UPDATE (4:30 p.m.): UA coach Rich Rodriguez announced a signing class of 23 players Wednesday afternoon. He also stressed that he and his staff arenโt finished adding talent โ and listed 16 more players who will or could join the team in the coming days and weeks.
The players are listed below. Some will be preferred walk-ons, while some will be on scholarships (likely as โblueshirtsโ). Arizona also remains in the market for transfers and is believed to have seven openings.
Here are the players Rodriguez mentioned Wednesday. Many already had announced their commitments to Arizona as walk-ons via social media. (Asterisks indicate known blueshirts.)
- WR-DB Izaiah Adams, Cathedral (Los Angeles)
- OL Tyrell Aponte, Peoria
- DT Paige Birdine, Cathedral (Los Angeles)
- DE Dante Blissit, Desert Edge (Goodyear)
- OL Edgar Burrola, Desert Pines (Las Vegas)*
- S Rourke Freeburg, Desert Mountain (Scottsdale)
- OL Tyson Gardner, Queen Creek
- CB Malik Hausman, Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas)*
- S Azizi Hearn, Oceanside (Oceanside, Calif.)
- WR-RB D.J. Hinton, Tucson*
- WR Isaiah Lovett, Mountain View
- RB Noah Pittenger, Brophy Prep (Phoenix)
- LB-S Elijah Ruiz, Franklin (El Paso, Texas)
- WR Trevor Russell, Casa Grande
- LB Ken Samson, Ironwood Ridge
- LB Rexx Tessler, Brophy Prep (Phoenix)
UPDATE (2:35 p.m.): Two Arizona commits will likely blueshirt the upcoming season โ offensive linemanย Edgar Burrolaย and cornerbackย Malik Hausman. As blueshirts, Burrola and Hausman will enroll at Arizona on the second day of fall camp and will be with the team as walk-ons in the fall. They will not count toward the 2017 scholarship total, rather toward 2018. Hausman and Burrola, both from Las Vegas, join Tucson High receiverย D.J. Hintonย as blueshirts. UA coachย Rich Rodriguez announced all three as part of a long list of preferred walk-ons at the beginning of his signing day press conference.ย
UPDATE (1:15 p.m.): The Arizona Wildcats added three more players to their roster Wednesday afternoon. Two come from Southern California and play on the defensive side of the ball.
The newest Wildcats:
- Safety Xavier Bell
- Linebacker Colin Schooler
- Tight end Bryce Wolma
Some quick-hit thoughts on the latest signees:
* Bell comes from powerhouse Santa Ana Mater Dei and joins the Wildcatsโ stockpile of safeties. Arizona uses three safeties in its base defense, so depth is paramount.
* Like Bell, Schooler is rated as a three-star prospect. He was a late riser whom Scout ranks as the top inside linebacker in California. With no returning veterans at middle linebacker, Schooler will have every opportunity to seize immediate playing time.
* Wolma is one of two tight ends in the class, along with Bryce Gilbert. One is almost certain to redshirt with veteran Trevor Wood and redshirt freshman Jamie Nunley returning. (Brion Anduze also is pursuing a comeback from a major knee injury.) Which one remains to be seen.
UPDATE (11:58 a.m.) PHOENIXโ Earlier this morning, I (Zack Rosenblatt) spoke with signeeย Jalen Harrisย and his fatherย Sean, a standout Arizona linebacker in the 1990s at a Signing Day event in a Majerle's Sports Grill.
Harris has been committed to Arizona since August. Notre Dame made a push to flip Harris in the past few weeks, and he visited South Bend recently.
On Tuesday, Harris decided Arizona was where he belonged.
"I just felt like I want to be a place where Iโm needed, not just wanted and just another person," Harris said. "U of A coaches have been recruiting me from the beginning, they really wanted me. I felt it was a brotherhood and a family when I was down there, so I enjoyed myself."
Sean Harris said he got the sense Jalen was bound for the Wildcats, but he let him make the decision on his own.
"It just came down to where he really wanted to be and where his heart was at. At the end of the day, his heart was with Arizona," Sean Harris said. "We would talk and he would always talk as if he was at Arizona. So I kinda had a feeling."
We'll have more from Harris and his father later today.ย
UPDATE (11:45 a.m.): The Arizona Wildcats have announced three more signees since our last update, including two ticketed for the offensive side of the ball. That brings the UAโs total to 19, with at least a few more to come.
Here are the newest Wildcats:
- Running back Nathan Tilford
- Linebacker Tony Fields
- Wide receiver Brian Casteel
Some notes on the newbies:
* Tilford is Arizonaโs highest-ranked recruit, and he already has enrolled, so expect him to contribute right away. The UA had to mine the depths of its roster to find suitable running backs last year because of injuries. Tilford enters spring at no worse than No. 3 on the depth chart.
* Fields is also an early enrollee at a position of need. Heโs being listed as an outside linebacker, which likely means the weak side. If heโs truly 200 pounds, heโll need to add bulk quickly to play in 2017.
