Tucson is a metro area of about 1.1 million people with 25 high schools and one FBS football recruit this year.
It hasn’t always been that way. On Wednesday, Arizona coach Jedd Fisch referred to Texas Longhorns consensus All-American running back Bijan Robinson of Salpointe Catholic High School as a “very good high school player from just around the corner.”
That’s not how USC and UCLA do it. Coaches of the Bruins and Trojans hop in their cars, drive 10 minutes down the 405 freeway, take a left, and knock on the doors of elite prospects almost to excess.
To find a difference-maker, Arizona has become a lot like small-town Washington State and Oregon State, which means you’ve got to hit the road to fill your letter-of-intent day with potential game-changing prospects.
That’s a recruiting disadvantage that has forever kept Arizona out of the Rose Bowl.
On Wednesday, Fisch cut into that disadvantage when he said that new Arizona linebacker Justin Flowe, a transfer from Oregon, “is the highest-rated player ever on campus.”
That’s not totally accurate; in 1989, Arizona signed Amphitheater High School running back Michael Bates, a Parade All-American widely judged as America’s top prospect at his position. A year later, offensive tackle Mike Ciasca of Sahuaro High School, also a Parade All-American, was named the nation’s No. 1 lineman by SuperPrep magazine, the predecessor to today’s websites like Rivals.com.
But to Fisch, the 2022 UA coaching staff and seven-man player personnel department, college football in 1989 and 1990 might as well be 1789 and 1790.
As the positive-forever Fisch detailed his Class of 2023 signees on Wednesday, he said “our build is progressing” and at one point suggested that a jump from five wins this season to nine wins next season is a possibility.
“The build will never stop,” he vowed.
According to Fisch, Arizona signed nine of the nation’s top 1,000 prospects — that’s down from 14 a year ago — which puts into perspective how difficult it is to build a program at Arizona. There are 64 Power 5 schools, which means Arizona isn’t getting 991 of the top prospects.
A year from now, this “build” could make a significant jump in the public mind — especially in Tucson — when Arizona reveals its Class of 2024 signees and transfer portal acquisitions. There is a big “if” involved.
If Salpointe Catholic defensive end Elijah Rushing signs with Arizona, it will mean that Fisch’s dogged recruiting nature, here, there and everywhere, will have paid off with a Bijan Robinson-type prospect, one that could change the UA’s image in a football community that in recent years lost its top prospects to Texas, Ohio State (Salpointe cornerback Lathan Ransom) and Oregon (Salpointe lineman Jonah Miller).
Rushing made 13 tackles for loss and had 11 sacks for the Lancers this season and is ranked among the No. 17 overall prospect in the Class of 2024. That’s Michael Bates and Mike Ciasca territory.
Alas, Arizona’s competition to sign Rushing is formidable. He has narrowed his choices to a dozen schools, Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon and USC included. But unlike Fisch’s predecessor, Kevin Sumlin, who was asleep at the wheel when Texas, Ohio State and Oregon successfully recruited Salpointe’s elite prospects, Fisch’s staff has done the appropriate groundwork to give Arizona a reasonable chance to sign its hometown equivalent of Justin Flowe.
In the meantime, Fisch continues to plug away, turning over rocks, not unlike Dick Tomey in the 1990s. That’s when Arizona went to small-town Arizona precincts in St. John’s, Show Low and San Manuel to get All-Pac-12 players Marcus Bell and Warner Smith, and future NFL player Jimmy Sprotte.
It’s not all about big-name prospects. With a roster of 85 scholarship players, you’ve also got to properly evaluate and acquire players like Tylen Gonzalez, who signed with Arizona on Wednesday.
Gonzalez, a 6-foot 6-inch, 250-pound lineman from Carlsbad, New Mexico, did not have another scholarship offer. But if you watch one of those Rivals.com video highlight reels of Gonzalez, it makes you wonder where the nearby Big 12 schools were.
Carlsbad is in the middle of nowhere: 170 miles from Texas Tech and just down the New Mexico road from small-town football opponents in Alamogordo, Hobbs and Roswell. But Arizona was resourceful enough to bring Gonzalez to Tucson for Fisch’s summer camp last June and get him before Baylor or Texas Tech found out about him.
If all goes well, Arizona might be able to put together a defense in 2024 with Flowe, Gonzalez and Rushing. That would be a “build” with a sturdy foundation.
The Arizona Wildcats (4-6) took down No. 12 UCLA 34-28 at the Rose Bowl, marking the first win in Pasadena since 2010.
