Recruiting Wrap Up

WILDCATS SIGN 24 FOR 2009 RECRUITING CLASS

The Arizona Wildcats just wrapped up a great class for 2009 which included a total number of 24 recruits, including 3 four star recruits.  The top of the class includes four star prospects Adam Hall of Tucson (Palo Verde Magnet), Trevor Erno of Lakewood, California (Lakewood), and Daniel Jenkins of Moreno Valley, California (Rancho Verde).

The most highly anticipated recruit of the 2009 class was Adam Hall who played in Tucson and committed on January 30, 2009. This commitment epitomizes the progress of the Wildcats recruiting has seen since Mike Stoops' arrival.  I was at Arizona when we had the pre-season number 4 team in the nation, only to go to Penn State and get whacked 41-7.  Trust me. It's been all mostly downhill after that. With the disaster that was John Mackovick and disappointment after disappointment, the Wildcats seem to finally be back on track.

With winning comes commitment. People don't want to play for programs on the decline. With our win last season in the Las Vegas Bowl, kids across the nation saw a program that can win big games.

The Wildcats got another great surprise thanks to the switch in commitment from Tennessee to Arizona by three star defensive lineman Jonathan Hollins.  This guy was recruited out of high school in 2006 to play in Lubbock for the Red Raiders.  During his recruiting process in 2006, Collins stated:

"I love Coach Dykes man, he's great and he just made everyone feel comfortable,"

He didn't qualify out of high school so he enrolled in Chatham (Va.) Hargrave Military Academy in order to catch up academically.  Unfortunately for the big fella, he missed qualifying again so he decided to go to junior college at College of the Canyons. By this time, Coach Sonny Dykes, who recruited Collins at Tech, was at Arizona. Hollins originally committed to Tennessee in December but tougher rules by the SEC made it more difficult for junior college players to transfer.  At this point, coach Dykes still had Collins on his radar, made a move on him in late January, and it paid off. Awesome job by Coach Dykes.

With the switch by Hollins and also Dewayne Peace switching from Michigan to Arizona, it is apparent that these kids are thinking about Arizona as a football school again. Tennessee and Michigan are big time programs with winning traditions and unbelievable facilities. To make the switch to Arizona, who has not been doing all that well since the late 1990's, goes to show that the perception surrounding the  program at Arizona is changing.

Arizona finished out the class with a Rivals ranking of 25th and an average star rating of 2.96. This is by far one of the best recruiting years in recent memory.  This is what it takes to establish a winning program. Congrats to all of the coaches, and the tremendous year in 2008 which helped us pull in this great class.

Later in the year, we'll be spending some time breaking down the recruits. For now, let's celebrate the great 2009 class. Here they are

RECRUITS

2009 Arizona Football Recruiting Class