Thursday, February 25, 2016

Arizona football recruiting: Wildcats coaching staff beginning to elevate recruiting

The Arizona coaching staff is not shying away from the big time recruits

The Arizona Wildcats coaching staff has continued to stay active on the recruiting trail, sending out multiple offers to some highly-ranked recruits over the last few days. These guys come from all over the country and hold offers to some of the biggest names in the sport. Among the dozen or so offers, seven went to top 300 recruits.

Teams typically throw out offers to a few upper-echelon guys here and there to see if they have any interest, but this latest wave of offers shows how serious this new defensive coaching staff is going to be in the recruiting game, breaking through and hopefully landing those four and five star guys Arizona has just barely missed out on in the past.

I'll be reaching out to all of these guys in the coming days. There are a few guys who were offered last week that were not included in this list. I have been in contact with a few of  them and will be getting those interviews out to you shortly as well.

Amir Riep, 4-star corner

Arizona sent out an offer to a 4-star corner out of Cincinnati, Ohio, ranked 18th at his position and 180th overall.

He currently holds offers to Michigan State, Notre Dame and Ohio State, among others. He has unofficial visits set up with Penn State, Tennessee and Notre Dame. Arizona has been actively seeking defensive backs and countless recruits I've talked to have nothing but great things to say about Donté Williams.

Salvon Ahmed, 4-star athlete

Another big time prospect here in Salvon Ahmed, 4-star athlete ranked 9th at his position and 136th overall. He hails from Kirkland, WA, not too far from redshirt sophomore Marcus Griffin, who came from Bellevue.

Salvon plays running back and defensive back at Juanita High School and it seems likely that Arizona will be recruiting him as a defensive back.

Jacob Kibodi, 6-2 athlete

Arizona is continuing to tap into that Louisiana pipeline, extending an offer to Jacob Kibodi, unranked athlete out of Baton Rouge, LA.

He plays running back and free safety, and much like Salvon Ahmed, you would think that Arizona is recruiting him as a defensive back. Rich Rodriguez has said that they are extremely anemic at that position and wish to add size as well. His goal on defense is to be able to move guys around with their size. Rodriguez wants the corners being big enough to play safety, safeties being big enough to move to linebacker, and so on.

His junior year highlights are below

Aaron Banks, 4-star offensive tackle

Another highly-coveted recruit here with Aaron Banks, a 6-6, 305lb offensive tackle out of El Cerrito, CA. He's ranked 25h at his position and 160th overall.

He holds offers to Arizona State, Baylor, Florida, Miami and USC, among others. Jim Michalzcik has been able to round up some great offensive line prospects over the last couple years, just needing a little bit more time until we see their full potential. With guys like Keenan Walker, Michael Eletise and Layth Friekh as the building blocks, Arizona's offensive line could be in great shape with another big prospect like Banks.

Joshua Ross, 4-star inside linebacker

Arizona went to Michigan for a couple of prospects. The first is Joshua Ross, the 6th-ranked inside linebacker in the nation, 156th player overall.

Ross holds offers to Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame and just picked up an offer from LSU after Arizona offered. Rich Rodriguez has been reaching out to Michigan and had success late in this last recruiting class with Jalen Cochran, who also plays linebacker, and could be pushing the competition when he arrives this summer.

KJ Hamler, 3-star wide receiver

Arizona is in desperate need of size at wide receiver for the coming years and they've been going after some taller guys. Here, they go a different route, pursuing 5'9" 155lb receiver, KJ Hamler. He's ranked 48th among all receivers and 316th overall.

He holds offers to Michigan State, Michigan, Louisville, and Oregon, among others. Arizona had great success with smaller guys like Samajie Grant and Nate Phillips. Throwing in Tyrell Johnson, DeVaughn Cooper and gang, this is the offense to be in as a wide receiver.

Deejay Dallas, Quarterback

This is a bit of an odd move here for Arizona, in my opinion. They went all the way to Georgia to offer Deejay Dallas, a 4-star receiver ranked 15th at his position and 214th overall. He holds offers to Alabama, Georgia, Florida State and Miami among others.