* Casteel joins a receiving corps in the midst of a transition phase. With Samajie Grant, Trey Griffey and Nate Phillips having used up their eligibility, the position is wide open. Shun Brown is the only returnee assured of a big role.
UPDATE (11:15 a.m.): Rhett Rodriguez officially became an Arizona Wildcat on Wednesday, although he basically had been one for the past five years.
The son of UA coach Rich Rodriguez signed his letter of intent at a ceremony at Catalina Foothills High. Rich, mom Rita and sister Raquel were among dozens packed into a campus classroom just a few steps from the CFHS football field.
Here are some comments from the Rodriguez clan and Falcons coach Jeff Scurran:
RICH RODRIGUEZ
On whether Rhett is good enough to play for the UA: โI wouldnโt sign anybody or bring anybody into the program if I didnโt think they could contribute and play. I first watched Rhett when he was a freshman playing here, as a dad. I watched him as a dad as a sophomore. And as his career went on I watched him as both โ as a coach and as a dad. I knew the mental part of it, his intelligence, his work ethic, all that kind of stuff. But I needed to watch the football part in person. I was able to watch it pretty closely. Heโs worked really hard to get to this point.โ
RHETT RODRIGUEZ
On what he brings to the UA: โIโm going to go in and compete. Iโm going to work hard. Iโm going to try to do everything I can to be a great teammate. Whatever that means โ starting, doing backup stuff โ Iโm willing to do.โ
On how well he knows the offense: โIโve been watching film, and I might have 90 percent of the offense down already. A lot of it is just from listening over the years. Iโve gone through plays with my dad before I committed. Iโve given him a lot of suggestions over the years. I donโt know if heโs necessarily taken any of them.โ
JEFF SCURRAN
On whether Rhett can succeed at Arizona: โPeople ask me all the time, and itโs been the toughest question that I think Iโve ever had as a football coach: Is this kid going to make it there? I just kind of laugh at them on the phone. If itโs achievable to make, Rhett will climb that ladder and get it done. I donโt think he knows anything else. I donโt think he was raised to understand anything else.โ
UPDATE (10:50 a.m.) Arizona announced two more NLIs, and more information has come out about the last-second flip of offensive linemanย Cody Shear. First, the NLIs...
- TEย Bryce Gilbert
- LBย Josh Brown
* Brown comes from Long Beach (Calif.) Poly, a powerhouse program in Southern California, and he was coached by Arizona alumย Antonio Pierce. Brown said in a message to the Star "we about to turn this program around."
* Gilbert is from Gilbert Higley, and he has already enrolled at Arizona.
* As for Shear, according to Steve Mims of theย Register-Guard, Shear was still committed to Arizona as of 7 a.m. this morning when he received a call from Oregon coachย Willie Taggart and was offered a scholarship.ย
UPDATE (10:15 a.m.): Arizona has announced some more arrivals of national letters of intent. The latest:
- Safetyย Troy Young
- Linebackerย Anthony Pandy
- Defensive end My-King Johnson
Quick notes on this trio...
* Young was close to flipping to Alabama-Birmingham in recent days โ he's from Mobile, Ala. โ but re-affirmed his commitment to Arizona on Tuesday.
* Pandy is a highly regarded linebacker from Narbonne. Arizona might've lost him if Oregon offered. My-King Johnson was once a soft commit to UCLA, but flipped to the UA recently.ย
UPDATE (9:45 a.m.): The signings are coming in fast and furious for the Arizona Wildcats. As of mid-morning, the UA had announced 10 additions to the program. They are:
- Defensive tackle Kurtis Brown
- Kicker Lucas Havrisik
- Safety Rhedi Short
- Defensive end Jalen Harris
- Running back Gary Brightwell
- Defensive tackle Sione Taufahema
- Wide receiver Drew Dixon
- Safety Scott Young
- Quarterback Rhett Rodriguez
- Cornerback Tony Wallace
- Linebacker Jose Ramirez
A few notes on this group:
* The surprising name in that group is Brightwell. The tailback from the East Coast had been committed to Temple, but Arizona was able to flip him in the late going. Brightwell gives the Wildcats much-needed depth at running back.
* Taufahema and Ramirez were early enrollees who are already on campus. The school did not announce its midyear additions until today.
* Harris and Wallace were somewhat up in the air as signing day approached but both stuck to their original commitments.
The same cannot be said for offensive tackle Cody Shear of Eugene, Oregon. Shear told reporters as recently as Tuesday that he was sticking with Arizona despite late interest from his hometown school. However, Shear apparently changed his mind at the 11th hour.
National Signing Day is underway for the Arizona Wildcats.
The first bit of news, if you want to call it that, is that receiver Travell Harris of Tampa, Florida, is headed to Washington State.
Harris had been a target for Arizona, and he visited Tucson last month. But he wasnโt expected to pick the Trojans, and he made that official earlyย Wednesday morning.
Stay tuned for additional updates throughout the day โ before, during and after UA coach Rich Rodriguezโs signing-day news conference scheduled forย 2:30 p.m.
