Hey all.
Sorry for the lack of recruiting posts lately. I've been on the road covering Arizona's basketball post-season which, as we all know, is now over.
Anyway, it's been a big week for Arizona football in terms of the recruits its had on campus for visits, particularly with the guys in this weekend.
The headliner is corner Darnay Holmes from Calabsas, Calif. He's a five-star recruit who has Arizona listed amongst his Top-7. He recently told Cleveland.com that Ohio State will likely be in his Top-3, leaving Arizona to compete with Alabama, Nebraska, Stanford, UCLA and Washington for the other two slots. Competing with teams like that makes Arizona a likely longshot, but Holmes is on campus this weekend, which is always a plus.
Here are some other notable recruits from both 2017 and 2018 that have either already been on campus this week, or will be this weekend.
(All ratings according to Scout.com)
Visiting this weekend
- WR Brian Hightower (Bradenton, Florida): 6-3 185, 4-star. The top 2018 receiver has 19 offers already, and most of them from top tier programs like Alabama, Ohio State and Notre Dame.
- RB Chris Brooks (Newbury Park, Calif.): 5-9 170, 3-star, No. 40 RB overall, No. 4 in Calif. Arizona is believed to be the favorite for Brooks, who's also considering Hawaii and Washington State.
- DT Kurtis Brown (Bakersfield, Calif.): 6-3 260, 3-star, No. 41 DT overall, No. 4 in Calif. Wildcats are in good shape with Brown, who's also looking at Colorado, Colorado State, San Diego State, Washington State and others.
- WR Brian Casteel (Covina, Calif.): 6-1 200, 3-star, No. 82 WR, No. 11 in Calif. The Wildcats have been recruiting Casteel pretty heavy over the last couple of months, and are the likely favorite considering his only other offers are from Nevada, Washington State, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State and San Jose State.
- CB Bookie Radley-Hiles (Calabasas, Calif.): 5-10 175, Unrated. Arizona was one of his first offers, but since he's added offers from the likes of Florida, Michigan State, Nebraska, Penn State and UCLA. He's high school teammates with Darnay Holmes.
- QB Jalen Chatman (Harbor City, Calif.): 6-0 170, unrated. A 2018 quarterback from Nathaniel Narbonne, the high school that produced ATH DeVaughn Cooper for the Wildcats in 2016.
- Others: 4-star CB Elijah Blades will visit next weekend.
Already visited this week
- LB Isaac Slade-Matautia (Honolulu): 6-1 220, 4-stars, No. 27 OLB, No. 1 in Hawaii, No. 3 in the West. He visited earlier this week and Arizona is competing with ASU, Nebraska and Washington, amongst others, for the versatile Hawaii linebacker. He can play inside or outside.
- ATH Nathan Tilford (Ontario, Calif.): 6-1 200, 4-star, No. 13 overall athlete, No. 2 in California. Goes to same high school that UA receiver Samajie Grant attended. Wildcats would really like to reel him in. He's considering ASU, USC, Michigan and UCLA as well. Trojans are believed to be the favorite.
- DE Hunter Echols (Los Angeles): 6-4 220, 4-star, No. 12 DE overall, No. 2 in Calif. He's committed to UCLA, but it's a good sign for Arizona that he was still willing to visit campus. He came with his HS teammate Rhedi Short, a safety and fellow UCLA commit.
- WR Warren Jackson (Mission Hills, Calif.): 6-5 165, 3-star, No. 96 overall WR, No. 14 in Calif. I'd call Arizona the favorite here for this big receiver. He has other offers from Colorado, Hawaii and Colorado State.
- Others: ATH Drew Dixon (3-star/Tucson), OL Cody Shear (2-star/Eugene, Ore.), OL Joey Ramos (Unrated/Glendale, Ariz.), OL Zelan Tupuola (3-star/San Juan Capistrano, Calif.), OL Shammah Tupua (unrated/Harbor City, Calif.)
