Over winter break, 6-foot-5, 275-pound offensive lineman Baraka Beckett of Palisades traveled to Kenya to visit his grandmother. He stopped by the giraffe center in Nairobi and found himself looking up for the first time in many years while sticking out his hand to offer food pellets to his giant friends.
It's been a whirlwind of changing dreams and changing plans for Beckett, who's scheduled to sign a letter of intent with UCLA on Feb. 7. He had committed to Hawaii but decided not to sign in December.
Beckett had always wanted to play in the Pac-12 Conference.