2015 recruits/commitment thread

[Newportcat]

I agree you can't judge a class until five years later to see how it really shook out.

But think about this, since 2002 this is our second lowest rated Rivals class in the PAC 12 ( rivals did include Utah and Colorado even when they weren't in our league).

The lowest was 2012

Crazy to me that we would go down from last year especially in light of our facility improvements and record. It's not like we didn't try for highly ranked recruits as we offered a ton of guys but could get no bites apparently.

Curious how this gets spun tomorrow by the staff. I know it will be all positive but I can't help but be disappointed

[dc4azcats]

i saw a stat somewhere today that said out of the 44 starters in the Superbowl. There were zero 5*'s, 4 4*'s, and 40 players at 3*'s and below coming out of high school.

Are you hoping to send more players to the league or win college football championships? If its the latter, then stars and/or general recruiting rankings do matter. Just look at the PAC 110/2. In the last 10 years, how many times did a team incapable of regularly pulling top 25 classes win the conference?

Wow!! Please keep posting!! Can you point out where anybody said all we want or need is 2 and 3 star guys? At the same time, Ucla and SC have always had top 25 recruiting classes and yet they don't win their division every year nor do they win the conference championship every year. Otherwise what you posted was spot on.

Haha, a bit sensitive? Go read through the thread again and you will find several points in which people are justifying this years class as all RR needs.

Championship football requires coaching and talent. Though you noted UCLA and USC (both lacking in the coaching department imo), you failed to recognize that Stanford and Oregon are consistently pulling top 20 recruiting classes. RR clearly possesses the ability to coach. If he can couple that with a few classes sprinkled with top tier national talent, UA will be a real threat to win Rose Bowls and go to the playoffs. Until that happens, this years result (winning the South) is the ceiling for this team given the talent on the roster.

Disagree. How many players on average start from any one recruiting class? How many contribute by maybe not starting but getting in the rotation on either the OL or DL and playing on special teams?

Clark - 6'0 WR from the Bayou state. Unless he can't catch I'm guessing he will find success in RR's offense.

Fotu - 6'4 285 DE - Lots of folks think he will definitely be in the DL rotation TY and could eventually start - if not TY then next.

Hamiliton - 6'4 DE - Might end up redshirting but folks that know think he will be a force at DE at some point for the Cats.

Shun Brown 5'10 WR. Again, assuming he can catch and just going off the success that Grant and Phillips have add with a similar size - I'll go out on a limb and say he starts for the Cats at some point in the next couple of years. Probably won't be in the rotation next year but eventually he will be.

Nathan Eldridge 6'4 275 - OG ranked as the number 1 guard in Arizona and 13th best out West. You would have to like his chances of eventually getting into the OL rotation in a couple of years and eventually being a starter.

Cruikshank 6'2 195 CB. All I know is what I hear and what I read and what I hear is the staff loves him and what I read is that he will be in the rotation early and will eventually be a starter.

Harper Sherman 6'4 260 OT from Canada who the staff likes a lot. If Coach M likes him then that's fine with me.

Cody Creason - 6'4 270 OG. ranked the 5th best OG in Cal and 10th best out West. You would like to think that he will be in the rotation at some point.

Kendal Franklin 6'3 240 DE from the Bayou state and I would be surprised if he's also not in the rotation at some point after a RS year. Does he eventually start? Time will tell but I think we will hit on more guys from SEC country than miss. Coach Magee has a lot of connections down there and I think that makes a big difference. It's not just the coaches that we get players from, it's the coaches who will tell Coach Magee if another player from a rival school is an OKG or not. It's what separates what the recruiting services provide and what an actual coach with connections can provide. Huge difference.

Antonio Parks 5'10 177 Safety who is also from the Bayou State. Sensing a pattern here. #3 ranked Safety out of LA. Have heard nothing but good things about this kid. Would be surprised if he isn't starting at some point for the Cats.

Anthony Mariscal 6'0 192 Safety from California who is also highly thought of.

Orlando Bradford 5'9 195 RB also from the Bayou state. Obviously he's behind Wilson at this point but he's the only RB we have in this class. Coach Magee coaches the RB's and this kid is a RB from LA so I'm going out on a limb and saying this kid can play.

Paul Magloire 6'2 215 safety who a lot of folks think he may start TY. JC guy but that's why he's here because he can play right away. Already on campus and will go through Spring drills.

Keenan Walker 6'5 282 OT who is #1 OT in the state and #1 out west and 8th in the country.

Flinton Connolly 6'3 255 DT who's ranked as the #1 DT in the state of AZ and #12 out West.

That's 15 guys out of 23 who you could realistically say they should either start or will be in the rotation before it's all said and done. There's a couple more OL and WR's that I could list but this is a good mix of kids. Why I disagree is this staff recruits guys who love to play football and are ideal to the system we run. Not to beat the Scooby Wright drum again but he's a guy that other staffs saw in person, up close and said no thanks. Our staff saw the stuff on film that you don't find when looking at the stats from a recruiting service, and you might not see at a combine if your mind is already made up that he doesn't fit the mold.

Five of the 15 (23) are from the Bayou state which I've already mentioned as to why I think that's a big deal for us to sign recruits from there. One, Calvin Magee as he knows what we need and what works in the system we run. Two, it's SEC country and football is king. We got a RB, 2 WR's a safety and a DE from the Bayou state. All of those guys fill needs.

