We're approaching a heavy summer cycle of unofficial visits, commitments and finalist announcements for the 2017 recruiting class. On Wednesday, we got a top ten list from 4-star athlete Bruce Judson, who included the Arizona Wildcats to no one's surprise.
TOP 1️⃣0️⃣❗️ #Blessed #RipUnc pic.twitter.com/tuoyETQFSP
— Bruce Judson Jr™ (@4way_lilbruce) June 1, 2016
The list includes Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, UCF, TCU, and Virginia Tech. He is also considering Kentucky and Maryland. It's quite the list for Arizona to be involved with. I've talked about Judson a lot in my round-ups because this a recruitment that seems to really only be a top five, which includes Arizona.
The Wildcats have done an exceptional job in the recruiting department in just a few short months under this staff, and I have no reason to believe that Arizona isn't a likely landing spot for Judson. But, after watching him closely this spring, Judson has been taking a tumble in the national rankings.
Take rankings with a grain of salt, but he was once the 7th-ranked athlete in the nation and has since fallen to 14th. 247 Composite Rankings once had him as a top 150 recruit Now he sits at 245 overall.
So why the sudden fall in rankings? Potentially due to regression. He was named a MaxPreps Freshman All-American, putting himself in the spotlight, receiving offers from Ohio State and Florida State before his sophomore season. He had a strong junior year but just hasn't been attracting those big time schools as much as he used to. He's also gotten a bit heavier, once around 185 pounds and now close to 210 pounds, which could severely hurt his 4.41 40-yard dash time he once ran.
Still, this is an athlete that I think could work out well in a Rich Rodriguez offense. The usage might be a concern only because we've seen these smaller utility guys get lost in the mix a bit with Tyrell Johnson, Jonathan Haden (transfer) and Shun Brown. The Florida pipeline is also extremely valuable and will help the recruiting efforts going forward, especially holding on to his 4-star status to bump the class rankings up, enticing more recruits.
For now, I'll continue to say that Florida has the lead, but probably not by much if that. Pitt, UCF and Arizona seem to all have their fair shot at him as well. Pitt seems to be coming at him as a running back -- while most are recruiting him in the slot -- which could be why they're so high up there. But Judson's interest seems to be piquing here for Arizona, especially with the latest offer to 3-star outside linebacker Nick Smith out of Orlando, Florida.
And also grew up with them and Bestfriends with them to❗️ #BearDown ⬇️ https://t.co/cXmUu1JZCn
— Bruce Judson Jr™ (@4way_lilbruce) June 2, 2016
His stock is falling, yes, but this is still a nice piece that Arizona is in strong contention to land. The comment section might not want him after reading that he's dropping from the rankings, but he's still going to be a strong candidate to fill a role on offense. He'll also going be recruiting other highly touted guys to join him if he decides on Arizona.
His junior year highlights are below.