Analyzing new Arizona commit Jaxen Turner

The Arizona Wildcats secured a talented commitment from Jaxen Turner on Sunday morning.

Our original story can be found here, and below is more in-depth analysis on Turner from Brandon Combs and Gabe Encinas.

Height/Weight: 6-foot-2, 175 pounds

School/Hometown: Rancho Verde High School/Moreno Valley, CA

Offers: Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, California, Dartmouth, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon State, San Jose State, Utah, Utah State, UTEP, Washington State

Rankings: No. 888 national, No. 72 safety, No. 86 player in California

Analysis

Brandon Combs: I can say with confidence that Arizona is building a dangerous secondary for the future. Over the past two recruiting class, the ‘Cats have gotten bigger, rangier, and faster in the secondary. Dayven Coleman, Christian Young, and McKenzie Barnes are already on campus and getting valuable experience. For 2019, UA has Chris Roland, Maurice Gaines, and now, Jaxen Turner.

Turner is as athletic as they come. He makes some pretty incredible plays on the ball defensively and just makes defenses look silly on the other side of the ball. Heck, watching his film makes me tired. He is a dual-sport athlete for RVHS, also playing basketball. Those skills undoubtedly assist him on the gridiron.

I know Gabe will agree with me, this is a major pickup for the ‘Cats. Turner was a major priority for them and they were able to land him. He is one of the best safeties in the West and is probably ranked lower than he should be.

On the recruiting side, he had Demetrice Martin recruiting him and had players such as Cedric Peterson and Lee Anderson III on him as well. He took his official visit with fellow commit Jalen Johnson, who was also recruiting him heavily.

I believe Turner will be able to make an immediate impact. He is too good and too athletic to keep off the field.

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Gabe Encinas: I don’t think that safety is a position of need, as it currently one of Arizona’s deepest and youngest positions already, just like Brandon pointed out. But the staff has heavily pursued the position in this cycle and when they land a guy like Jaxen Turner, I can’t complain.

Arizona had missed out multiple safety targets earlier in the cycle and it was discouraging to see. However, among the four or five that they had pursued, Turner had always been my favorite.

Mark Perry picked Colorado, Don Chapman is heading to Boulder as well, Brandon Joseph opted for Texas Tech. It came down to Turner, who seemed to be the priority at this point, and William Nimmo, who now appears to be a UCLA lean. I’ll take Turner any day over any of those guys.

I think Turner is one of the best defensive prospects that Arizona has offered, and this is a really good addition the class. Extremely long, athletic and hard hitting, I think he could play multiple spots on defense in the future as well.

Having to pick a favorite commit of this class between Grant Gunnell, Kwabena Watson, and Turner is tough. But personally, I have always leaned towards safeties over the last few years with Paul Magloire, Tristan Cooper, Scottie Young Jr. and Christian Young being my favorite commits of the last four classes.

While the need at quarterback and edge are far greater than safety, I just can’t help but get the same excitement for Turner as I did with the safeties of the previous classes.

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