My two cents: Wildcats recruits are ranked historically low
As of Saturday, Rivals.com ranked Arizona’s football recruiting class No. 62 in the nation. That’s historically low. It’s behind Western Michigan and UAB, which didn’t even have a football team last year.
Rating high school football players is a tricky business — Scooby Wright, anyone? — but in general, recruiting services such at Rivals are reasonably close.
Some of the problem at the UA is that the state has just seven players who are considered Power 5 conference prospects this season. Over the last 30 years, the quality of high school football in Arizona has diminished at the top. There are fewer Pac-12-level players.
Consider this: When Arizona began an 8-0-1 run against ASU in 1982, taking control of the state for the first time since the ’50s, becoming a Rose Bowl contender for five consecutive years, the Wildcats were loaded with in-state players.
The 1982 roster included 15 Arizonans who would play significant roles: David Adams, Jay Dobyns, Byron Evans, Jon Horton, Troy Hunter, Craig Vesling, Brad Anderson, Rory Barnett, Cliff Thorpe, Mike Freeman, Vance Johnson, Jeff Kiewel, Skip Peete, Randy Robbins and Greg Turner.
Entering 2016, Rich Rodriguez’s roster has just seven Arizona players who project as starters, and almost none behind them, developing for future seasons.
This would’ve been a good recruiting season to make a move in the Pac-12, because USC is ranked just 30th by Rivals, which is rare. Oregon is ranked 21st, also a down season.
Arizona’s recruiting season has been marked by attrition and some off-the-grid commitments. Florida running back Jessie Britt, for example, had planned to play for Western Kentucky, of all places. His future is uncertain because he collapsed — and his heart stopped — while playing basketball last month.
Last week, Britt told Western Kentucky he changed his mind and will play at Arizona. He will grayshirt in 2016, and enroll next January.
It could be worse. Colorado is ranked No. 87.
