Roquan Smith says Jeff Ulbrich told him he turned down Falcons job

Macon County (Ga.) High’s Roquan Smith said that Jeff Ulbrich told him that he had turned down a job offer from the Atlanta Falcons the day before national college football letter of intent signing day.

Smith told a Rivals.com website that Ulbrich reached out to him on Feb. 3, the day before signing day, and told him that “[New Falcons Coach] Dan Quinn had called him and he denied the job.”

Ulbrich officially stepped down as UCLA’s defensive coordinator on Sunday. Smith has said he won’t sign a letter of intent, but will announce what school he will attend on Friday.

Smith, one of the top high school linebackers in the nation, committed to UCLA on signing day but declined to submit his signed letter after Fox Sports reported that Ulbrich had taken a job with the Falcons. Ulbrich denied the report that day, saying that nothing had been agreed upon or signed. UCLA Head Coach Jim Mora supported that assertion.

Smith told UGAsports.com, a pro-Georgia Bulldogs website, that “UCLA coaches have apologized.

“I felt like Coach Mora should have hit me up and said there’s potential that Coach Ulbrich may be leaving,” Smith said. “Then they tried to get me to go ahead and send the papers in, but I wasn’t doing it. They tried to get me to send them in at 8 in the morning.”

Now Smith said he’s “doing a lot of research, which I should have done earlier in the process. And thank goodness I had more time -- they don’t even have my major. I was going to major in business, and the only way to get into business school out there is to be in graduate school.”

Mora and UCLA officials are not allowed to talk about recruits who have not signed letters of intent.

The Falcons did not reply to a request for comment from Ulbrich.