Freshman defensive back Maurice Gaines is no longer on the Arizona Wildcats’ roster.
Gaines was removed from the team because of a violation of athletic-department policy. The three-star recruit did not appear in a game and failed to move up the depth chart during training camp despite participating in spring practice.
Gaines came to Arizona from St. Thomas More School in Connecticut. He’s originally from Northern California. He held scholarship offers from more than 20 other schools.
Gaines’ departure unofficially leaves the Wildcats with 71 scholarship players. The annual maximum is 85.
Arizona has only eight scholarship seniors, so approaching that limit next season should be feasible with a full recruiting class. But Kevin Sumlin and his staff will need a high success rate in the 2020 and ’21 classes with 23 scholarship juniors (including redshirts) on the current roster.
The Wildcats have 14 scholarship sophomores and 26 freshmen.
