Only two football programs in the Power Five conferences have yet to secure a verbal commitment for the class of 2021.
One is Washington State. The other is Arizona.
While this isn’t something for Kevin Sumlin and his staff to boast about, it isn’t bad news either. It isn’t indicative of some deep-rooted problem. It isn’t emblematic of a weakness in the program in the way not having a player picked in four of the past eight NFL drafts is.
Allow us to put the dearth of ’21 commits into context.
Per 247Sports’ database, 410 recruits have committed to the 64 schools in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC. That’s an average of 6.4 per school.
The Pac-12 has by far the lowest average of the five leagues – 3.1. Of the 11 schools with two or fewer commits, eight are in the Pac-12. Put another way, Arizona is two commitments away from being tied for fifth most in the conference.
How does this cycle compare to previous ones under Sumlin? Last year, Arizona secured its first commitment on Jan. 30, from quarterback Will Plummer. The second came from cornerback Khary Crump Jr., who committed on April 13 – the day of the UA’s spring game.
Arizona didn’t have a spring game this year; its final 11 practices were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The UA is hardly unique in that regard; spring sports were wiped out across the nation, and in-person recruiting was suspended.
That hasn’t stopped other schools from procuring commitments. Thirteen schools already have reached double figures, led by Ohio State with 17.
If anything, Arizona is operating at its usual deliberate pace despite the unusual circumstances. The Wildcats didn’t get their third commitment last year until June. They still ended up with a nearly full class (23 and counting).
The previous year, when Sumlin arrived in mid-January and spent much of that spring assembling his staff and getting acclimated, Arizona landed its first commitment on April 15. It came from cornerback Logan Wilson – who decommitted about two months later.
The second commitment for the class of ’19 came from punter Kyle Ostendorp on May 21. Again, Arizona ended up with 20-plus new players.
Another way to measure the UA’s activity level is to look at offers. Again using 247Sports’ database, Arizona had offered 191 prospects as of Thursday evening. The school already is encroaching on its total offer allotment from the 2017 (204) and ’19 (203) recruiting cycles.
If you want to gripe about the quality of the Wildcats’ recruiting, that’s fair. But the quantity, as of mid-spring, is not a great cause for concern.
Triplett's season-ending injury hurts Wildcats' depth at inside 'backer
Losing incoming recruit Jabar Triplett for the season to a torn Achilles’ is a tough blow.
Triplett was on the short list of freshmen who had a good chance to contribute immediately. Arizona is perilously thin at inside linebacker, and it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see Triplett play on the second unit alongside sophomore Derrion Clark.
As things currently stand, Clark is the only scholarship player the Wildcats have behind three-year starters Tony Fields II and Colin Schooler. The thought early in spring was that fellow senior Anthony Pandy would play one of the outside spots, enabling all three to be on the field at once. Pandy’s experience inside at least gives Arizona another option.
Sumlin and his staff already were working toward adding a linebacker with one of the UA’s remaining three scholarships for the ’20 class. Triplett’s injury, suffered during training this week, makes that an even bigger priority. Safety is the other position where Arizona could use another viable veteran.
