Arizona football recruiting: Darnay Holmes visiting Tucson, Jamarye Joiner impressing and more

A quick recruiting update as we enter September

With over 25 commitments for the 2017 class, things are slowing down as the Arizona Wildcats finalize their class and keep their current commits happy. Aside from hosting recruits on their official visits and landing the final pieces to the puzzle, a good amount of work will be done to advance the 2018 class in the coming weeks and months.

Earlier this spring, Rich Rodriguez said that this 2017 class would be the best class ever assembled in Arizona history. Judging by the success thus far, and the prospects available for the 2018 class, there’s a lot a more potential. The wins just need to follow.

Here are some quick updates to satisfy your recruiting hunger.

Darnay Holmes will officially visit Arizona

I haven’t talked about Darnay Holmes in a long time because it seemed as if Arizona was completely out of the picture. Now, it appears he’ll be coming to Tucson for an official visit on September 24th for the Washington game.

This is going to end up being a big game for Arizona. Obviously you want to win when you’re hosting high-profile recruits, but sometimes a loss doesn’t necessarily hurt, as it shows recruits that they’re needed and can compete for early playing time. That’s been a huge selling point for Arizona thus far.

With this new visit set, I think Arizona could be legitimately back in the picture. If I had to pick a top four for Darnay it would be Nebraska, UCLA, Michigan and Arizona, perhaps in that order. But it’s a good sign for the Wildcats to suddenly come back into the picture and having his brother Darick on the team certainly helps.

Darnay is a very popular guy, and depending on his timing, he could bring even more to Tucson in 5-star wide receiver Joseph Lewis.

Jamarye Joiner earning his Arizona offer

Joiner is a dynamic playmaker, serving as a dual-threat quarterback for Cienega High School (Vail, AZ).

He picked up an Arizona offer after week one of the high school football season and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him pick up a lot more offers throughout the season.

The 6-foot-2, 195 pound quarterback has been in communication with UA QB coach Rod Smith throughout his process, but his athleticism and style tells you that he could be used as an athlete in the offense at Arizona.

By 2018, Arizona is projected to already have four scholarship quarterbacks, which includes Rhett Rodriguez. Whether Joiner truly projects as a quarterback, I’m not so sure. I’ll leave that up to the coaching staff to decide.

While he’s only attempted 18 passes this season — completing eight for 120 yards — he’s done all his damage this season using his feet: 20 carries, 227 yards and five rushing touchdowns.

Joiner’s led Cienega to a 2-0 start, outscoring their opponents 92-34.

2018 3-star offensive tackle Jacob Isaia to visit this spring

Another Bishop Gorman product is interested in Arizona and this one has ties to 4-star offensive tackle Michael Eletise. Since Isaia transferred from Hawaii to Bishop Gorman, he’s capturing the attention of some of the biggest programs in the nation. But he notes his relationship with Eletise and Arizona being a program on the rise as two attention grabbers. You can read more on Isaia here.

Odua Isibor update

I got a chance to catch up with the in-state 3-star defensive end out of St. Mary’s. I have since made my Crystal Ball prediction Arizona.

While this fills up another spot at defensive end, the current recruiting class is working on flipping Hunter Echols, but as more time passes the more I feel he remains committed to USC, despite what I once heard a few weeks ago.

Credit Charlie Ragle for Bryce Gilbert’s commitment

I went out to Higley High and spent the evening with the Higley football program. I was able to talk to the coaching staff about 3-star tight end commit Bryce Gilbert, his road to Higley, and recruitment process throughout. When I spoke with Gilbert himself, he says he committed to Arizona because of tight ends/special teams coach Charlie Ragle.

A lot of recruits often talk about Jim Michalczik, Miguel Reveles and Donte’ Williams, but Charlie Ragle has also been in a pivotal piece to the recruiting game as well. You can read more on Bryce Gilbert here.

Bryce Brand thinking of official visits?

For a lot of guys, there’s a big difference between just taking five free trips just because they’re there and then using them to look around at other options.

Three-star LB Bryce Brand is committed to #Arizona, but will he take other official visits? https://t.co/nlp9fNVDW8 http://pic.twitter.com/vo0UxiDYA0

— Rivals.com (@Rivals) September 8, 2016

For a while, I always thought Brand was a guy who could easily look for other options, especially having the exposure at IMG. When he transferred to Clayton Valley — as opposed to going back home to Michigan — I felt pretty safe.

But recruits want to see wins on the field and the BYU game was certainly a big hit for recruiting. While we’re unsure what schools Bryce will consider visiting, this could potentially turn into something.

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