When Rich Rodriguez was hired by Arizona in 2012, he didn’t have much of a recruiting footprint in the West.
At West Virginia, most of his recruits came from Florida, West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
At Michigan, they came from Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
At Arizona, Rodriguez has continued to dabble in some of those areas, specifically Michigan and Florida, and that’s all well and good, as Pac-12 Networks analyst Yogi Roth put it, but for Arizona the focus needs to be in the West.
More specifically, California.
Even more specifically: Southern California.
“They have to,” Roth said. “There’s no choice.”
Roth cited this statistic: 123 signees, on average, per year come from the area spanning the area from Fresno south to San Diego.
On the flip side, just 32, on average, hail from north of Fresno.
“Like, that’s gnarly. That’s gnarly,” Roth said. “Think about it: if you’re not in SoCal, where are you? You’re dead. You’re not in anywhere.”
Since Rodriguez arrived, he’s certainly learned the importance of Southern California, and that’s largely what led the UA coach to a complete revamp of his defensive coaching staff. He hired Marcel Yates, a defensive coordinator with relationships in the area from his time recruiting for Boise State and Texas A&M. He also hired San Jose State’s Donte Williams, an up-and-coming assistant coach and impressive recruiter, born and raised in the Inland Empire.
It paid quick dividends — before the season even started, the Wildcats already had 26 players committed, most of them from Southern California. The big one — four-star athlete Greg Johnson — committed in March because of Williams.
He also decommitted in December because of Williams, who left for Nebraska less than a year after being hired.
Despite his loss, Arizona has — so far — been able to maintain most of the players who initially came to UA at least in part because of Williams. That includes: linebacker Joshua Brown, safety Rhedi Short, safety Scott Young, receiver Brian Casteel and safety Xavier Bell.
“It was surprising when he left, but you know, he made a business move and I can’t hold that against him,” Young said of Williams. “He made a decision that was best for him.”
All told, Arizona has 12 players from Southern California committed for 2017, a number that could rise between now and Wednesday’s signing day as the Wildcats pursue defensive lineman Chris Green and punter Ryan Stonehouse.
“They’re coming off a 3-9 season, they lost Donte Williams,” Roth said. “A lot the players, if you go back and study them, a majority of them said he was a huge reason why they were interested in this university, and they still didn’t lose a majority of them.
“To me, that speaks to the staff.”
So, in the early going, did Rodriguez accomplish what he set out to when he revamped the staff last year? Has Arizona recruited better in California?
According to Scout.com, from California the Wildcats have one four-star (running back Nathan Tilford) and nine three-star recruits. Two of those players are ranked in the Top 25 at their position (Tilford is the No. 24 running back, Colin Schooler is the No. 22 inside linebacker).
In 2016, the Wildcats had eight players from California, with two four-star recruits (Khalil Tate and Chacho Ulloa) and six three-stars. Three players were ranked in the top 25 at their position.
In 2015, Arizona had eight recruits from California, zero four-star recruits and six three-star recruits, with none of them ranked at the top 25 at their position.
For 2014, the Wildcats brought in 13 players from California, three of them were rated four-stars (Jamardre Cobb, Marquis Ware and Nick Wilson), nine were three-star recruits and two were in the top 25 at their position.
In 2013, Rodriguez’s first Arizona recruiting class, with a full year of work, brought in 14 players from California, the biggest California class for the UA since 2006. This one included two four-stars (Pierre Cormier, Derek Babiash) and nine three-star recruits, with two players rated in the top 25 at their position.
Finally, in 2012, Arizona had six recruits from California, none were rated four-stars, all were three-stars and one (Beau Boyster) was rated in the top 25 at his position.
Toward the end of his Arizona tenure, coach Mike Stoops received some criticism for not hitting California quite as hard. In 2006, though, Stoops reeled in a class of 14 players from the state, and it included two five-star recruits and four four-stars. Most of them didn’t pan out, but Arizona would kill for a class like that now.
In terms of quality players likely to compete for immediate playing time, Rodriguez seems to be making progress, even if it’s incremental, and not quite at the level it was when both Johnson and four-star quarterback Braxton Burmeister, who since flipped to Oregon, were still committed to Arizona.
Bruce Rollinson has been coaching at Mater Dei — in Santa Ana, California — for nearly 30 years, and said Arizona has always done well in the area, though he has noticed a renewed effort from Rodriguez and his staff.
“Obviously the stability of the program has gone up and down over the years and the coaches coming and going,” Rollinson said. “I commend them. They always made a concerted effort to try and get players, to get elite players, out of Southern California.”
Extra points
The Wildcats added a handful of players from the 2017 class as “preferred walk-ons” over the weekend. Among them: Tucson High receiver Tyree Pierson and Mountain View receiver Isaiah Lovett.
