Editor’s note: This is the second in a five-part series grading the Arizona Wildcats’ football recruiting classes between 2013 and ’17.
The Rich Rodriguez era at Arizona began promisingly and exceeded even the coach’s own expectations.
Coming off a 4-8 season in 2011, the Wildcats posted back-to-back 8-5 records in Rodriguez’s first two campaigns.
Did Arizona’s success on the field lead to a corresponding boon in recruiting? That’s what we’re going to examine in the second part of our five-part review of Arizona’s recruiting classes between 2013 and ’17.
As with each class, we’ll name the best and most disappointing players from the class of 2014 and give an all-encompassing letter grade.
To create a quantitative basis for comparison, we added up the career starts for each class. In the cases of the 2016 and ’17 classes, those numbers still can grow. But, overall, they provide a relatively consistent unit of measure to determine the value of each group.
And now, onto the UA class of 2014.
NATIONAL/PAC-12 RANKINGS
247Sports: 31 (national), 6 (Pac-12)
Rivals: 28 (national), 6 (Pac-12)
STAR RATINGS
Four stars: 5
Three stars: 18
Two or fewer stars: 2
(Note: We’re using 247Sports Composite Ratings for this project, and we’re including walk-ons who earned scholarships or became significant contributors.)
THE NUMBERS
The start stats tell you just about everything you need to know about this class. Only 4 of 24 players — 16.7% — started 12 or more games in an Arizona uniform, easily the lowest among the five classes we analyzed. (We are excluding kickers and punters for the purpose of this exercise. So while the overall class has 25 players, only 24 are included in the games-started breakdown.) Meanwhile, 15 of 24 – 62.5% — never started a game for the Wildcats, the highest figure in the study. The class of 2014 produced only 129 total starts and an average of 5.4 per player — less than half the rate of the ’13 class.
KEY CONTRIBUTORS (CAREER STARTS)
QB Brandon Dawkins (14), CB-WR Cam Denson (10), WR Tony Ellison (14), WR-RB Tyrell Johnson (1), OT Layth Friekh (43), DB Kwesi Mashack (1), K-P Josh Pollack (N/A), QB Jerrard Randall (2), RB Nick Wilson (32), TE-DE Trevor Wood (7), DL Jeff Worthy (5)
Running back Nick Wilson was one of the few 2014 recruits to have an impact at UA.
BEST PLAYER
Arizona had five four-star recruits in the class of 2014, and tailback Nick Wilson was the only one who didn’t flop. Although plagued by injuries after a stellar freshman year in which he ran for 1,375 yards and 16 touchdowns, Wilson finished his career as the Wildcats’ eighth-leading rusher. The Fresno, California, product’s 33 rushing TDs rank third in UA annals behind only Ka’Deem Carey (48) and Art Luppino (44). Wilson never eclipsed 729 yards over his final three seasons, when various leg injuries limited his availability. But Wilson ended his career with a per-carry average of 5.5 yards and helped Arizona qualify for three bowl games in four seasons.
MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER
This one is a tie between Jamardre Cobb and Marquis Ware, high school teammates who are inextricably linked in UA recruiting lore. Cobb and Ware, who played at Salesian High School in Los Angeles, both ranked within the top 200 players nationally per 247Sports. They were the No. 17 (Ware) and No. 18 (Cobb) outside linebackers in the class. Neither ever started a game for Arizona. Ware was plagued by injuries and medically retired in 2016 after appearing in only two games as a Wildcat. He accumulated one tackle. Cobb struggled with injuries and his playing weight. He moved back and forth between linebacker and fullback, where he finished his career as Jamardre Harris-Cobb. His career stat line: two catches for minus-8 yards and one touchdown.
UNDERDOG SUCCESS STORY
Rivals rated receiver Tony Ellison as a two-star prospect. The product of Granite Bay, California, held only one offer from a Power Five school – Arizona. After redshirting and playing a minimal role in 2015 and ’16, Ellison emerged as a productive member of the receiving rotation over his final two seasons. He caught 66 passes for 1,123 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2017 and ’18 and scored another TD on a rush. Ellison became one of quarterback Khalil Tate’s most trusted targets. 247Sports rated Ellison as a mid-level three-star. Either way, he outperformed expectations.
Arizona wide receiver Tony Ellison was only a two-star prospect but caught 66 passes over 2017-18.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO …
Offensive tackle Jordan Poland of La Jolla, California, committed to USC in June 2012. About 18 months later — after grades reportedly prevented him from enrolling at USC — Poland flipped to Arizona. It appeared to be a coup. Poland had natural size at about 6-7, 343 pounds, and Rivals ranked him as the 12th-best tackle in the country. After redshirting in 2014, Poland was arrested the following summer on one count of trafficking in stolen property and was dismissed from the UA program. Poland got into subsequent legal trouble. He at one point appeared on the roster at Riverside City College. There’s no indication that he’s playing organized football.
IF IT WEREN’T FOR BAD LUCK …
Salpointe Catholic High School receiver and return specialist Cam Denson was a consensus four-star prospect who held offers from 10 Power Five schools, including Notre Dame and Oklahoma. He began his UA career as a cornerback and recorded five interceptions over two seasons. He switched to receiver in the spring of 2016 and caught 15 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns that season. Denson suffered a foot injury the following spring, and Rodriguez announced in October 2017 that Denson likely would medically retire from football. He resurfaced at NAU in 2018, where he caught one pass and returned seven kickoffs for an average of 27.0 yards.
EXPERT SAYS
Adam Gorney, national recruiting analyst for Rivals and Yahoo! Sports: “We bought into a lot of the hype on Jamardre Cobb and Marquis Ware in high school. We thought they had a lot of potential. We thought they could be physically dominant. That didn’t happen. They were busts. … I thought Nick Wilson in high school was a surefire special running back. But there were definitely some big misses along the way. There were some (other) guys who didn’t really prove they deserved a four-star ranking, which is an elite ranking.”
OVERALL GRADE: D
Aside from a handful of standouts — including Wilson and Layth Friekh, a multiyear starter at offensive tackle — this class was a huge bust. That’s especially true when you consider the timing. As mentioned, the Wildcats went 8-5 in each of Rodriguez’s first two seasons. They were trending in the right direction. Rodriguez and his staff failed to capitalize on that momentum. In their defense, most of the touted players who didn’t pan out were viewed favorably by the recruiting industry. They were all wrong. Even players who contributed at Arizona — such as quarterback Brandon Dawkins, tight end Trevor Wood and kicker Josh Pollack — had uneven careers. Denson and Salpointe teammate Kaelin Deboskie flaming out also might have inflicted long-term damage on the program.
