Other schools quick to poach Arizona Wildcats recruits after 3-9 season

When Arizona offered Austin Faoliu a scholarship in late September, the defensive lineman couldn’t believe it.

At the time, Faoliu was a two-star recruit without a Power Five conference scholarship offer.

Then Arizona came calling, specifically defensive line coach Vince Amey and recruiting coordinator Chris Singletary, and it all changed.

Not only were they offering him a scholarship, but immediate playing time, too.

“I almost started crying,” Faoliu said. “They were telling me that I could be starting as a freshman and that I’d have a spot ready for me at the U of A. That’s what opened my eyes and I thought, ‘nothing gets better than that.’”

Faoliu committed on the spot, sight unseen.

“Then,” he said, “all these other schools started coming.”

The 6-foot-4-inch 285 pound defensive tackle has since garnered offers from Arizona State, Illinois, UTSA and Washington State, with the Cougars pursuing him the hardest. Faavae Faavae, a linebacker commit for Washington State and Faoliu’s teammate at Santa Ana, California’s powerhouse Mater Dei High School, is pushing his best friend to join him in Pullman next season.

Faoliu took his first official visit to UA this weekend, and plans to visit Washington State and other schools, too.

The tears of joy are gone. Things have changed.

“I’m like kinda in the middle,” Faoliu said of his UA commitment. “I still like Arizona, I still want to go there, but I’m open to other colleges, too, if they haven’t spoke to me … since my freshman year I’ve been working to try and get some offers and now I can finally choose. Well, I chose Arizona, but I can finally see what other choices I have.”

That’s recruiting in 2016. A verbal commitment is closer to a passing conversation than a binding contract.

Faoliu is not the only one of Arizona’s 25-person recruiting class considering his options. Garden City Community College linebacker visited Illinois and Syracuse last weekend, but said “it’s going to be hard to top” Arizona.

Here’s a closer look at where some of Arizona’s commits stand less than two months before National Signing Day.

Decommitment candidates

DT Austin Faoliu (Santa Ana, California)
DT Matt Leo (Arizona Western College)
S Rhedi Short (Los Angeles)
DE Bryce Brand (Concord, California)

Arizona was the first school to offer Matt Leo (3 stars) in May, and he committed before the season. Since, he’s added offers from seven schools, with Oklahoma and Iowa State at or near the top of his list. He’s a raw prospect — the Australian just started playing football last year — but has the physical tools (6-foot-7, 275 pounds) teams look for in a D-tackle. Rhedi Short (3 stars) took an official visit to Illinois late in the season and had a close relationship with Donté Williams, who left for Nebraska. Bryce Brand (3 stars) took an official visit to Maryland last week, and 247sports.com projects him to flip to the Terrapins. Brand was on campus this weekend for an official visit.

Keep an eye on…

LB Delshawn Phillips (Garden City Community College)
WR Darrian McNeal (Seffner, Florida)
WR Warren Jackson (Mission Hills, California)
S Scott Young (La Mesa, California)
ATH Jalen Harris (Mesa, Arizona)
DT Kurtis Brown (Bakersfield, California)

Delshawn Phillips (3 star) is still strong with the Wildcats, and Arizona badly needs him. Phillips is a junior-college linebacker who helped Garden CC win an NJCAA title. He would help a severe depth issue at that position for the Wildcats, who lose four senior contributors from last year’s team. Darrian McNeal (3 stars) was as enthusiastic a commit as Arizona had recently, then Oregon went and hired former South Florida coach Willie Taggart to replace Mark Helfrich. Taggart promptly offered McNeal. It begs watching now. Warren Jackson (3 stars) would bring some much-needed height — he’s 6-5 — to Arizona’s receiver corps, but told Scout.com that he’ll visit Washington State, Oregon State and Colorado State. The Cougars are pushing hard. Scott Young (3 stars) had a good relationship with Williams, and plans to visit San Diego State and UNLV, but he’ll still likely wind up at Arizona. Jalen Harris (3 stars) is a legacy recruit — his father, Sean, was a linebacker in the Desert Swarm years — so he seems unlikely to flip, but he visited Colorado and might still check out Illinois and Louisville. Kurtis Brown (3 stars) has been receiving interest from Washington State, who visited him at home recently, but he’s still solid for Arizona.

Receiving attention

RB Nathan Tilford (Ontario, California)
QB Braxton Burmeister (La Jolla, California)

By virtue of being Arizona’s two highest-rated recruits, other schools will certainly try to flip Nathan Tilford and Braxton Burmeister, both of whom are four-star recruits. Both appear still solid on their commitment and set to become Wildcats. Williams was involved in Tilford’s recruitment, but not much — the running back is closest with running backs coach Calvin Magee and staff analyst Miguel Reveles.

Burmeister’s relationship with quarterbacks coach Rod Smith is so strong that he’s unlikely to leave unless Smith were to leave Arizona. Burmeister plans to enroll at the UA in January, so in the event something did change, that would likely happen before the New Year.

Still solid

Kylan Wilborn (Sherman Oaks, California)
Rhett Rodriguez (Catalina Foothills)
Bryce Wolma (Saline, Michigan)
Tony Fields (Las Vegas)
Drew Dixon (Sabino)
Edgar Burrola (Las Vegas)
Brian Casteel (Covina, California)
Joshua Brown (Long Beach, California)
Bryce Gilbert (Gilbert, Arizona)
Xavier Bell (Santa Ana, California)
Cody Shear (Eugene, Oregon)
Troy Young (Mobile, Alabama)

There have been no indications that anyone in this group has any non-Arizona plans. The only names to keep an eye on would be Troy Young (3 stars), who might change his mind if Alabama were to come in with an offer, which seems unlikely. Joshua Brown (3 stars) and Brian Casteel (3 stars) had relationships with Williams, but he wasn’t either of their lead recruiter. Edgar Burrola (3 stars) didn’t have any offers when he committed to Arizona, but has since added Louisville and UNLV offers.