2022 Recruit/Commitment Thread

[aznavcat]

JF just proved that you can attract a class of talented football recruits to Tucson. All we've heard over the years were excuses by our former HCs why they couldn't recruit. Well JF and our other coaches just proved them wrong and set a new recruiting bar. And that's after a 1-11 season! If Fisch leaves, the hard work and zeal he puts into recruiting needs to be the new HC standard. Bravo "off-season" JF. Bravo.

[Merkin]

Do we know what year it was the last time a head coach from AZ left because he wasn't fired?

Larry Smith, who was the football coach when I was a student, back when it was a football school.

Smith was heading the Cats towards the Rose Bowl when USC came calling.

Don't get me started on the rest about Smith.

[Sid]

New Jedi transfer tweet just now…

[azgreg]

Here we go.

[azcat49]

Larry Smith/86

Agreed on all points Harvey. It might be wifespeak but she sounded tired of the constant moves and they sure seem to be enjoying the sunshine.

His love for all things Spurrier might warrant a look at Florida if he has that kind of success and at that point we will be elated at our fortunes under him

[UAEebs86]

Larry Smith

Agreed on all points Harvey. It might be wifespeak but she sounded tired of the constant moves and they sure seem to be enjoying the sunshine.

His love for all things Spurrier might warrant a look at Florida if he has that kind of success and at that point we will be elated at our fortunes under him

That's what I was thinking too. She's got to be tired of having to move the kids to a new town and school every 2 years.

And if mama ain't happy, nobody's happy.

[dmjcat]

Here we go.

If Fisch actually manages to recruit a couple of serviceable offensive lineman out of the portal I am going to start referring to him as:

Jedi Fisch

Don't laugh.....the force does appear to be with him

[MountainCat]

[Chicat]

Larry Smith

Agreed on all points Harvey. It might be wifespeak but she sounded tired of the constant moves and they sure seem to be enjoying the sunshine.

His love for all things Spurrier might warrant a look at Florida if he has that kind of success and at that point we will be elated at our fortunes under him

That's what I was thinking too. She's got to be tired of having to move the kids to a new town and school every 2 years.

And if mama ain't happy, nobody's happy.

Mama might be happier if Papa wasn’t the lowest paid coach in the conference.

Just food for thought after Year 3 if he’s got us on the right track on the field.

[AV8RCAT]

Are we really worrying about an AZ football coach being too successful that he is being recruited elsewhere?

Really?

Do we know what year it was the last time a head coach from AZ left because he wasn't fired?

1986

[EastCoastCat]

Can we please stop opening up old wounds.

Sincerely,

Us old farts who were around then and knew that was our best chance to get to the Rose Bowl.

[CopaCat]

Hopefully we get Tommy Brown and Cade Bennett(from Scottsdale and will only be a Sophomore this coming year). Bennett didn't play much at Okie St but had a nice offer list out of High School. If Fisch could pull that off we might need to erect a statue of him next to Button Salmon. Second thought save that for when he wins us the Rose Bowl.

[dmjcat]

[Chicat]

You can’t convince me that’s not the guy who tiled my basement shower.

[Chicat]

4 star DLineman formerly at UCLA and with offers last year from literally everywhere.

[CopaCat]

4 star DLineman formerly at UCLA and with offers last year from literally everywhere.

Looks like the Nansen hire is paying dividends. Build them lines Jedd.

[MrBug708]

4 star DLineman formerly at UCLA and with offers last year from literally everywhere.

Not just a commitment, actually played a little this year.

[RichardCranium]

Are we really worrying about an AZ football coach being too successful that he is being recruited elsewhere?

Really?

Do we know what year it was the last time a head coach from AZ left because he wasn't fired?

Pop McKale
Fred Enke (sorta)
Tex Oliver
Mike Casteel
Darrell Mudra
Jim Young
Larry Smith

[dmjcat]

Scheers article had an interesting statement from the UA football recruiting coordinator. It just under scores that college football recruiting has mutated into Free Agency due to the transfer portal. Fortunately, this staff seems to have adapted to it better than others

"Arizona continues to rebuild its roster and has taken a significant step in adding talent as Director of Player Personnel Matt Doherty said the Wildcats would.