From AZ we got the number one OT in the state, #1 OG in the state and the number one DT in the state. We also got a JC all americam in Magloire. If you're going to recruit the state it doesn't hurt to get the best player at their respective position.

I really don't care where we're ranked as far as this class goes as anybody with half a brain can see that we got some guys who can play and play in areas where we needed them. Two and 3 years from now most of the 15 I just mentioned will be starting or in the rotation and that's all you can ask from any respective class.

[UAEebs86]

Good thing we weren't recruiting Derik Hall, Adam's cousin.

Heard he was involved in the brawl at Sahuaro the other day and NAU has already pulled his scholarship.

[Harvey Specter]

Newport, I understand your concern, but you said it - let the proof be in the pudding. Look at RR's first class he signed, the guys that will be seniors next year....it's garbage as a whole, basically Parks and Griffey are the only significant contributors. And yet, despite that, we've gone 8-5,8-5, 10-4. I think it's OK to be "meh" about this class, but thinking that this so-so class is some harbinger of doom is super premature given what this staff has been able to accomplish so far.

The basketball comparison isn't fair as the dynamics of the sport are vastly different....but I'll indulge it for a moment. A big part of recruiting in either sport is reputation, gravitas, prestige, etc. Where we are as a football program is basically where we were in basketball in 1987-88 when Lute was still building the basketball brand. I was much younger then but I don't remember people second-guessing Lute because guys like Matt Othick and Wayne Womack didn't seem like grade-A talent.

We are a promising and growing football brand, but we are still not a football destination. We aren't more prestigious than USC, UCLA, or (hate to say it) ASU from a football reputation perspective. The only ways we get better talent with lesser reputation are by working harder, taking risks, or cheating. I don't see us doing either of the latter and I believe this staff works damn hard, so the only way we jump up in the caliber of talent we can get is to increase prestige...and that takes YEARS.

Basically....it's a long process and it's not linear. I agree that on paper this class isn't very exciting. However, I don't think it's fair to draw any conclusions from that. This class might end up being the class that provides depth behind the studs in the 2014 class, or it might be the glue guys that mentor the super-talented 2016 class. Let's start judging this class on the beach in Honolulu in 2019 when these guys have completed their senior season.

I agree with your point overall re FB vs BB, although Othick is a terrible example (he had been committed to UNLV when we signed him, and they were not too bad at the time) and IIRC correctly Womack was a 4-star recruit.

Curious that on paper this class appears to be worse than all but 1? Of Stoops' classes, given that many of those defending this class were the ones who ranted about how bare Stoops left the cupboard,

Next class will give a good signal of where recruiting is headed; a successful tailwind from a solid season and facilities firmly in place should produce dividends. If not, then I think our recruiting will stay about the same. This staff obviously wants the 4-5 star recruits (they offer plenty of them), they just did not land a lot this year,

RR clearly does more with his talent than his predecessor... Whether or not he can recruit well enough to make FB a regular contender is TBD. Time will tell.

PS - Scoob Wright is not anywhere near the first player in this program (or even all of college FB, for that matter) to achieve great things in college FB, Rodriguez & Staff deserve credit for getting him... But the implications that he is the rule (rather than the exception) - or that no other school has had a great find before - are way over the top.

[Puerco]

A couple opinions:

Thrillhouse, your 'harbinger of doom' statement was spot on. This class is lower-rated than a lot of those prior, but these guys were A) mostly signed before this past season began, and B) guys that the staff obviously wanted. To think that they're massively inferior than other guys we might have pursued implies you believe RR and company have just thrown in the towel recruiting-wise and were not chasing anyone who might have had more stars. It implies you believe the staff would have accepted those commitments knowing those kids weren't good enough. I for one don't believe that. Being disappointed a little? Sure. Thinking it's the end of the world or is an indicator of a declining program? Silliness.

DC4, I understand where you're coming from, but you can't list players and claim they'l make an impact because they'll start at some point in the future. The same could be said about ANY class, good or bad. We want kids that start for a Rose Bowl team, not ones who will start for a traditional Arizona team. That means talent needs to be upgraded to the level of UO or Stanford or USC. Whether that talent comes with stars or not in any given year clearly doesn't matter, but statistically stars do matter over the long term (and please don't make me wade through the crap pile of TOS to find Winger's proof of that from a few years ago).

[Gladiator Cat]

A couple opinions:

Thrillhouse, your 'harbinger of doom' statement was spot on. This class is lower-rated than a lot of those prior, but these guys were A) mostly signed before this past season began, and B) guys that the staff obviously wanted. To think that they're massively inferior than other guys we might have pursued implies you believe RR and company have just thrown in the towel recruiting-wise and were not chasing anyone who might have had more stars. It implies you believe the staff would have accepted those commitments knowing those kids weren't good enough. I for one don't believe that. Being disappointed a little? Sure. Thinking it's the end of the world or is an indicator of a declining program? Silliness.

DC4, I understand where you're coming from, but you can't list players and claim they'l make an impact because they'll start at some point in the future. The same could be said about ANY class, good or bad. We want kids that start for a Rose Bowl team, not ones who will start for a traditional Arizona team. That means talent needs to be upgraded to the level of UO or Stanford or USC. Whether that talent comes with stars or not in any given year clearly doesn't matter, but statistically stars do matter over the long term (and please don't make me wade through the crap pile of TOS to find Winger's proof of that from a few years ago).

Puerco,

Just superb thoughts and an excellent general breakdown without all the nonsense and meaningless bravado.

Everyone tries to quantify and defend their position on something that is so fluid, unknowing and unquantifiable as college football recruiting.

