Arizona football recruiting: Immediate contributors from the Wildcats’ 2017 class

Early playing time has been the big sell for this class and there are plenty of strong candidates to fill the voids

Rich Rodriguez talks a lot about how he thinks this incoming 2017 class will be able to help with the depth chart. The class is loaded with 27 commitments and a lot of talent from top to bottom. Depth has been an issue with the Arizona Wildcats due to some recruiting errors and plenty of injuries.

While I take a look into who the potential contributors could be as they enter their first season at Arizona, here are some quick recruiting notes before I go into the bulk of the commitments.

Cody Shear set to officially visit this weekend

Offensive line isn’t the sexiest position to recruit, but it’s one of the most heavily recruited positions for every school given the need for five starters. Arizona is currently working with two offensive linemen for this class and I have a strong reason to believe that they’re working on a third.

I’ve been able to work up a great relationship with Shear and while he had a load of offers, seeking out an Oregon offer, he is firm on his commitment and will be in town this weekend for his official visit.

As I mentioned before, offensive line recruits aren’t the most fun to watch, but when you watch 3-star OG Cody Shear out of Sheldon High School (Eugene, OR), it gets you pretty excited. Sheldon High is currently 7-1 on the season.

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Kurtis Brown will not require surgery, picks up UNLV offer

A few weeks ago it was announced that 3-star defensive tackle commit Kurtis Brown had torn his meniscus, keeping him out for the remainder of his senior season. Turns out that he won’t need surgery after all, and will try and return for the final stretch of his season at Liberty High School.

During the last week, he also picked up an offer from UNLV. Brown is still solid on his commitment.

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4-star running back O’Maury Samuels official visit

This is sort of a new name here. He expressed his interest back in the summer, saying that he wanted to take an official visit to Arizona at some point, despite his commitment to Michigan.

Michigan also seems to be in position to land 4-star running back Eno Benjamin, who just decommitted from Iowa earlier last week. With that, it could force Samuels out.

That’s a lot of speculation here, but with the pitch of having Nathan Tilford and Samuels as your premier backs in this offense for four years and getting him on campus for this official visit, all while playing close to home, it’s a good sign for this staff.

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Early playing time from the 2017 commitments

I’ve mentioned quite a bit that the recruiting pitch for this staff has been early playing time at a Pac-12 South program just two years removed from the Fiesta Bowl. Rodriguez talks highly about this recruiting class, and how he’s hopeful that these guys will make an immediate impact.

The 2016 recruiting class only had 18 members, yet nine have already played this season. Given the talent in this 2017 class, and the movement that has happened all down the depth chart, this class figures to have even more immediate contributors.

Two of the obvious ones are Greg Johnson and Tilford. Cornerback play has shown improvement but still lacks depth. With Johnson in the mix, he’s likely to be in that three-man rotation with Dane Cruikshank and Jace Whittaker if he doesn’t win the job outright by fall camp.

Given the health of Nick Wilson, the dismissal of Orlando Bradford, and the broken ankle suffered by J.J. Taylor, the backfield has been a mess this year. While it’s hard to rely on Wilson, Tilford is in great position to be that every-down back for Arizona. I also expect Arizona to add one more running back with this class, with a decent chance of flipping Samuels.

Arizona has loaded up on defensive backs in the 2016 and 2017 classes, and you figure the 2017 class will have a lot of special team contributors like Chacho Ulloa and Lorenzo Burns, or rotational guys like Tristan Cooper or Isaiah Hayes playing immediately.

With the defensive back situation, currently holding six commitments, I think Rhedi Short, Scott Young, and Xavier Bell all see early playing time next season as true freshmen.

There’s a big group of receivers coming in as well. This year, the quarterback play has been subpar, which can be attributed to poor offensive line play. But still, Arizona doesn’t have the receivers out there like it once did the past few years. Losing the trio of Samajie Grant, Trey Griffey, and Nate Phillips hurts the depth big time.

That’s when you have Brian Casteel, Drew Dixon, and Darrian McNeal likely coming in to play. The wide receivers are all fairly young now, with Shun Brown, Cedric Peterson, Tyrell Johnson, Devaughn Cooper, and Tony Ellison. Shawn Poindexter will also have one more season and Zach Benjamin will finally be eligible. Poindexter, Benjamin, and Dixon can provide the Wildcats with immediate height on the outside. Don’t forget about the addition of 5-star wide receiver Joseph Lewis.

Arizona brings in a chess piece with Tony Fields. I feel like he will be solid enough to play a linebacker role, yet also mobile and athletic enough to fill a bandit role in the defense. While I’m not sure where he fits in, he’s going to be a versatile piece. He’s also an early enrollee, and we’ve seen the benefits of that extra spring for freshmen.

Linebacker depth certainly takes a hit this offseason as well, losing Paul Magloire, Jake Matthews and Michael Barton. That’s where Delshawn Phillips comes in. He told me the staff wants him off the edge or in the box. He’s been having a highly productive season at Garden City CC, which is currently the No. 1 JuCo program in the nation. Phillips will be enrolling in January.

The Elijah Watson camp told me that he will be enrolling early at Arizona, because the staff feels like he can be an immediate impact guy for the line. That was also a factor into his decision to transfer to IMG Academy. The 6-foot-3, 280 pound defensive tackle should gain a lot of experience this spring and even help push guys like Justin Holt.

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