The top Tucson football recruit in a few years won't be staying in the Old Pueblo, it seems.
Monday, Salpointe Catholic offensive lineman Matteo Mele announced his verbal commitment to play at Washington. Mele picked the Huskies over offers from Arizona, Oregon, Oklahoma, UCLA, Arizona State and others.
Mountan View defensive lineman Kai Golden also made his college decision on Monday, announcing his verbal to Air Force, though Golden did not hold an offer from the Wildcats.
In a post on Twitter, Mele wrote that he is "extremely excited to announce that I am shutting down my recruitment and am 100 (percent) committed to the University of Washington."
Mele is the highest-rated local recruit since Cam Denson signed with Arizona out of Salpointe in 2014. Mele is rated a four-star recruit, according to Scout.com, and ranked the 22nd-best offensive tackle in the country, No. 3 in the West and No. 1 in Arizona.
Should Mele stick to his Washington commitment, it will break a stretch for Arizona of securing commitments from Tucson's top recruit. In 2016, the Wildcats signed Salpointe defensive lineman Justin Holt, who medically retired this offseason. Sabino's Drew Dixon is part of Arizona's incoming 2017 recruiting class, and the Wildcats have commitments from Cienega quarterback Jamarye Joiner and Amphitheater offensive lineman David Watson for 2018, though neither is as highly rated as Mele.
Scout.com rates Golden a three-star recruit and the top defensive tackle in Arizona.
This isn't the first time Arizona has missed on a highly-regarded Tucson area recruit, though. Recent misses also include Sabino offensive lineman Andrew Mike (Florida) in 2014 and Canyon del Oro linebacker Blake Martinez (Stanford) in 2012.