Historically, I know where we've come from and from that vantage point, I have a pretty good idea where we will end up.

I appreciate your balanced thoughts on the subject.

[azthrillhouse]

[
I agree with your point overall re FB vs BB, although Othick is a terrible example (he had been committed to UNLV when we signed him, and they were not too bad at the time) and IIRC correctly Womack was a 4-star recruit.

You're right about Othick....I'm getting senile. But you got my point, perhaps I should have used Steve Kerr and Tom Tolbert as better examples, or maybe somebody later like Joe McLean. Point being, it takes a long-ass period of prolonged success before you become the type of program that top recruits automatically gravitate to. Oregon didn't start pulling in top recruits the day Phil Knight decided to start bankrolling them....it's been a gradual process for them to get to the point that they are at now.

[catinfl]

So far the greatest news I've heard is Paul Lucas flipping.

[catinfl]

Keenan Walker is in.

[whatisee]

So far the greatest news I've heard is Paul Lucas flipping.

where did he end up? ASSU sucks

[ASUHATER!]

At least we have a higher ranked class than Michigan and Florida. Florida has signed only 15 players...only one of which is 4 or 5 star. Their worst class probably ever.

[CBCat]

i saw a stat somewhere today that said out of the 44 starters in the Superbowl. There were zero 5*'s, 4 4*'s, and 40 players at 3*'s and below coming out of high school.

Are you hoping to send more players to the league or win college football championships? If its the latter, then stars and/or general recruiting rankings do matter. Just look at the PAC 110/2. In the last 10 years, how many times did a team incapable of regularly pulling top 25 classes win the conference?

Wow!! Please keep posting!! Can you point out where anybody said all we want or need is 2 and 3 star guys? At the same time, Ucla and SC have always had top 25 recruiting classes and yet they don't win their division every year nor do they win the conference championship every year. Otherwise what you posted was spot on.

Haha, a bit sensitive? Go read through the thread again and you will find several points in which people are justifying this years class as all RR needs.

Championship football requires coaching and talent. Though you noted UCLA and USC (both lacking in the coaching department imo), you failed to recognize that Stanford and Oregon are consistently pulling top 20 recruiting classes. RR clearly possesses the ability to coach. If he can couple that with a few classes sprinkled with top tier national talent, UA will be a real threat to win Rose Bowls and go to the playoffs. Until that happens, this years result (winning the South) is the ceiling for this team given the talent on the roster.

Disagree. How many players on average start from any one recruiting class? How many contribute by maybe not starting but getting in the rotation on either the OL or DL and playing on special teams?

Clark - 6'0 WR from the Bayou state. Unless he can't catch I'm guessing he will find success in RR's offense.

Fotu - 6'4 285 DE - Lots of folks think he will definitely be in the DL rotation TY and could eventually start - if not TY then next.

Hamiliton - 6'4 DE - Might end up redshirting but folks that know think he will be a force at DE at some point for the Cats.

Shun Brown 5'10 WR. Again, assuming he can catch and just going off the success that Grant and Phillips have add with a similar size - I'll go out on a limb and say he starts for the Cats at some point in the next couple of years. Probably won't be in the rotation next year but eventually he will be.

Nathan Eldridge 6'4 275 - OG ranked as the number 1 guard in Arizona and 13th best out West. You would have to like his chances of eventually getting into the OL rotation in a couple of years and eventually being a starter.

Cruikshank 6'2 195 CB. All I know is what I hear and what I read and what I hear is the staff loves him and what I read is that he will be in the rotation early and will eventually be a starter.

Harper Sherman 6'4 260 OT from Canada who the staff likes a lot. If Coach M likes him then that's fine with me.

Cody Creason - 6'4 270 OG. ranked the 5th best OG in Cal and 10th best out West. You would like to think that he will be in the rotation at some point.

Kendal Franklin 6'3 240 DE from the Bayou state and I would be surprised if he's also not in the rotation at some point after a RS year. Does he eventually start? Time will tell but I think we will hit on more guys from SEC country than miss. Coach Magee has a lot of connections down there and I think that makes a big difference. It's not just the coaches that we get players from, it's the coaches who will tell Coach Magee if another player from a rival school is an OKG or not. It's what separates what the recruiting services provide and what an actual coach with connections can provide. Huge difference.

Antonio Parks 5'10 177 Safety who is also from the Bayou State. Sensing a pattern here. #3 ranked Safety out of LA. Have heard nothing but good things about this kid. Would be surprised if he isn't starting at some point for the Cats.

Anthony Mariscal 6'0 192 Safety from California who is also highly thought of.

Orlando Bradford 5'9 195 RB also from the Bayou state. Obviously he's behind Wilson at this point but he's the only RB we have in this class. Coach Magee coaches the RB's and this kid is a RB from LA so I'm going out on a limb and saying this kid can play.

Paul Magloire 6'2 215 safety who a lot of folks think he may start TY. JC guy but that's why he's here because he can play right away. Already on campus and will go through Spring drills.

Keenan Walker 6'5 282 OT who is #1 OT in the state and #1 out west and 8th in the country.

Flinton Connolly 6'3 255 DT who's ranked as the #1 DT in the state of AZ and #12 out West.

