Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Arizona football recruiting: Official visits, interviews, new offers, and more

A lot of new recruiting updates to start the new week

The official visits for the Arizona Wildcats coaching staff are done for the weekend, but that didn't stop the recruiting news.

There have been multiple offers and visits since then, and I've been able to talk to a few recruits this weekend. Arizona has a lot of work to before National Signing Day, with 13 commits in the class, putting them outside the top-50 recruiting ranks, and 11th in the Pac-12. So we'll quickly see how well this new staff can recruit.

Matt Dudek says the new staff is getting busy

Jake Burton decommits from Arizona, flips to UCLA

Arizona got a bit of bad news this weekend, as 3-star defensive end Jake Burton flipped his commitment to UCLA. He had been a long-time commit for Arizona, who had a top three of Arizona, UCLA and Vanderbilt.

UCLA is thin at defensive line and when the Bruins' coaching staff comes knocking at your door this late in the game, that's hard to turn down. Like I said, Arizona is the fourth best option in its own division. He would have been a huge get for Arizona, checking in at 6-6 250lbs, and could have been in the rotation very early in his career.

I got a chance to speak with him about his decommitment.

"Talking with the coaches and what they had to say, it's one of the top universities in the world and one of the best football programs in the country. It just felt like UCLA is the place for me," he said.

But Matt Dudek isn't worried

Neither is Rod Smith

2-star defensive end and FAU commit Francisco Nelson talks Arizona offer and visit

Arizona is in pursuit of a new defensive end, which is necessary with the recent departure of Jake Burton. He'll be officially visiting this weekend. He's a 6-4 125lb defensive end that would be a necessary addition. He was just recently offered by Arizona, and has also been talking to Bowling Green.

"I was so shocked, that a huge school like Arizona will offer me a full scholarship," he told me about receiving his offer. "I was thinking like.. this school is big and [it sends] people to the league and even more. There's a chance out there I can show my skills on a higher level than ever."

Being a long-time FAU commit, Nelson didn't get a whole lot of recruiting attention this season, but Arizona has been recruiting him since his junior year of high school. His film never got to Arizona, which held up his recruitment, but Rich Rodriguez has recently approved of his game and eventually offered him.

Now with Arizona, he's got a chance to be a part of something great.

"It's the Pac-12 and it's an opportunity out there for me. God blessed me in many ways so far in my life but I never thought I would get a huge school like Arizona. That's something amazing in my eyes," he said. "They have a new coaching staff and there's opportunity for me to play and better my education in the process."

Kaelin Himphill gets an in-home visit

Arizona is his in top five for now, but I'm not really sure where Arizona stands. I think Oregon State is currently the leader, but Arizona doesn't seem to be too far behind, along with Utah. He just received an offer from West Virginia this week as well.

Jacob Colacion gets an in-home visit one day after his official visit to Tucson

Just one day after his official visit to Tucson, the coaching staff gave Jacob Colacion an in-home visit. So it looks like Rich Rodriguez and Rod Smith will be attacking the Los Angeles area the next couple of days for recruiting.

Michael Eletise gets another visit

They're treating the top-ranked recruit of this class like royalty and for good reason. Arizona has seen a lot of decommitments but Michael Eletise has been so loyal to this staff, as he hasn't taken any official visits since his commitment this summer. He chose Arizona because of the family feel, saying that coach Ragle was the most inspirational coach he had ever had. He also said that any program can be great, and that it wasn't Arizona's success last year that made him pick the Wildcats.

Arizona offers 2-star safety and Cincinati commit K'Von Wallace, will visit next week

He was offered a few days ago by Donté Williams and will be visiting sometime during the middle of the week (he wasn't exactly sure of the date).

"Looking forward to see the beauty of Arizona and how's the guys, like are they together as a team or are they individuals," he told me about what he's looking forward to about his visit.

He says he can play at any position in the secondary, and with his 6-0 180lb frame, that seems plausible. He likes the idea of the playing in the Pac-12 and being in a system with five defensive backs on the field.

Arizona offers 3-star safety Chacho Ulloa

Arizona has been attacking a lot of safeties lately, and they just offered a former Stanford commit in Chacho Ulloa, who hails from Centennial High School (Corona, CA), the same high school as Arizona's prized running back commit JJ Taylor.

I'm not sure how exactly Arizona stacks up in his recruitment, but I'll be trying to get in contact with him later this week. He holds offers to Arizona State, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Oregon and Stanford, among others. He does have one prediction towards Arizona on the 247Sports Crystal Ball and I'm really not sure how much to look into that for now. He has the heavy offer list, but maybe this is the first big get for the new defensive staff.



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