Arizona football recruiting notebook: 4-star LB includes Wildcats in top 5, 2022 commit earns Polynesian Bowl invite

If you’re worried that Arizona’s embarrassing home loss to NAU is going to have a negative impact on recruiting, exhale and read on.

Harrison Taggart, a 4-star linebacker from Utah, has included the Wildcats in his top five despite that recent setback, their FBS-worst 15^th in a row.

Oregon, UCLA, USC and Utah are the other schools in the running for the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Taggart, who plays for Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Utah. Taggart is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 370 player in the 2022 recruiting class as well as the 41st-best linebacker and the No. 5 prospect from Utah.

Taggart, who is being recruited to play the Viper position in Don Brown’s defense, dropped his top five after coming back from an official visit to Oregon over the weekend. He visited Arizona in June, after which he told Matt Moreno of Rivals.com that the UA “set the bar high.”

Arizona currently has 16 commitments in the 2022 class, which ranks 33^rd nationally and fourth-best in the Pac-12. Three of those pledges are linebackers, including the most recent commit, 3-star Massachusetts LB Tyler Martin.

Savaiinaea earns invite to 2022 Polynesian Bowl

Polynesian players were the lifeblood of Arizona’s recruiting during its heyday in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the new coaching staff is trying to tap back into that market. They did so in June when the Wildcats got a commitment from 3-star Hawaii offensive lineman Jonah Savaiinaea.

And Savaiinaea will be coming to Tucson with a prestigious honor after being named a 2022 Polynesian Bowl All-Star.

The 6-foot-3, 330-pound Savaiinaea, who plays for Honolulu powerhouse St. Louis School, is set to compete in the game that’s scheduled for January in Honolulu. He is ranked by 247Sports as the 5th-best prospect from Hawaii and the No. 65 interior offensive lineman in the 2022 class.