But according to his Twitter, Arizona offered him to play quarterback. This seems odd given the depth at that position, especially within the 2017 class, holding commitments from 4-star quarterback Braxton Burmeister and Rhett Rodriguez.

Kurtis Brown, 3-star defensive tackle

Rich Rodriguez has said that he isn't quite satisfied with the size on his defensive line and that he will be addressing that issue with recruiting. This is where 6-foot-3, 260lb defensive tackle Kurtis Brown comes in. He's ranked 49th at his position and 79th overall in the state of California, hailing from Liberty High School, the same school as redshirt freshman safety Anthony Mariscal.

Brown only holds offers to Arizona and Washington State, making this a very obtainable prospect here as of now. However, knowing Arizona's talent searching skills, expect Brown's offer list to start growing.

Odua Isibor, 6-6 210lb defensive end

Arizona has been going in-state on a lot of their offers for the 2017 class thus far, and they continue that trend with Odua Isibor, a Saint Mary's (Phoenix, AZ) product. He is unranked, but has a solid frame that would give Arizona some great size on the edge, a great look for Arizona's multiple front.

His junior year highlights are below.

Amik Robertson, 5-9 cornerback

Arizona is going after another defensive back out of Louisiana. Currently unranked, Amik Robertson checks in at 5-foot-9 and 165lbs. He holds offers to Cincinnati, Toledo, and Tulane, among others.

His sophomore year highlights are below

Alijah Vera-Tucker, 4-star offensive tackle

Arizona hit up northern California here for another top 300 recruit in Alijah Vera-Tucker, the 29th-ranked offensive tackle in the nation, 196th regardless of position. He checks in at 6'4" 275lbs.

He hails from Bishop O'Dowd, the same school as Ivan Rabb, in case that school sounded familiar. Arizona is continuing to go after some of the top offensive tackles in the nation, making this their fifth offer to a top 50 tackle.

Chuck Filiaga, 4-star offensive tackle

Another one of those top 50 tackles is Chuck Filaga, 6-foot-5 330 pounder out of Vista Murrieta, the same high school as grey shirt tight end Jamie Nunley, who is finally on campus this semester. Given the aggressiveness from the staff, it wouldn't be surprising to see them land one of these top offensive linemen.

Bryce Wolma, 3-star tight end

Bryce Wolma was on campus last week and I got a chance to speak to him about his visit. You can read that here. He's close with the Rodriguez family and that's why he decided to take the visit. A couple days later they offered him. He told me in our conversation that he "could 100% see myself at Arizona," so take that for what it's worth. He's a big tight end and mentioned that he loves Gronk.

Sampson Niu, 3-star linebacker

Trying to fill some voids at the linebacker position, extending an offer to the 15th ranked inside linebacker in the nation, Sampson Niu, out of San Diego, CA. He holds offers to Colorado, Utah and Vanderbilt.

He's been picking up offers every day of the week, so it's only a matter of time until his process starts to blow up.

Drew Dixon, 6-4 195lb athlete

Arizona continues to hit up the in-state talent, offering Drew Dixcon, a local recruit out of Sabino, who plays quarterback and wide receiver.

It's his first offer and that might bode well for the Tucson native. Soon after the Arizona offer, Hawaii and San Jose State reached out to him as well. Checking in at 6-4 195lbs, he has the size that Rich Rodriguez wants, going along with the lack of size at the wide receiver position. Although, it wouldn't be surprising to see him at quarterback. The way Arizona has been scouting quarterbacks, as well as Braxton Burmeister's recent offer from South Carolina, something tells me things could go awry. His junior year highlights are below.

Tony Fields, 6-2 205lb athlete

Another athlete here for Arizona, able to play both wide reciever and linebacker, hailing from Desert Pines High School (Las Vegas, NV). He holds offers to Colorado State, Hawaii, Nevada.

Arizona could really use him at either position, but I will find out more once I speak to him this weekend. His junior year highlights are below.



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