That's 15 guys out of 23 who you could realistically say they should either start or will be in the rotation before it's all said and done. There's a couple more OL and WR's that I could list but this is a good mix of kids. Why I disagree is this staff recruits guys who love to play football and are ideal to the system we run. Not to beat the Scooby Wright drum again but he's a guy that other staffs saw in person, up close and said no thanks. Our staff saw the stuff on film that you don't find when looking at the stats from a recruiting service, and you might not see at a combine if your mind is already made up that he doesn't fit the mold.

Five of the 15 (23) are from the Bayou state which I've already mentioned as to why I think that's a big deal for us to sign recruits from there. One, Calvin Magee as he knows what we need and what works in the system we run. Two, it's SEC country and football is king. We got a RB, 2 WR's a safety and a DE from the Bayou state. All of those guys fill needs.

From AZ we got the number one OT in the state, #1 OG in the state and the number one DT in the state. We also got a JC all americam in Magloire. If you're going to recruit the state it doesn't hurt to get the best player at their respective position.

I really don't care where we're ranked as far as this class goes as anybody with half a brain can see that we got some guys who can play and play in areas where we needed them. Two and 3 years from now most of the 15 I just mentioned will be starting or in the rotation and that's all you can ask from any respective class.

This is exactly the kind of info i was asking for OTOS. Thanks for this. Love hearing about the size of the OL and DL guys. This is what we need to be "stock piling" to compete for the Roses.

[UAEebs86]

So far the greatest news I've heard is Paul Lucas flipping.

where did he end up? ASSU sucks

Oregon State

[whatisee]

So far the greatest news I've heard is Paul Lucas flipping.

where did he end up? ASSU sucks

Oregon State

Wow...Anderson is doing some nice things early. Nice pickup for the Beavers. I don't blame any high school kid who wants to leave his home city/state for college.

any word on if we have Darick Holmes signed up?

[CatsbyAZ]

So far the greatest news I've heard is Paul Lucas flipping.

You know it's a worthless signing day when the highlight is a three star running back flipping from our rival to a school we play regularly enough anyway. And our rival is still signing on a fantastic class.

[ASUHATER!]

You should go tell our commits that their playing for Arizona is worthless because of an ambiguous star rating.

[whatisee]

So far the greatest news I've heard is Paul Lucas flipping.

You know it's a worthless signing day when the highlight is a three star running back flipping from our rival to a school we play regularly enough anyway. And our rival is still signing on a fantastic class.

4* on ESPN

[CatsbyAZ]

You should go tell our commits that their playing for Arizona is worthless because of an ambiguous star rating.

I'm not going to hide how disappointing this year's effort was.

No star running back.
No star QB.
Whiffed on numerous defensive standouts such as Reid, DYoung, and McGinnis.
Highest rated player already has a leg injury.

Meanwhile, ASU puts together a great class.

[whatisee]

You guys sound like my sisters talking about ex boyfriends


Darick Holmes is in. Should see playing time as a true freshman. Should be a special player for Arizona in the future

[Scummy Dick Douglas]

So far the greatest news I've heard is Paul Lucas flipping.

You know it's a worthless signing day when the highlight is a three star running back flipping from our rival to a school we play regularly enough anyway. And our rival is still signing on a fantastic class.

4* on ESPN

Rivals was wrong to drop Keenan Walker to 3*, but they were spot on in dropping Lucas from a 4* to a 3* (prob never should have been a 4* to begin with). He has incredible speed, but is lacking in basic football skills in a pretty clear way. He also is another kid I would keep an eye on to see if he even qualifies, he has a lot of work to do in the class room this spring. Regardless, this hurts ASU (that should make you happy) more so because of the timing of the decommitment and no so much because of who it is.

[whatisee]

So far the greatest news I've heard is Paul Lucas flipping.

You know it's a worthless signing day when the highlight is a three star running back flipping from our rival to a school we play regularly enough anyway. And our rival is still signing on a fantastic class.

4* on ESPN

Rivals was wrong to drop Keenan Walker to 3*, but they were spot on in dropping Lucas from a 4* to a 3* (prob never should have been a 4* to begin with). He has incredible speed, but is lacking in basic football skills in a pretty clear way. He also is another kid I would keep an eye on to see if he even qualifies, he has a lot of work to do in the class room this spring. Regardless, this hurts ASU (that should make you happy) more so because of the timing of the decommitment and no so much because of who it is.

He's having knee surgery in March and was going to RS i imagine anyway. Seems like a bright kid and should be fine.

[whatisee]

Not that we've had luck with them either, but this does allow us to bring on a 5 year senior if there's one we like.

I see at least 5 of this years class playing right away, and a few of them possibly starting, Fotu, Magloire, Cruikshank, Brown, and Holmes should all see playing time this year. The rest will red shirt and get a year in the strength and conditioning program. I'll sure they'll be a surprise or two as well.

[catinfl]

I could see Kosininski getting some PT this year, but the class is probably done. Unless you count transfers as part of the class.

[dc4azcats]

A couple opinions:

Thrillhouse, your 'harbinger of doom' statement was spot on. This class is lower-rated than a lot of those prior, but these guys were A) mostly signed before this past season began, and B) guys that the staff obviously wanted. To think that they're massively inferior than other guys we might have pursued implies you believe RR and company have just thrown in the towel recruiting-wise and were not chasing anyone who might have had more stars. It implies you believe the staff would have accepted those commitments knowing those kids weren't good enough. I for one don't believe that. Being disappointed a little? Sure. Thinking it's the end of the world or is an indicator of a declining program? Silliness.

