Arizona had just lost to Arizona State, but Rich Rodriguez was already looking ahead.
“We’ll be all right. We’ll recruit, we’ll develop,” Rodriguez said, overcome by emotion following the team’s 52-37 loss on Nov. 21. “These young guys will come back and get better, and I hope we have one more game to go out and play our best game of the year.”
Arizona will play one more game this season, in a bowl to be announced Sunday.
Rodriguez figures to join them, although a FoxSports.com report Thursday said the coach plans to interview with South Carolina for its coaching vacancy.
For a time, it appeared the coaching carousel — and the rumors that come with it — might bypass the UA altogether. Virginia Tech, a school that reportedly was pursuing Rodriguez, hired Memphis’ Justin Fuente. Miami will introduce Mark Richt today as its new head coach, replacing Al Golden.
Rodriguez, for now, doesn’t look like a man on his way to the Southeastern Conference.
Rodriguez flew to Hawaii last weekend for an in-home visit with top 2016 commit Michael Eletise, a four-star offensive lineman. From there, Rodriguez headed to Auburn, Washington, to see safety commit Gavin Robertson. He then trekked to Southern California, where he and his assistant coaches — both together and separately — visited quarterback Khalil Tate in Gardena, safety Isaiah Hayes in Calabasas and offensive lineman Bryson Cain in Temecula. All three are UA commits.
The Wildcats visited more commits Thursday and found time for recruiting targets as well. The coaches scouted four-star running back Melquise Stovall in Lancaster and three-star cornerback Terrell Burgress in San Marcos. Stovall decommitted from USC in August.
Receivers coach Tony Dews — one of Arizona’s lead recruiters — even found time to play video games with prized prospect Josh Allen as the Wildcats re-recruit the four-star prospect. The junior college defensive lineman committed to Arizona in July but changed his mind in November.
“Good visit from Coach Dews,” Allen tweeted. “He said some real things tonight. And appreciate everything he had to tell me. And he beat me in Madden.”
Extra points
- Earlier this week, Arizona offered scholarships to two 2016 recruits: receiver
- Desmond Fitzpatrick
- and linebacker
- Kapri Doucet
- . Fitzpatrick, ranked as a four-star prospect by Scout.com, holds offers from 14 other schools, including Michigan, Louisville, Kentucky and Washington State. Doucet is a junior college transfer from Lackawanna CC and will visit Arizona sometime next week. The UA is the first Power 5 program to offer Doucet a scholarship.
- Five former Wildcats were selected to the Pac-12’s all-century football team this week: linebacker
- Ricky Hunley,
- defensive end
- Tedy Brusch
- i
- , defensive tackle
- Rob Waldrop
- and cornerbacks
- Chris McAlister
- and
- Antoine Cason
- . Cornerback
- Darryll Lewis
- , safety
- Chuck Cecil
- , tight end
- Rob Gronkowski
- , kickers
- Max Zendejas
- and
- Steve McLaughlin
- and punter
- Nick Folk
- made the final round of voting but were not selected to the team.
