Elephants are poached for their ivory tusks. Whales are poached for cultural reasons that go beyond their meat and bones.

Recruits can be poached as well, and more times than not, poaching in the college football world stems from coaching changes. Most recently, it was newly-instated coach Jim Mora and the UCLA Bruins snapping up Wildcat recruit and highly-touted quarterback Devin Fuller from Rutgers, after their own head coach, Greg Schiano, bolted for the NFL.

Coaching changes at Arizona hurt their recruiting class, as did the change at Rutgers.

Scottsdale Chaparral recruit Davonte' Neal, the top recruit in the state of Arizona according to The Arizona Republic, has the Wildcats among his finalists. But with Mike Stoops fired and off to coach defense at Oklahoma and interim coach Tim Kish joining the Sooners, there's new competition for the receiver that could be a huge flex of the instate recruiting power Rich Rodriguez hopes to establish.

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The Torrey Pines Holiday Classic regularly hosts some of the top prep basketball talent in the nation. The 2011 field was no exception. Yours truly was in the house for the Dec. 27-30 tournament and had a chance to witness firsthand some of the next generation of Wildcat basketball.

The cream of the crop was 2013 forward Aaron Gordon, of Archbishop Mitty in San Jose. There is little Gordon does not do extremely well. In his repertoire is a pure jumpshot that extends beyond the 3-point arc, tenacity on the glass, and outstanding court vision. He plays unselfish basketball, showing an ability to set up, then find teammates as well as he creates scoring opportunities for himself.

Gordon's defensive skillset is almost as diverse as his offensive. Routinely throughout the week, he came from the help side to reject penetrating opponents in a fashion reminiscent of Derrick Williams. In fact, much of Gordon's game is comparable to Williams'.

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Sean Miller and company will host the 76th ranked player in the 2011 class this week as Angelo Chol makes his way to Tucson on Friday. Chol is a 6-foot-8, 205-pound Center from Hoover High School in San Diego, CA. He is regarded by many around the country as the best big-man left on the board in the 2011 class. His final list of schools includes: Alabama, Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina, and Washington.

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Josiah Turner has all of the tools, talent, and skill to become the next great point guard at the University of Arizona. His speed and quickness on the court are unmatched, his high basketball IQ allows him to shred defenses and hit open teammates for the score, and his jump shot, despite being an ongoing project, could be lethal at the next level with proper coaching. So why is there all of this recent controversy surrounding the talented guard from Sacramento?  

It all started on January 7th when Turner missed a game for Sacramento High. Speculation ensued, but head coach Derek Swafford called it an, "internal matter" that he would handle personally. In the following days, reports came out of Sacramento that Turner was involved in an altercation at school, and that was the reason for missing the game. Most figured Josiah would miss a game or two and then return to the Dragons, but then came word of Turner leaving for school for good. For a player who had already changed schools after his freshman and sophomore year, one had to wonder if the talented guard was more trouble than he was worth.

Just when it appeared Turner's career in Sacramento was over, yet another twist came: he was staying at Sacramento High. After days of speculation of which prep school he would attend, the decision was made that he would remain at his current high school, but would no longer play for the basketball team. Why can't anything ever go smoothly?

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VITALS:

Name:  Mickey Baucus

Position: Offensive Line

Height: 6'8"

Weight: 275

Speed: Unknown

High School: Mundellin, Illinios (Mount Carmel High School)

Rivals: Three out of Five

Recruited By: Coach Bill Bedenbaugh

STRENGTHS:

Mickey Baucus is an enormous man.  His large frame leaves him open to put on serious weight in the college ranks and eat his way to a powerful offensive lineman.   Scouts, Inc. has this to say about Baucus:

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After the NCAA put down serious sanctions agains USC for violating a number of rules mainly surrounding O.J. Mayo and Reggie Bush, the rest of the nation is attempting to capitalize on USC's ill fated fortune.  It was reported earlier that five schools have contacted freshman phenom, Dillon Baxter, and asked him if he wanted to transfer to their schools.  Included in this list are Alabama, Florida, Washington, Oregon and Fresno State.  The NCAA has lifted the transfer restrictions for upperclassmen so they would not have to sit out a year.  Unfortunately, sophomores and freshmen would still have to abide by the transfer restrictions.

(Hunted!)

I would be surprised if this type of activity was not occurring for EVERY USC athlete.  They may not be getting contact from coaches or alumni regarding the sanctions but peer pressure is a bitch.  Once the hammer dropped my guess is that every teammate that had a friend in their district or other teammate commit to USC has contacted them and tried to talk them into transferring.

And, we're back!  The baseball team has just made the Fort Worth Regionals, the basketball recruiting is only 3 deep at this point, and the summer is upon us.   Over the next few months, we will be breaking down all of the 2010 football recruits here at Azdesertswarm.  The Cats put together another solid recruiting class by grabbing four 4 Star recruits, and sixteen 3 Star recruits.   Let's take a dive into the analysis with Cameron Allerheiligen. 

VITALS:

Name:  Cameron Allerheiligen

Position: Quarterback

Height: 6'3"

Weight:200

Speed: Unknown

High School: Keller High School, Keller, Texas

Rivals: Two out of Five

Recruited By: Coach Dave Nichol

STRENGTHS:

Cameron was a late addition to the Wildcats as Matt Brown decommitted from the Cats the week before signing day due to the departure of offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes to Louisiana Tech.  Matt Brown eventually committed to TCU.  Allerheiligen was a stud at his high school in Keller, Texas (DFW).  He threw 2,635 yards his senior year with 24 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions.  He was voted Dave Campbell's Texas High School Top 20 quarterback.  Allerheiligen is a rough work in progress who the Cats will have to mold over the years.   Cameron's strengths lie in the fact that he has run the spread offense for two years in the competitive metroplex region of North Texas and was very successful.

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The Cats already have verbal commits from 19 players around the country.  We'll be watching for a few big shots tomorrow including:

Corey Cooper - Safety from Maywood, Illinois

Update: He hasn't officially announced, but it looks like Cooper will be heading to Nebraska. Damn it!

Fabbians Ebbele - Offensive linemen from Chicago, Illinois

Update: Fabbians Ebbele is going to be a Wildcat. 9:44 Central. BOOM! That's 2-6.

Josh Shirley - Linebacker from Fontana, California

3:48 P.M: Shirley to UCLA.

Sani Fuimano - Defensive tackle from Hawaii

Update: Sui Fuimano is going to be a Wildcat.  One down, five to go.

Anthony Jefferson - Athlete from Los Angeles

Update: Jefferson to UCLA.

Jonathan McNight - Cornerback from Louisiana

10:23 A.M: HUGE NEWS! According to his coach, Jonathan McNight, (Joe McNight's brother) will sign with Arizona.  Check back later for the official word.  (Via Twitter)

10:27 A.M:  Jonathan McNight is a Wildcat. No more speculation. BOOM. That's 3-6.

Some of these are long shots and some are right in the mix.  The Cats already have a great class and it can only get better tomorrow. We'll be checking back in tomorrow to see how the class pans out.  Leave your thoughts on here about the class of 2010.