DC4, I understand where you're coming from, but you can't list players and claim they'l make an impact because they'll start at some point in the future. The same could be said about ANY class, good or bad. We want kids that start for a Rose Bowl team, not ones who will start for a traditional Arizona team. That means talent needs to be upgraded to the level of UO or Stanford or USC. Whether that talent comes with stars or not in any given year clearly doesn't matter, but statistically stars do matter over the long term (and please don't make me wade through the crap pile of TOS to find Winger's proof of that from a few years ago).

Puerco,

Just superb thoughts and an excellent general breakdown without all the nonsense and meaningless bravado.

Everyone tries to quantify and defend their position on something that is so fluid, unknowing and unquantifiable as college football recruiting.

Historically, I know where we've come from and from that vantage point, I have a pretty good idea where we will end up.

I appreciate your balanced thoughts on the subject.

As Herbstreit pointed out in a tweet earlier today, "if you get contributions from 50% of the class it's considered a great class." I listed 15 guys who have by every account I've read, a chance to contribute. Time will tell obviously but, I think people complain when they really have no idea where the kids come from and how they're viewed.

I trust Calvin Magee over anybody from any recruiting site. Period. For all of the reasons that I mentioned. Do you think any of the so called recruiters from any of the sites have even half the knowledge and or connections in that area that Coach Magee does? Especially when the kid is going to a non-SEC school. It's a joke of a system and always has been.

We're not there yet but if you look at the guys who redshirted and the guys who grey shirted LY along with what this class brings - there's a lot of quality players that are going to contribute in a big way down the road.

[Newportcat]

Really surprised that there was not a surprise commit or two. In the previous 3 classes we always had a couple surprises on signing day I felt like.

I am not as high on Cruikshank. He played WR his first year in JC (not well or was hurt), he played CB his second year, was only second team all conference and his recruiting video i thought was weak. He is a JUCO transfer coming in the summer which I feel always puts them at a disadvantage. I like his size but to me I like JUCO guys who were studs at the JUCO level like Magliore and Fotu were. First team all conference or state, All Americans etc. Magliore might not perform well in college but I am optimistic because of how he performed at the JUCO level. Gurolla was a great center for us and as a JUCO guy and he was 1st team all american. Kaige Lawrence did nothing this year and was only second team all conference at the JUCO level.

Also why I am not high on Timmy Hamilton. He was honorable mention all conference and only had 1.5 sacks this year and is a summer transfer. He might provide depth but how you could say a guy who only got 1.5 sacks at the JUCO level and couldnt even make the second team all conference team will be a stud or even contributor for a Pac-12 team is a major major stretch.

Kosinsiki I like as his video was awesome and came in early which gives him a leg up. Easily the best part of this class was our OLineman.

[dc4azcats]

You should go tell our commits that their playing for Arizona is worthless because of an ambiguous star rating.

I'm not going to hide how disappointing this year's effort was.

No star running back.
No star QB.
Whiffed on numerous defensive standouts such as Reid, DYoung, and McGinnis.
Highest rated player already has a leg injury.

Meanwhile, ASU puts together a great class.

What Star RB is going to come here when you already have a star RB that is just finished his freshman year? The "star RB" wants to be the guy - he doesn't want to share the ball with somebody else. The same can be said for the QB spot - what star QB is going to come here when we just finished with a RS frosh QB who isn't going anywhere anytime soon. If Anu was leaving after next season then I can see your point but Anu isn't going anywhere and Wilson isn't going anywhere for another 2 years at the earliest. So if you were advising a "star RB" or a "star QB" would you have suggested Arizona knowing what's in front of them?

McGinnis is a whiff? We have Ware and Cobb who redshirted this past season and both were 4* LB's out of HS who both could end up starting next season. How is that a whiff? Are we only going to play 2 LB's next season because McGinnis isn't coming? Seriously??? We have all of 2 sr LB's on our team and the last time Sir Thomas Jackson played was RR's first year here. Go to the official site and check out the roster and count how many seniors are currently on the team? I think the number was either 18 or 19 last time I checked. We're a very young team that has talent and needed to build depth which RR is doing with this class.

Let's see Fotu is considered a "defensive standout", Magloire is a JC AA, All of the guys that we got who play in the secondary are exactly what the doctor ordered as they have size, speed and can cover a wr or a te.

Anybody see Wilner's tweets?

Hourly Pac12fball anti-anxiety nugget: Oregon had 1 top-10 class from 2010-14 but 5 top-10 rankings

And this.

Hourly reminder to #Pac12fball fans: Fate not sealed on NSD: Az avg class rank (2010-14) was 41. Won brutal division LY

[azcat49]

Where we had needs (both lines) I thought we did really good. Walker, Creasona nd Kosinsky I think will be starters in there career. Fotu will play and I like Magliore and Morrison. Holmes is really underated I think.

Woud have loved to have more Juice with stars but you never really know. Gimino's article on the 1990 class really showed that very well. Lets play it out and see how many starters we get from each class.

Remember, 10-2 and South champions

[Merkin]

As least RR didn't get beat out on walk ons.

[azpenguin]

I like what the coaches are doing as far as recruiting and developing the lines. There's plenty of talent up and down the rosters, but if the line play is solid, then everyone else is going to really make noise. The D-line has gone from a position of severe need to a position with a lot of depth.

[MrMeow]

You should go tell our commits that their playing for Arizona is worthless because of an ambiguous star rating.

I'm not going to hide how disappointing this year's effort was.

No star running back.
No star QB.
Whiffed on numerous defensive standouts such as Reid, DYoung, and McGinnis.
Highest rated player already has a leg injury.

