Arizona commit Keona Wilhite 'has an incredible motor,' gives Wildcats local flavor for 2024

Not too many high schoolers are watching HGTV these days. Actually, have they ever?

There’s at least one in Tucson: Keona Wilhite, a soon-to-be senior at Salpointe Catholic and defensive end commit for Arizona’s upcoming 2024 recruiting class.

When Wilhite isn’t playing football, he’s watching HGTV, studying home designs and furnishing ideas. He’s also logged a hefty number of hours playing “Minecraft,” a popular computer game. His off-the-field hobbies veered him into pursuing architectural engineering.

“I started looking up what careers I could do with that, and I saw architectural engineering,” Wilhite. “I was like ‘OK, this is perfect.’”

It partially played a role in his commitment to the Wildcats. There were three important items that weighed on Keona Wilhite’s mind when choosing schools: Treatment of players, the engineering program and available tutors and resources to pursue his post-football career. Wilhite said “U of A checked off all my boxes.”

His relationship with Arizona’s coaching staff was the icing on the cake.

“It came down to the relationship with my coaches. At home, here at the U of A, that’s where I have the strongest relationship with my coaches,” Wilhite said. “It doesn’t feel like a coach-athlete relationship, it’s more like a friend or an uncle with my coaches.”

The 6-5, 240-pound Wilhite was the first of the barrage of commits for the Wildcats’ 2024 recruiting class, which currently has 17 players; it had seven players entering last Monday afternoon. Wilhite also held offers from UCLA, Washington, Oregon State, BYU, Nebraska, Colorado and Arizona State.

“I was happy and surprised, but mostly just happy, seeing all the other guys commit,” Wilhite said.

Location also mattered in Wilhite’s decision, according to Salpointe Catholic head coach Eric Rogers.

“Ultimately, I think it came down to, ‘We want to be home. We don’t want to keep moving around and we want to play in front of the hometown crowd,’” Rogers said. “I think the coaching staff over there did a really good job of building a really good relationship with Keona, and I think that was the difference.”

Both of Wilhite’s parents served in the Army and were stationed in California, Texas and Virginia, before residing in Tucson.

“It was fun, but it was sad sometimes, because the friendships I made didn’t last too long, because each place we stayed, we stayed there on average for two years,” Wilhite said.

Wilhite spent his underclassmen years at Santa Rita High School and Cienega, but the pandemic-influenced season that was cut short and missing time due to transferring kept Wilhite under the radar.

Wilhite’s edge-rushing counterpart on Salpointe’s defensive line in Elijah Rushing, a 6-6, 245-pound five-star prospect, brought attention to the Lancers last season and landed more eyes on Wilhite.

“It makes a big difference when you have 50 college coaches coming through your program and they’re getting a chance to see him. No one knew about him because no one had a chance to see him,” Rogers said. “When you have an Elijah Rushing, these coaches are saying ‘Oh, who’s that guy? Oh, who’s that guy?’ ... They start asking questions, and that’s how the kids get noticed.”

Said Wilhite: “When I was able to play, I showed everyone what I had to offer.”

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Rogers said Wilhite “is a guy that’s never going to take a play off. He has an incredible motor.”

“He only knows one speed and that’s Mach 1, with his hair on fire. ... I have to pull him out in practice, because we can’t get anything done offensively, when he and Elijah are in there,” Rogers said.

In recent years, Arizona has struggled to land prospects from Salpointe Catholic, one of Arizona’s top high school football programs and located less than three miles from Arizona Stadium. Notable Lancers to not sign with Arizona include Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson (Texas), safety Lathan Ransom (Ohio State), offensive linemen Matte Mele (Washington), Bruno Fina (UCLA) and Jonah Miller (Oregon), along with one-time Lancer and former Tanque Verde offensive tackle Jack Endean (Oklahoma State). Arizona also halted recruiting former UA commit Treyson Bourguet, who’s now the starting quarterback at Western Michigan.

It’s widely known that the previous coaching regime at Arizona, despite the proximity, didn’t devote as much of its recruiting efforts as, say, Texas or Ohio State.

Robinson told The Athletic in 2019, “I feel like (Arizona) should have been here a lot more. You know? ’Cause, you know, Texas and Ohio State are so far from here and they’re here all the time.”

“I constantly talk to them all the time,” he said then. “You know, I didn’t have that same feel with U of A. I’ll talk to those coaches all the time from Texas. I barely ever texted the U of A coaching staff, even the old coaching staff.”

Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch and company have changed Arizona’s approach in recruiting Tucson’s football powerhouse known for producing elite talent.

“We have a really, really good relationship right now. ... They’re getting on our campus and seeing us at 6 o’clock in the morning in our weight room to get eyeballs on our kids,” Rogers said.

Arizona could conceivably have three Lancers sign with the UA in 2024, along with Rushing and three-star offensive lineman Luis Cordova. Earlier this month, Arizona offered 2026 Salpointe defensive tackle Noah Banhie.

Wilhite said he’s taking a “more hands-off” route in recruiting Rushing to stay home and play for the Wildcats.

“I want him to make his own decision. ... It would be great, yeah, but I want him to make his own decision,” Wilhite said.

Fisch’s first official recruiting class was centered around improving Arizona’s offense, and the 2023 class bolstered its defense; with the UA already with five in-state commits, and more likely on the way, the upcoming recruiting cycle could be the year of Arizona attracting the top talent from its backyard.

“We’ve got some kids that recognize that playing at home is a special thing, too,” Rogers said.

“There’s nothing wrong with playing for the hometown crowd.”