Tucson prep football prospect Lathan Ransom keeps Arizona out of top 5

So much for Kevin Sumlin being able to hold on to the best players in his own backyard.

Lathan Ransom, a 4-star safety from Tucson’s Salpointe Catholic High School, has unveiled his final five choices, and the Arizona Wildcats aren’t one of them:

The 6-foot, 200-pound Ransom is ranked by 247 Sports as the No. 72 player in the 2020 recruiting class. He’s also considered the second-best safety in the country and the No. 4 prospect from Arizona.

His Salpointe teammate, running back Bijan Robinson, is No. 2 among in-state 2020 players and holds offers from 21 schools including national powers Alabama, Ohio State and Texas as well as Arizona.

In a diary written for the Arizona Daily Star, Ransom explained why he didn’t include his hometown school among his finalists:

Why didn’t I include Arizona? It’s nothing against the UA, but it always sort of irritated me because it wasn’t my first offer; Cal and ASU were. I’m a Tucson kid and I played right down the street. When I say down the street, I really mean right down the street.

Salpointe Catholic High School is a five-minute drive without traffic from Arizona Stadium. When I started getting offers from other schools, UA backed off a little bit. It is what it is.

I’m loyal to the ones that recruited me the hardest.

Not a great look for Sumlin and his staff, which signed only two Arizona prep players in the 2019 class and has only one in-state commit (4-star quarterback Will Plummer) for 2020.