Meanwhile, ASU puts together a great class.

What Star RB is going to come here when you already have a star RB that is just finished his freshman year? The "star RB" wants to be the guy - he doesn't want to share the ball with somebody else. The same can be said for the QB spot - what star QB is going to come here when we just finished with a RS frosh QB who isn't going anywhere anytime soon. If Anu was leaving after next season then I can see your point but Anu isn't going anywhere and Wilson isn't going anywhere for another 2 years at the earliest. So if you were advising a "star RB" or a "star QB" would you have suggested Arizona knowing what's in front of them?

McGinnis is a whiff? We have Ware and Cobb who redshirted this past season and both were 4* LB's out of HS who both could end up starting next season. How is that a whiff? Are we only going to play 2 LB's next season because McGinnis isn't coming? Seriously??? We have all of 2 sr LB's on our team and the last time Sir Thomas Jackson played was RR's first year here. Go to the official site and check out the roster and count how many seniors are currently on the team? I think the number was either 18 or 19 last time I checked. We're a very young team that has talent and needed to build depth which RR is doing with this class.

Let's see Fotu is considered a "defensive standout", Magloire is a JC AA, All of the guys that we got who play in the secondary are exactly what the doctor ordered as they have size, speed and can cover a wr or a te.

Anybody see Wilner's tweets?

Hourly Pac12fball anti-anxiety nugget: Oregon had 1 top-10 class from 2010-14 but 5 top-10 rankings

And this.

Hourly reminder to #Pac12fball fans: Fate not sealed on NSD: Az avg class rank (2010-14) was 41. Won brutal division LY

DC, I agree with 95% of what you say. The 5%? As good as he is, Nick Wilson has been injury prone. Perhaps Orlando Bradford did a better job with his research than other "star" RBs.

[dc4azcats]

You should go tell our commits that their playing for Arizona is worthless because of an ambiguous star rating.

I'm not going to hide how disappointing this year's effort was.

No star running back.
No star QB.
Whiffed on numerous defensive standouts such as Reid, DYoung, and McGinnis.
Highest rated player already has a leg injury.

Meanwhile, ASU puts together a great class.

What Star RB is going to come here when you already have a star RB that is just finished his freshman year? The "star RB" wants to be the guy - he doesn't want to share the ball with somebody else. The same can be said for the QB spot - what star QB is going to come here when we just finished with a RS frosh QB who isn't going anywhere anytime soon. If Anu was leaving after next season then I can see your point but Anu isn't going anywhere and Wilson isn't going anywhere for another 2 years at the earliest. So if you were advising a "star RB" or a "star QB" would you have suggested Arizona knowing what's in front of them?

McGinnis is a whiff? We have Ware and Cobb who redshirted this past season and both were 4* LB's out of HS who both could end up starting next season. How is that a whiff? Are we only going to play 2 LB's next season because McGinnis isn't coming? Seriously??? We have all of 2 sr LB's on our team and the last time Sir Thomas Jackson played was RR's first year here. Go to the official site and check out the roster and count how many seniors are currently on the team? I think the number was either 18 or 19 last time I checked. We're a very young team that has talent and needed to build depth which RR is doing with this class.

Let's see Fotu is considered a "defensive standout", Magloire is a JC AA, All of the guys that we got who play in the secondary are exactly what the doctor ordered as they have size, speed and can cover a wr or a te.

Anybody see Wilner's tweets?

Hourly Pac12fball anti-anxiety nugget: Oregon had 1 top-10 class from 2010-14 but 5 top-10 rankings

And this.

Hourly reminder to #Pac12fball fans: Fate not sealed on NSD: Az avg class rank (2010-14) was 41. Won brutal division LY

DC, I agree with 95% of what you say. The 5%? As good as he is, Nick Wilson has been injury prone. Perhaps Orlando Bradford did a better job with his research than other "star" RBs.

My guess is he put his trust in Calvin Magee. I'm a premium member of the scout site and pretty much every kid from Louisiana talks about coach Magee and how he's a legend down there. My point is that Bradford knows that he can come in and get some carries and you go from there. He obviously can accept that Nick is the guy but knows he can come in and get some carries and prove himself much like Nick did LY. Difference being that everybody knew that KaDeem was leaving and even if KaDeem had stayed, guys like Nick Wilson knew they could RS and everything was still good. Every recruit out there knows that the earliest Nick Wilson will leave is 2 years from now.

The thing that Nick will work on this off season is no doubt getting stronger. Loved the way he runs the ball but anytime you saw a close-up you could tell that he didn't have the upper body strength that Kadeem showed his JR year after he had a full off season in the S&C program. Watch how Wilson looks come start of Fall camp. Dude will have some serious guns and that additional strength will help him as the season goes along.

[Scummy Dick Douglas]

You should go tell our commits that their playing for Arizona is worthless because of an ambiguous star rating.

I'm not going to hide how disappointing this year's effort was.

No star running back.
No star QB.
Whiffed on numerous defensive standouts such as Reid, DYoung, and McGinnis.
Highest rated player already has a leg injury.

Meanwhile, ASU puts together a great class.

What Star RB is going to come here when you already have a star RB that is just finished his freshman year? The "star RB" wants to be the guy - he doesn't want to share the ball with somebody else. The same can be said for the QB spot - what star QB is going to come here when we just finished with a RS frosh QB who isn't going anywhere anytime soon. If Anu was leaving after next season then I can see your point but Anu isn't going anywhere and Wilson isn't going anywhere for another 2 years at the earliest. So if you were advising a "star RB" or a "star QB" would you have suggested Arizona knowing what's in front of them?

