Jedd Fisch's emphasis on transfer portal, in-state recruits quickly paying off for Wildcats

One of Merriam-Webster’s definitions of “swarm” is “to hover about in the manner of a bee.”

The transitive verb form: “to beset or surround in a swarm.”

Swarm is also in the title of a renowned era in Arizona football history — “Desert Swarm,” when the late Dick Tomey built the UA to a nationally-respected program and one of the most feared defenses in college football. Heck, Arizona even made Keanu Reeves say “good football team” after spotting Sandra Bullock’s Wildcats jacket in the movie “Speed.”

Jedd Fisch repeated “swarm” during his virtual introductory press conference as Arizona’s head coach in December, but it wasn’t about Tedy Bruschi pressuring Miami quarterback Ryan Collins in the 1994 Fiesta Bowl.

It was about swarming the state of Arizona — and neighboring West-Coast states — for players, whether through future recruiting classes or through the NCAA transfer portal.

Since Fisch was hired, fishing around the transfer portal has paid off for the Wildcats as the UA currently have seven Division I transfers committed or signed to play in Tucson this season, and five of them played their preps careers in Arizona: quarterback Gunner Cruz (Washington State), edge rusher Jason Harris (Colorado), running back Drake Anderson (Northwestern), safety Gunner Maldonado (Northwestern) and offensive tackle Davis DiVall (Baylor). A “Gunner” has never lettered at Arizona, now the Wildcats will have two in 2021.

The other two transfers are former Notre Dame cornerback and Sacramento product Isaiah Rutherford and ex-Western Michigan linebacker Treshaun Hayward, who committed Monday morning. Hayward, the 2019 Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year, is an outlier of the bunch since he hails from Michigan. Unlike recent history, the in-state transfers will all come to Arizona with at least two years of eligibility rather than the typical one-year graduate transfer.

“It’s an important part of the transfer portal to recognize there’s a lot of guys that leave the West Coast, go to other places and recognize they’d much rather be back on the West Coast,” Fisch said earlier this month. “Our ultimate goal is to not let them leave, but we also recognize guys are going to want to leave and go elsewhere to see what it looks like and see what it feels like.

“But when they want to come back, we want to be able to welcome them back, and the portal has permitted us to do that, so we’re going to continue to try and find the right guys that are — if they’re at another school, in the portal and from the West Coast, I believe we have a pretty good chance at getting them to come to the University of Arizona. And I believe we can keep some of these guys in the state before they even want to leave.”

Cruz, the Wildcats’ most recent in-state addition from the transfer portal and a Queen Creek native, was never given the option to play for the UA coming out of Casteel High School in 2018.

The 6-foot-5-inch, 217-pounder was one of the top quarterbacks in the state, completing 73% of his passes for 9,383 yards, 100 touchdowns and 16 interceptions over three years, and led Casteel to a perfect 14-0 season and Class 3A state championship as a junior.

But despite Cruz visiting the UA, the Wildcats never offered a scholarship and one of the top passers in Arizona opted to play for Washington State.

At Washington State, Cruz played in one game in 2020, and finished his stay there with 34 yards and a touchdown against USC. When he entered college football free agency Friday, Fisch and Arizona were calling him “probably a couple hours after I put my name in the transfer portal.”

“Once I was on the phone with the U of A and Coach Fisch, Coach (Jimmie) Dougherty and everybody, I could tell that was a really good situation for me,” Cruz said on “The Brad Cesmat Show” early Monday morning.

Cruz later added: “The résumé of guys (Fisch) has worked with and the staffs he’s worked with and been on speaks for itself, so football-wise it was all there. … It all felt good.”

Fisch and company pitched the idea that, although Arizona is riding a program-record 12-game losing skid and six weeks removed from the largest margin of loss against ASU to end the season, “it’s not a rebuild, it’s a refocus.”

“They have athletes down there, they have players down there, there’s a lot of support for the team from the community and we’re not starting from square one,” Cruz said. “We’re going to get after it and we’re going to compete.”

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Cruz pondered and a day later, he entered his name in Arizona’s three-quarterback race that also will feature Gilbert product Will Plummer and redshirt sophomore Kevin Doyle.

Between the Arizona natives in the transfer portal and the addition of Canyon del Oro High School running back Stevie Rocker, the Wildcats have six in-state prospects joining in 2021, the most for a UA recruiting class since 2015.

The focus for the ’21 recruiting class is in the transfer portal, but the UA coaching staff — Fisch included — has been active for future cycles. Dozens of 2022 and ’23 in-state recruits have either been offered or re-offered this month. The latest in-state offer: Chandler Hamilton cornerback Cole Martin, who is rated as the top sophomore in Arizona and the son of former UA cornerbacks coach Demetrice Martin.

Landing the big fish in Arizona has always been an ongoing battle not just for the UA, but also ASU.

The star-studded 2020 recruiting class featured two of the top 25 players in Arizona signing with UA or ASU. Georgia, Texas, Notre Dame, Ohio State, UCLA, Florida State, Washington Oklahoma State and Colorado (twice) poached the top 10 players from ‘20, including two Tucsonans in five-star running back Bijan Robinson (Texas) and All-American safety Lathan Ransom (Ohio State).

It’s possible players of Robinson’s and Ransom’s caliber were goners to begin with, but the UA didn’t put forth the greatest effort to persuade them to become building blocks for the Wildcats.

“I feel like they should have been here a lot more. You know how? ’Cause, you know, Texas and Ohio State are so far from here and they’re here all the time. I constantly talk to them all the time,” Robinson told The Athletic in 2019. “You know, I didn’t have that same feel with U of A. I’ll talk to those coaches all the time from Texas. I barely ever texted the U of A coaching staff, even the (Rodriguez) coaching staff.”

Recruits want to feel wanted. And Arizona has struggled mightily in that category recently.

One way to get in position to attract top-shelf prospects from Arizona to stay home is familiarity with the high school football programs. When Arizona’s on-field staff was assembled, the coaches personally contacted every high school football team in the state, and are holding virtual coaching clinics every Wednesday over the next month for all in-state coaches to attend.

Marana High School coach Louie Ramirez told the Star Fisch’s session last week “provided us an insight into his vision and core values he believes that will transcend Arizona football. … It was definitely a good experience and something our staff is looking forward to as we continue to build relationships with Arizona football.”

“We believe in personal relationships and we believe in helping others,” Fisch said. “What better way to help others and serve the high school coaches in the state than to provide clinics and an opportunity to welcome them to what we want to get done here?”

To help bolster those relationships across the state, Arizona hired Desert Swarm member and former Pueblo High School football head coach Brandon Sanders as a coordinator of football alumni and high school relations.

Between the Sanders hire, coaching clinics actively offering high school prospects and adding Arizona natives via the transfer portal, the Wildcats’ swarm has been relentless under Fisch.

“We’re going to do everything we can to keep the best players in the state — and the best players in the region — at the University of Arizona,” said Fisch.

Extra points

• Arizona right tackle Edgar Burrola announced on Twitter over the weekend that he will return to the Wildcats this season. The 6-6, 305-pound Burrola started six games at right tackle in 2019, but missed the entire 2020 season after he was suspended for violating COVID-19 protocols.
• With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers punching its ticket to the Super Bowl, tight end Rob Gronkowski becomes the latest former Wildcat to play in the NFL’s championship game. “Gronk” now has six — five with the Patriots — Super Bowl appearances, the most by any UA player, passing Bruschi and offensive lineman Glenn Parker.