Arizona's recruiting for the 2017 cycle has (finally) calmed down, at least in terms of commitments.
The Wildcats last commit came on July 11 when three-star receiver Darrian McNeal (Armwood HS/Seffner, Florida) announced his verbal to Arizona.ย
So Arizona sits at 21 (!) commitments for 2017 as July nears its end, and it wouldn't be surprising if the Wildcats added another (or multiple) sometime this weekend or into next week, as Arizona is hosting a handful of recruits this weekend. (Most notably, the star Augustus Hawkins trio of committed athlete Greg Johnson, five-star receiver Joseph Lewis and 2018 receiver Jalen Hall, but I wouldn't expect any news from them.)
For the first time in a couple months, I was able to chat with UA coach Rich Rodriguezย (away from the hubbub of the Pac-12 Media Days press conferences) about recruiting and the momentum the Wildcats have built in getting so many early commitments.ย
His reaction?
"I keep saying, we donโt want to have that many already coming in," Rodriguez said at Pac-12 Media Days in Hollywood. "But, every guy thatโs committed you look at and say โweโd do it all over again.'
"The new staff being aggressive, weโve got a lot of momentum and I think, who knows, a couple years down the road weโll know for sure, but weโre probably putting together the best recruiting class Arizona has ever had," he added. "Thatโs kind of exciting."ย
It's at the point where the Wildcats could almost put together a fully-functioning line-up of commitments across the board, especially on defense. Although โ and I've said this a few times โ don't focus too much on that No. 21. It's entirely possible the team goes even over the usual 25 spots in the early going, but that's not necessarily how the final class will look.ย
Here's a position-by-position breakdown of the 2017 class based on where the players are projected to play in college.
QB: Braxton Burmeister, Rhett Rodriguez
RB: Nathan Tilford
WR/TE: Brian Casteel, Drew Dixon, Warren Jackson, Darrian McNeal, Bryce Wolma, Bryce Gilbert
OL: Cody Shear, Edgar Burrola
DL: Bryce Brand, Elijah Watson, Kurtis Brown
LB: Josh Brown, Tony Fields, Kylan Wilborn
CB: Greg Johnson, Malik Hausman
S: Rhedi Short, Scott Young, Xavier Bell