McGinnis is a whiff? We have Ware and Cobb who redshirted this past season and both were 4* LB's out of HS who both could end up starting next season. How is that a whiff? Are we only going to play 2 LB's next season because McGinnis isn't coming? Seriously??? We have all of 2 sr LB's on our team and the last time Sir Thomas Jackson played was RR's first year here. Go to the official site and check out the roster and count how many seniors are currently on the team? I think the number was either 18 or 19 last time I checked. We're a very young team that has talent and needed to build depth which RR is doing with this class.

Let's see Fotu is considered a "defensive standout", Magloire is a JC AA, All of the guys that we got who play in the secondary are exactly what the doctor ordered as they have size, speed and can cover a wr or a te.

Anybody see Wilner's tweets?

Hourly Pac12fball anti-anxiety nugget: Oregon had 1 top-10 class from 2010-14 but 5 top-10 rankings

And this.

Hourly reminder to #Pac12fball fans: Fate not sealed on NSD: Az avg class rank (2010-14) was 41. Won brutal division LY

re: Oregon. Sure only one top ten recruiting class, but their other classes during that time period were 13th, 16th, 22nd, and 26th (averaging 8 four star commits a year). Thats a far cry from 41st. I think the reality in winning championships is that it requires both coaching AND talent. UCLA and SC never fail to get the talent but always come up short in coaching. Stanford and Oregon have owned the PAC for the last several years bringing in classes that average being top 25, but not quite UCLA/SC level. If UA could string together a few classes with 7-8 four star recruits, they will have the talent necessary to win the PAC.

[Harvey Specter]

As least RR didn't get beat out on walk ons.

[MrMeow]

You should go tell our commits that their playing for Arizona is worthless because of an ambiguous star rating.

I'm not going to hide how disappointing this year's effort was.

No star running back.
No star QB.
Whiffed on numerous defensive standouts such as Reid, DYoung, and McGinnis.
Highest rated player already has a leg injury.

Meanwhile, ASU puts together a great class.

What Star RB is going to come here when you already have a star RB that is just finished his freshman year? The "star RB" wants to be the guy - he doesn't want to share the ball with somebody else. The same can be said for the QB spot - what star QB is going to come here when we just finished with a RS frosh QB who isn't going anywhere anytime soon. If Anu was leaving after next season then I can see your point but Anu isn't going anywhere and Wilson isn't going anywhere for another 2 years at the earliest. So if you were advising a "star RB" or a "star QB" would you have suggested Arizona knowing what's in front of them?

McGinnis is a whiff? We have Ware and Cobb who redshirted this past season and both were 4* LB's out of HS who both could end up starting next season. How is that a whiff? Are we only going to play 2 LB's next season because McGinnis isn't coming? Seriously??? We have all of 2 sr LB's on our team and the last time Sir Thomas Jackson played was RR's first year here. Go to the official site and check out the roster and count how many seniors are currently on the team? I think the number was either 18 or 19 last time I checked. We're a very young team that has talent and needed to build depth which RR is doing with this class.

Let's see Fotu is considered a "defensive standout", Magloire is a JC AA, All of the guys that we got who play in the secondary are exactly what the doctor ordered as they have size, speed and can cover a wr or a te.

Anybody see Wilner's tweets?

Hourly Pac12fball anti-anxiety nugget: Oregon had 1 top-10 class from 2010-14 but 5 top-10 rankings

And this.

Hourly reminder to #Pac12fball fans: Fate not sealed on NSD: Az avg class rank (2010-14) was 41. Won brutal division LY

DC, I agree with 95% of what you say. The 5%? As good as he is, Nick Wilson has been injury prone. Perhaps Orlando Bradford did a better job with his research than other "star" RBs.

My guess is he put his trust in Calvin Magee. I'm a premium member of the scout site and pretty much every kid from Louisiana talks about coach Magee and how he's a legend down there. My point is that Bradford knows that he can come in and get some carries and you go from there. He obviously can accept that Nick is the guy but knows he can come in and get some carries and prove himself much like Nick did LY. Difference being that everybody knew that KaDeem was leaving and even if KaDeem had stayed, guys like Nick Wilson knew they could RS and everything was still good. Every recruit out there knows that the earliest Nick Wilson will leave is 2 years from now.

The thing that Nick will work on this off season is no doubt getting stronger. Loved the way he runs the ball but anytime you saw a close-up you could tell that he didn't have the upper body strength that Kadeem showed his JR year after he had a full off season in the S&C program. Watch how Wilson looks come start of Fall camp. Dude will have some serious guns and that additional strength will help him as the season goes along.

Well maybe. Nothing he can do in the weight room to prevent concussions. Looking forward to seeing some OB

[Gladiator Cat]

Mr. Meow,

Nick Wilson most certainly is injury prone just as you said. He in my opinion is not an every down type of RB. I'll take it a step further and say that if the truth be told, Nick has already sustained two pretty good concussions in his short time here and he only going to be a soph with two of these already in his records.

I would not be a bit surprised that if he sustains a couple more "bell ringers" in a short period of time that the team physicians may have to sit him down and give him the news he won't want to hear.

[Salty]

I don't know what the excuse is for our classes anymore.

Facilities are new and very nice.
Campus is great.
We are winning.
Academics won't keep players out.
RR has sent plenty of players to the NFL.