“This is going to be all the way up until August," Doherty said. "This is going to be all the way up until the start of fall camp and that’s not just us, it’s every college football team. Talent acquisition has changed drastically, so you can’t just hold serve and say this is going to be our 2022 team. It’s going to be a march right up to the starting line in terms of fall camp and August. We will evaluate whatever comes down the pike and act accordingly.”

[Sid]

4 star DLineman formerly at UCLA and with offers last year from literally everywhere.

Looks like the Nansen hire is paying dividends. Build them lines Jedd.

Two things. 1.) The Jedi just kicked Lincoln Riley’s ass, sc wanted him bad!
2.) The Polynesian pipeline is back!!!

[MrBug708]

4 star DLineman formerly at UCLA and with offers last year from literally everywhere.

Looks like the Nansen hire is paying dividends. Build them lines Jedd.

Two things. 1.) The Jedi just kicked Lincoln Riley’s ass, sc wanted him bad!
2.) The Polynesian pipeline is back!!!

This was Nansen. We only got him to UCLA because of Nansen. Supposedly when we hired our replacement DL coach, he wouldn't even answer the calls from the new guy

[dmjcat]

Glad to see the UA out in front of this:

[Carcassdragger]

I'm thinking scholarship limits matter less now because if student athletes can get a good deal, they can pay tuition themselves. Can this be right?

[Spaceman Spiff]

You can’t convince me that’s not the guy who tiled my basement shower.

I'm not sure we can convince a guy with a mullet/moustache combo like that to leave the South, but that might just be my stereotype brain.

Say what you want about Fisch, and I certainly have, he definitely seems to understand what you have to do in the modern football landscape as Arizona. He's recruited hard in HS and also positioned us as a transfer option for kids unhappy about PT or who had coaches leave on them like De Laura or Savea.

That's 100% right because Arizona Football has to maximize all opportunities, especially with the roster he was left. The immediate eligibility change for first time transfers lets you build much faster than you could.

[cerec_cat]

I really don't understand some of these transfers though. If a player is really that great, unless it is a coaching change or wants to upgrade the team he is on, why transfer? Don't they expect some competition?

[Harvey Specter]

You can’t convince me that’s not the guy who tiled my basement shower.

I'm not sure we can convince a guy with a mullet/moustache combo like that to leave the South, but that might just be my stereotype brain.

Say what you want about Fisch, and I certainly have, he definitely seems to understand what you have to do in the modern football landscape as Arizona. He's recruited hard in HS and also positioned us as a transfer option for kids unhappy about PT or who had coaches leave on them like De Laura or Savea.

That's 100% right because Arizona Football has to maximize all opportunities, especially with the roster he was left. The immediate eligibility change for first time transfers lets you build much faster than you could.

He certainly looks like he goes by 2 hyphenated first names, but this kid is from So CA and went to Mater Dei.

[azgreg]

I really don't understand some of these transfers though. If a player is really that great, unless it is a coaching change or wants to upgrade the team he is on, why transfer? Don't they expect some competition?

have you ever accepted a job and within a week or so realized you made a huge error?

[cerec_cat]

I really don't understand some of these transfers though. If a player is really that great, unless it is a coaching change or wants to upgrade the team he is on, why transfer? Don't they expect some competition?

have you ever accepted a job and within a week or so realized you made a huge error?

Believe my I am very happy with the transfers, but it seems like some of these players ( and I am not only talking about our school), could have probably beat out the new players coming in.

[Harvey Specter]

I really don't understand some of these transfers though. If a player is really that great, unless it is a coaching change or wants to upgrade the team he is on, why transfer? Don't they expect some competition?

have you ever accepted a job and within a few months to a couple years realized you made a huge error?

Fify

[Chicat]

I really don't understand some of these transfers though. If a player is really that great, unless it is a coaching change or wants to upgrade the team he is on, why transfer? Don't they expect some competition?

have you ever accepted a job and within a week or so realized you made a huge error?

