Kevin Sumlin recruited the best players in the state of Arizona while at Texas A&M, and some of his best prospects through the years have come from the Phoenix area.
Sumlin landed five-star wide receiver Christian Kirk in 2015, and quarterback Kyle Allen and defensive end Qualen Cunningham a year before that.
Rich Rodriguez did what he could to recruit in-state stars to the UA, but his top players mostly fizzled. Cam Denson chose Arizona over Notre Dame and Oklahoma only to shuffle between offense and defense and then retire from football as a senior.
Offensive lineman Keenan Walker was a four-star player, like Denson, but never made an impact and quit the team. Rodriguez did land starters like defensive tackle Parker Zellers, linebacker DeAndre’ Miller and offensive tackle Layth Friekh from the Phoenix area, but none were considered elite prospects.
When it came to recruiting junior-college players — especially those from Pima College — Rodriguez mostly struck out. There’s a reason for that: Aztecs coach Jim Monaco’s relationship with RichRod was practically nonexistent.
“When we were together at any time, he was always polite, never condescending or degrading to our program — never. It’s just … we never really developed what you would call a relationship, where every (other) coach in America would come on our campus and was like, ‘God, I wish I had a school like this down the street,’” Monaco said. “And Rich — for whatever reason — didn’t feel what we had would fit his program or whatever the reason was.”
In December, Arizona special teams coach Brian Knorr drove 10 minutes to watch John Bowers, Pima’s starting punter and a NJCAA All-American, work out at the West Campus. Knorr liked what he saw enough to offer Bowers an in-person workout at Arizona Stadium.
When Bowers got to the stadium, Knorr wasn’t there. The punter waited an hour, then went home.
“He didn’t even ask for a scholarship and told (the UA) staff, ‘I’ll come in in spring and beat your punter out and take his (job),’” Monaco said.
“He was legitimately coming for free, and this was an All-American. … He’s been an amazing young man, full of character, wonderful grades, tremendous work ethic, and when they came out and watched him, he was hitting 68-yarders with ease.
“And that’s when they said, ‘We’d like for you to kick before we go to the bowl game and kick with our long snapper.’ Nobody ever showed up.”
To hear Monaco tell it, it wasn’t the first time.
That same month, UA coaches told Pima defensive end Keith Brigham that they wanted to bring him on campus for a visit. They then changed their minds, telling Monaco that UA had reached its junior college quota for the year. Monaco asked the Wildcats’ coaches to call and tell Brigham, and they did … two days later.
Brigham then signed with Memphis.
Monaco said he was told that none of Pima’s players fit Arizona’s program. They sure fit others: Six Aztecs signed with Div. I programs in December.
Defensive backs Haki Woods (Oregon) and Aaron Maddox (Colorado) stayed in the Pac-12, as did defensive end Bryant Pirtle (Utah). Brigham signed with Memphis, wide receiver LeBronze Allen signed with Bethune Cookman and running back DeMarco Corbin signed with Tennessee State.
Monaco built a relationship with coaches from those schools, in part because that they treated his Aztecs fairly. Utah signed Pima defensive end Kendall Huey in 2015, and kept him on scholarship even after he left the team because of a family emergency.
Monaco admits that he’ll steer kids to programs that he has good relationships with. It may help explain why Woods, once a verbal commit to the UA, changed his mind to sign with the Ducks.
“When these kids come here, they’re my kids. I have to treat them like my own children,” Monaco said. “It’s hard, but you do it. If they take care of your kids like that, you have to respect a program like that and that’s why I love sending guys to Utah. They won, they got their degrees, they were treated fairly and well.”
Monaco said his relationship with Sumlin is off to a good start. The two coaches had talked over the years, mostly about Pima players that Sumlin wanted to recruit to Texas A&M. Sumlin even recruited Pirtle to College Station, Texas.
“Texas A&M was very high on his list, because of Coach Sumlin and I’ll be honest, if Coach Sumlin had to come to Arizona a lot sooner, Bryant may have had a tougher time making that choice,” Monaco said. “Even though he had Oregon and Louisville (interested), I think he would’ve stayed here if Coach Sumlin were here.”
Monaco and Sumlin still haven’t met in person, but that will change soon. Monaco said he wants to visit Sumlin’s office after the 2018 signing period ends Wednesday and show him a list of Pima players to keep an eye on for 2019.
A productive meeting — and a few signings — could warm up a once-nonexistent relationship between the surging Pima program and the rebuilding Wildcats.