What's missing? These classes are worse than what we had with Stoops.

[Scummy Dick Douglas]

I don't know what the excuse is for our classes anymore.

Facilities are new and very nice.
Campus is great.
We are winning.
Academics won't keep players out.
RR has sent plenty of players to the NFL.

What's missing? These classes are worse than what we had with Stoops.

Uniforms with rainbows on the shoulders?

[whatisee]

I don't know what the excuse is for our classes anymore.

Facilities are new and very nice.
Campus is great.
We are winning.
Academics won't keep players out.
RR has sent plenty of players to the NFL.

What's missing? These classes are worse than what we had with Stoops.

Were we ever 10-4 under Stoops?

Rainbows...that's actually funny

[azgreg]

I don't know what the excuse is for our classes anymore.

Facilities are new and very nice.
Campus is great.
We are winning.
Academics won't keep players out.
RR has sent plenty of players to the NFL.

What's missing? These classes are worse than what we had with Stoops.

Uniforms with rainbows on the shoulders?

This is your best post by far.

[Gladiator Cat]

I don't know what the excuse is for our classes anymore.

Facilities are new and very nice.
Campus is great.
We are winning.
Academics won't keep players out.
RR has sent plenty of players to the NFL.

What's missing? These classes are worse than what we had with Stoops.

Well Salty, look on the bright side................word on the street is we have some really good walk-ons.

Yawn.

[eoe]

The walk-on comment scares me.

UM fans told us when we hired him he was enamored with walk-ons and spent too much time trying to address needs through that channel. Compounding a shit-tastic (on paper) signing class with that statement is mildly irritating.

[3goggles]

The walk-on comment scares me.

UM fans told us when we hired him he was enamored with walk-ons and spent too much time trying to address needs through that channel. Compounding a shit-tastic (on paper) signing class with that statement is mildly irritating.

Yeah until we win the south again!

[azcat49]

I am most disappointed in getting beat by ASSU and Brittney Graham on Khalan Thomas and Scrappy Norman

[ASUHATER!]

I'd rather actually beat Asu and win division titles than win recruiting titles...but it seems I'm alone in that department.

[azcat49]

Don't disagree with that but I just hate to lose 2 guys that at one point seemed to be an AZ lean and Thomas is really good IMO

[3goggles]

I'd rather actually beat Asu and win division titles than win recruiting titles...but it seems I'm alone in that department.

^^^^^^ for once we are on the same page ASUHATER! Win the games on the field oh and FUCK ASSU!

[gronk4heisman]

Unless we beat them in recruiting ranking then we celebrate that to.

[Harvey Specter]

I'd rather actually beat Asu and win division titles than win recruiting titles...but it seems I'm alone in that department.

You seem to think those are mutually exclusive. Of course winning CONFERENCE titles is the objective, and beating ASU is a given on the priority list.

Considering how we have dominated ASU each of the last 3 years I understand your perspective. Oh wait....

And that division title should not be in plural form just yet...

[dmjcat]

Final 2015 Rivals Recruiting Rankings for the PAC12:

Rank Total 5star 4star 3star Avg Points
#1 USC 26 4 17 5 3.96 3193
#2 UCLA 19 3 9 7 3.79 2318
#3 Oregon 22 0 8 14 3.36 2079
#4 Stanford 22 1 6 13 3.27 2066
#5 asu 22 0 7 14 3.27 1986
#6 California 23 0 5 15 3.09 1667
#7 Wash 24 0 4 16 3.04 1641
#8 Utah 24 0 1 18 2.83 1410
#8 Arizona 25 0 0 20 2.8 1410
#10 WSU 22 0 2 13 2.77 1245
#11 Colorado 18 0 0 14 2.78 1065
#11 OSU 19 0 0 10 2.53 1065

We finished in the bottom 1/3rd of the conference with no 4 star recruits. Even the biggest homer of a fan couldn't argue that we had a very disappointing year on the recruiting trail. Listening to RRods signing day press conference I did get the impression that he finally realizes that signing the bulk of the class (with a lot of 2 stars) before the season even begins is probably not going to work in the PAC12. I have to believe we could have finished with a better result had RRod held off offering scholies until after the season was over. There should be fewer excuses going forward. Part of college coaching is recruiting, and AZ has no excuse for recruiting at least on par with the Non-power teams (everyone below UCLA/USC/Oregon and probably UW). I find it difficult to believe that after 3 years on the job RRod still hasn't recruited a pair of PAC12 level DB's. I for one expect a sharp drop-off in early signings and far-fewer offers to 2 stars with offer lists of New Mexico/San Jose State/ Wyoming. If we still have problems going forward signing quality DB's/DL's then I fully expect RRod to evaluate whether he needs to make changes with certain position coaches. I do not want to hear that we "Won" the walk-on recruiting war next year.

[Newportcat]

dmjcat, great post and agree completely. Challenge is there are plenty of homer fans who would tell you we had a good to great class and don't ever look at rankings.

What really surprises me is how two years in a row, Rich Rod has stated he wants to change how they recruit by not having so many commits so early in the process. Doesn't Rich Rod have the ultimate say for if we should offer a kid or not or take their commitment?

People talk a lot about how Rich Rod and his staff have a great system in place when it comes to recruiting but two years in a row Rich Rod states he wants to change a big part of that system. Rich Rod is the head coach so should be easy for him to influence that change.

Hopefully this year they do it because there is no reason we should finish this low in the rankings with our coach and facilities and current on field success.