Believe my I am very happy with the transfers, but it seems like some of these players ( and I am not only talking about our school), could have probably beat out the new players coming in.

There are all kinds of reasons to transfer. Social (girlfriend goes to a different school, homesick), economic (family can’t afford to travel to see you play or NIL opportunities), academic (current school doesn’t offer a program or won’t set them up for life after football), and athletic (scheme, S&C, competition, exposure, coaching, etc).

I would be willing to bet that for a lot of these kids there are a mix of reasons where transferring becomes the best option.

[cerec_cat]

I really don't understand some of these transfers though. If a player is really that great, unless it is a coaching change or wants to upgrade the team he is on, why transfer? Don't they expect some competition?

have you ever accepted a job and within a week or so realized you made a huge error?

Ha, I am self employed, but there are a lot of times I wish I could move on to other things.

[gronk4heisman]

I really don't understand some of these transfers though. If a player is really that great, unless it is a coaching change or wants to upgrade the team he is on, why transfer? Don't they expect some competition?

In our case the guys we added for the most part make sense
Echols - Coaching change
De Laura - Coaching change, new OC brining in his guy
Savae - Position coach came to AZ(writing on the wall they want the HC out)
Cowing - looking for more competition, allegedly family constraints keeping him close to home in Phx.
Warnell - Not sure what happened here, may be because he meshed with the UCLA coaches we hired, maybe fit, maybe the Kelly hot seat
Solomon - This could have been because he didn't like the defensive schemes after Brown left and think he can find those schemes here in AZ

[Spaceman Spiff]

I really don't understand some of these transfers though. If a player is really that great, unless it is a coaching change or wants to upgrade the team he is on, why transfer? Don't they expect some competition?

have you ever accepted a job and within a week or so realized you made a huge error?

Believe my I am very happy with the transfers, but it seems like some of these players ( and I am not only talking about our school), could have probably beat out the new players coming in.

There are all kinds of reasons to transfer. Social (girlfriend goes to a different school, homesick), economic (family can’t afford to travel to see you play or NIL opportunities), academic (current school doesn’t offer a program or won’t set them up for life after football), and athletic (scheme, S&C, competition, exposure, coaching, etc).

I would be willing to bet that for a lot of these kids there are a mix of reasons where transferring becomes the best option.

Yes. If you go to any P5 school, you were a big star in HS. All of a sudden, you're homesick and sitting the bench. Maybe a position coach leaves.

I went to HS in Las Vegas and wasn't really ready for a cold weather college. Snow was fun the first couple times for the novelty, then I remember freezing my ass off and hating it. Sometimes it's even as simple as weather playing a role. Fans underrate the basic human factors because they can view players solely as commodities through the lens of playing time.

[Chicat]

I really don't understand some of these transfers though. If a player is really that great, unless it is a coaching change or wants to upgrade the team he is on, why transfer? Don't they expect some competition?

have you ever accepted a job and within a week or so realized you made a huge error?

Believe my I am very happy with the transfers, but it seems like some of these players ( and I am not only talking about our school), could have probably beat out the new players coming in.

There are all kinds of reasons to transfer. Social (girlfriend goes to a different school, homesick), economic (family can’t afford to travel to see you play or NIL opportunities), academic (current school doesn’t offer a program or won’t set them up for life after football), and athletic (scheme, S&C, competition, exposure, coaching, etc).

I would be willing to bet that for a lot of these kids there are a mix of reasons where transferring becomes the best option.

Yes. If you go to any P5 school, you were a big star in HS. All of a sudden, you're homesick and sitting the bench. Maybe a position coach leaves.

I went to HS in Las Vegas and wasn't really ready for a cold weather college. Snow was fun the first couple times for the novelty, then I remember freezing my ass off and hating it. Sometimes it's even as simple as weather playing a role. Fans underrate the basic human factors because they can view players solely as commodities through the lens of playing time.

