Arizona football recruiting: Tracking the next potential Wildcat commitments

Expect another summer filled with commitments for Arizona

We're approaching a huge recruiting period for the Arizona Wildcats. It's around late May, early June and all throughout July when recruiting and commitments really start picking up. This year more than others, the commitments have been flowing in constantly, leaving us with nine commits before the summer even begins for these kids.

There are quite a few recruits who I project to commit to the class, some much sooner than others. I got a question asking who the next football commit may be and addressed a few other hot topics as well. Feel free to keep sending in the questions.

@Gabe_Encinas any insight into who the next football commit may be? This class could be a monster class

— azcat92 (@azcat92) May 14, 2016

Drew Dixon, 3-star athlete

I felt like this commitment was coming this week, but it turned out to be a false alarm. Dixon had tweeted out Sunday night that the following day was going to be the biggest day of his life, then tweeted this on Monday.

Was born for this⭐️

— ‼️DREW DIXON‼️ (@DrewDixon_1) May 16, 2016

He since deleted that initial tweet and it seems as if we're going to have to wait for his decision. He's a guy who wanted to wait a little bit just to see what comes up, but Arizona is definitely the leader, despite his growing list of offers. The commitment could really be coming anytime soon.

Chris Brooks, 3-star running back

Brooks is taking his time with his recruitment, despite his dream school offer from Arizona. He wanted to give it some time for a summer decision, but I still feel good about Arizona at this point. Washington State would be the next suitor and they're very well in the mix, But I feel like all signs point to Brooks committing by early July if not earlier. This would complete the running back pursuit for the 2017 class unless the staff moves him out to wide receiver.

Rhedi Short, 3-star safety

USC has recently come into the picture, so it will be interesting to see how this unfolds. The Trojans have only landed one safety in each of their last two classes, albeit 4-stars, and already have a 4-star locked up in this 2017 class. The fact that he decommitted after his Arizona visit puts the Cats in good shape. When we spoke on the phone he was extremely hesitant to say that Arizona was a top candidate and that was while he was still committed to UCLA.

Thomas Graham, 4-star corner

The more time that passes the more I feel like Graham goes somewhere else. He just picked up an offer from Alabama and he's been in talks with Oregon over the last few weeks. With USC and UCLA still in the mix as well, it's hard to imagine Arizona pulling him away. Still, he has a great relationship with a lot of the guys being recruited and Kurtis Brown has been on him as well. But that leads us to our next corner target.

Elijah Blades, 4-star corner

The decision date for Blades has been set for June 1, which very well could tell us that he has made up his mind, being just two weeks away. He originally planned to make it a fall commitment, wanting to take an official visit to Florida. Instead, he'll opt for an unofficial visit before his decision date. Nebraska is also in the mix as well, but I feel good about Blades headed to the desert at this point.

Darnay Holmes, 5-star corner

Heres' yet another possible corner for Arizona. As of now, I think Holmes is headed to Nebraska, or as their coaching staff likes to call it "Calabraska", due to their huge invasion of Calabasas. The sibling connection and proximity to home certainly gives Arizona a distinct advantage, but I feel like the hype surrounding Nebraska right now is just too real. Stanford is also in the mix and Holmes is set to decide on his birthday, June 23rd.

Joseph Lewis, 5-star receiver

Lewis seems to be the most frequently asked about recruit for Arizona and for good reason. The Wildcats have a legit shot at landing a top 10 player. Whether Arizona has a better shot at landing Holmes or Lewis, it's still unclear. Both have their pros and cons.

What's interesting about Lewis is the fact that he has said that him and Greg Johnson have talked about playing together at the next level since their middle school days. Lewis is drawing attention from schools across the country and Johnson, ranked as a top 100 recruit, will end up with very similar offers. That's not to say that Johnson can't decommit; he's said he's going to be taking official visits throughout his senior season, which is a scary thought and a problem Arizona has had before. But Johnson has been in the ear of many recruits and I'll have more on that later in the week.

Bruce Judson, 4-star athlete

It isn't a recruiting post without talking about Judson. With the re-commitment of Braxton Burmeister, I think Arizona climbs the ladder a bit with Judson. Florida seems to be the favorite still, but the Wildcats are still very much in this race. He will be a National Signing Day decision last I spoke to him so that could be a great way to end the class.

Maurice Bell, 3-star receiver

He just released his top five, which included Arizona. Colorado, Iowa, Michigan and Washington State. Don't expect much out of this recruitment. He's visited Iowa and Colorado twice and will be attending a Michigan camp June 17th, making a decision right after. At one point, he had given a soft verbal to Colorado. He's never been on Arizona's campus, but will try to make it out. At Arizona, he likes the proximity to home, coaching staff honesty and ability to work in this offense.

Joshua Brown, 3-star middle linebacker

This is a guy to watch out for. He's close with Greg Johnson and is currently being recruited by him. This is a guy I haven't been able to get much information on but he is a 3-star linebacker, ranked 40th at his position, with offers to Arizona and UNLV, and is in talks with UCLA. A 6-foot-2, 222 pound linebacker out of Long Beach Poly would be huge. Arizona's future depth at linebacker seems to be in a good place, but the LBP pipeline makes this very intriguing.

Isaac Slade-Matautia, 4-star outside linebacker

I got a chance to speak with the 4-star linebacker last week about his recruitment. Arizona is in his top three and Washington seems to be the leader here so far. Michael Eletise and his family will play a huge role in his recruitment, which is something to look out for.

Scottie Young, 3-star safety

Young is picking up a lot of interest, but he's extremely close with a lot of members of this class. He's a guy who I could see ending his recruitment this summer, in favor of Arizona.

Isaiah Pola-Mao, 4-star safety

I get a lot of questions about Pola-Mao and there's little to no media around him, which leaves us no choice but to resort to the 247Crystal Ball. which has Washington with two predictions and Arizona State with one. He's a top 300 player, ranked 20th overall at safety and has had his offer list growing since his sophomore year of high school. If he's leaning towards in-state, I'd guess the Sun Devils have the edge here.

Robert Porcher IV, 3-star defensive end

When I last spoke to him he said that he was intrigued by the offer, and that Bruce Judson told him that Arizona is a must visit. He holds offers to Arizona State, Nebraska, Virginia Tech and is receiving interest from schools all across the country. Porcher is a lower-end 3-star right now, but that figures to jump up as we get closer to his senior season and even more offers roll in.

Jeremy Singleton, 3-star receiver

Singleton has Arizona in his top eight, including Arkansas, Houston, Kansas State, Kansas, Northwestern, Vandy and Virginia. Arizona figures to be in good shape based off those. Who leads, I have no idea. Houston is a nice choice. Arkansas is in the SEC and close to home. Northwestern is growing and has the academics.

Bryce Gilbert, 3-star receiver

Gilbert is a name I've mentioned before. He hasn't exactly said what his timeline to commit looks like, but he's someone I could see Arizona landing. He's a prospect that's really going to rise throughout his senior year and I feel like he knows that, waiting to pull in the offers.

Brian Casteel, 3-star receiver

Here's another guy who could commit sooner than expected. The staff has really stayed on him and Arizona needs a receiver, so this would be a nice pickup.

J'Bril Glaze, 3-star defensive end

Not close to committing, but I spoke to him a while ago and he said that Arizona was in his top six, despite offers to Michigan State, Mississippi State and Tennessee, among others.

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Guys like My-King Johson, Jalen Harris, Odua Isibor -- all in-state guys that Arizona is doing well with -- expect a later commitment date for them as well.

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