in the current UCLA class are offensive line prospects.

The Longhorns have been the leaders since offering in the summer, with only a brief stretch in September when they were de-throned before regaining pole position following a trip for the West Virginia. An offer from Oklahoma shortly after Texas entered the picture for the former Michigan State commit helped the Sooners until they took a hit based on Benenoch’s assessment of the school’s academic reputation. Baylor is also in the mix.

Favorites: LSU, Texas A&M

The Skinny: Committed to Texas from February until June, Seals-Jones opened up his recruitment at that time before being rather inexplicably dropped by the Longhorns in the middle of September.

Following the Texas A&M-Florida game back in September, Benenoch had dropped his long-time leaders from their perch atop his list.

The 6-6, 320-pounder had a glowing review of his experience ($):