My wife transferred from Indiana University to Arizona because her freshman year roommate was from LA and ended up hating the cold. The roommate transferred to UA for 2nd semester freshman year and then every time they talked she begged my wife to transfer there too. So she did, we met, and 25 years later we’ve got two kids a dog and a mortgage (unfortunately in Indiana, not in Tucson but oh well…).

[Spaceman Spiff]

My wife transferred from Indiana University to Arizona because her freshman year roommate was from LA and ended up hating the cold. The roommate transferred to UA for 2nd semester freshman year and then every time they talked she begged my wife to transfer there too. So she did, we met, and 25 years later we’ve got two kids a dog and a mortgage (unfortunately in Indiana, not in Tucson but oh well…).

I always say an unspoken thing on player transfers should be that you're dealing with 19 year olds.

At 19, a lot of things were a big deal to me that wouldn't register these days at 40. The value of hard work, earning stuff over time...I didn't have near the perspective on it at 19 as I do these days.

[EastCoastCat]

My wife transferred from Indiana University to Arizona because her freshman year roommate was from LA and ended up hating the cold. The roommate transferred to UA for 2nd semester freshman year and then every time they talked she begged my wife to transfer there too. So she did, we met, and 25 years later we’ve got two kids a dog and a mortgage (unfortunately in Indiana, not in Tucson but oh well…).

I always say an unspoken thing on player transfers should be that you're dealing with 19 year olds.

At 19, a lot of things were a big deal to me that wouldn't register these days at 40. The value of hard work, earning stuff over time...I didn't have near the perspective on it at 19 as I do these days.

Word.

[Irish27]

This is funny.

[azgreg]

What the hell is Scheer talking about here?

[azgreg]

I mean, if Fisch is convincing a 4 star kid to walk on that's a whole new thing man.

[dmjcat]

What the hell is Scheer talking about here?

Kicker??

Schools frequently have them walk on.

[Carcassdragger]

We need O linemen!!! Dammit.

[AV8RCAT]

That may become common practice as they can now be paid more than enough to cover tuition. Can you have as many walk ons as you want as long as they aren't on scholarship?

[DrWildcat]

What the hell is Scheer talking about here?

Kicker??

Schools frequently have them walk on.

If it is not a kicker than Jason is for sure overselling it/clickbait. Guessing it is a kid that had a 4-star HS rating but has fallen hard. I mean it isn't a bad thing to get someone like that, but I'm sure there is a reason he isn't getting a scholarship anywhere at the D1 level.

[Merkin]

Kicker??

Schools frequently have them walk on.

Heck, kickers rarely get drafted. Only one kicker was drafted in the NFL in 2021.

[gronk4heisman]

What the hell is Scheer talking about here?

Kicker??

Schools frequently have them walk on.

If it is not a kicker than Jason is for sure overselling it/clickbait. Guessing it is a kid that had a 4-star HS rating but has fallen hard. I mean it isn't a bad thing to get someone like that, but I'm sure there is a reason he isn't getting a scholarship anywhere at the D1 level.

An example of this would be someone like Nathan Tilford who was a 4 star, but now would probably be happy to walk on at a P5 conference school.

[azgreg]

What the hell is Scheer talking about here?

Kicker??

Schools frequently have them walk on.

If it was a kicker I don't think Scheer would put out that tweet and write an article on it.

[gronk4heisman]

What the hell is Scheer talking about here?

Kicker??

Schools frequently have them walk on.

If it was a kicker I don't think Scheer would put out that tweet and write an article on it.

Additionally, we have a returning Freshman kicker who made 12/12 FGs and 12/12 XPs (wow or offense was bad if we only kicked 12 XP's)

[Merkin]

Additionally, we have a returning Freshman kicker who made 12/12 FGs and 12/12 XPs (wow or offense was bad if we only kicked 12 XP's)

Not that it's much better, but Havrisik kicked 3 PATs.

[CatsbyAZ]

4 star DLineman formerly at UCLA and with offers last year from literally everywhere.

Wow - offers from far and wide: ASU, Arkansas, Auburn, Colorado, Florida, Florida St, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn St, TCU, Tennessee, USC, Utah, Washington St, West Virginia.

Welcome Tiaoalii!

[dmjcat]