When four-star athlete Greg Johnson decommitted in December, the Arizona Wildcats lost their highest-rated recruit.
The UA lost perhaps its most important recruit earlier this month, when four-star quarterback Braxton Burmeister flipped to Oregon just one day before school began.
Those two events underscore the battle UA coach Rich Rodriguez and his staff have dealt with since 2012.
While the Wildcats are often in the running for highly-rated recruits, reeling them in has proven difficult.
In Rodriguez’s first recruiting class, Arizona was a finalist for four-star athlete Devin Fuller. The New Jersey native instead picked UCLA.
The UA pushed hard for five-star defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie in 2015. McKenzie listed Arizona among his final two choices — and then picked Tennessee.
Arizona was recently the favorite to land four-star cornerback Thomas Graham. He chose Oregon.
Arizona is always going to have trouble pulling recruits away from powerhouse programs.
But trying can pay off, as the Wildcats learned last week. Tempe defensive end My-King Johnson committed to Arizona, seemingly out of the blue. He appeared destined for USC, UCLA, Oregon or Texas A&M.
“When those schools show you interest by offering, it’s usually a done deal,” said Scout.com’s Blair Angulo. “I think he was always looking, or wanted, to stay close to home.”
Here’s a look at the five wildest recruiting sagas of the Rodriguez era, listed in order of recruit ranking. All ratings according to Scout.com.
