Arizona football recruiting: Elijah Blades wants an Arizona visit, Nathan Tilford flirting with Nebraska and Darrian McNeal a name to watch

There’s been a lot going on in the Arizona Wildcats world of football recruiting so I figured now would be a nice time to come up with an update. June was a pretty fun and successful month for Arizona. They landed ten commitments and I broke down all of them, asserting themselves as top 15 class nationally.

The Wildcats started off the month with a bang, landing 3-star OG Cody Shear. Arizona can add their 21st commitment on July 3rd with Rhedi Short’s upcoming decision date as well.

Cody Shear commitment

Arizona added the 20th member of their 2017 recruiting class. Shear kept me informed throughout the entire process and all signs pointed to Arizona.

He’s finally been ranked by three recruiting services and while he’s a low-end 3-star, I think he’s a guy who will make a huge jump in the rankings. Sheldon High School had gone to the state semifinals each of the last two seasons and is steadily becoming a powerhouse program.

Shear wanted to commit before the season so that he could focus on getting past the semifinals.

Rhedi Short commitment date

The date is set for July 3rd and the Crystal Ball is showing eight predictions, all for Arizona, including mine. I’m 100% confident he ends up at Arizona. He initially told me Arizona and Oregon were his top schools, with Penn State in the mix. He then added Arizona State and California not too long ago.

He still plans on taking visits, so even if Arizona does land him, the staff will still have to fight off other schools.

Elijah Blades wants an Arizona visit

Four-star corner Blades wants to visit Arizona.

I figured from the beginning that he was going to be a guy that was going to take all of his visits, but he’s been pretty vocal about the Wildcats and he has some great relationships with the current commits.

While Florida might be his dream school, I think there’s still a good chance he flips.

Nathan Tilford visits Nebraska

He was at the Nebraska satellite camp and then took an unofficial visit to their huge Friday Night Lights event. I had felt like the Huskers lost some momentum, but the event definitely got a lot of guys back on the hype train.

There were a lot of whispers about Tilford flipping to Nebraska, and even two new Crystal Ball predictions for Nebraska. He’s kept it quiet, but based on what I know, I don’t think Tilford leaves Arizona.

Darrian McNeal has Arizona at the top of his list

With 20 commitments, plus a heavy load of pass catchers, I figured that there really wouldn’t be too much room for any other guys not named Joseph Lewis or KJ Hamler, with someone like Bruce Judson potentially getting pushed out as well.

But Darrian McNeal tells me that the staff is recruiting him extremely hard and he feels it's as the top target for the slot position. He’ll be coming out for an unofficial visit next week and he tells me "If I like it when I come out there, I’m there. Number one option for me right now. Best fit."

So this is definitely something to keep your eye on. Georgia Tech has made a move but McNeal seems like he could very well be committing to Arizona. With that being said, I have McNeal to Arizona as my Crystal Ball prediction.

Chris Brooks is also set to commit at the end of July as a slot receiver and Arizona is communicating with him fairly often so we’ll see how the timing of this goes down. I felt like he missed his chance, but Arizona could have some tricks up their sleeve to land a huge recruiting class.

Jaylon Redd update

If things don’t work out with flipping Elijah Blades, I think Arizona can land 4-star corner Jaylon Redd. He’s been pretty pro-Arizona lately. It seems as if Oregon has a lead on him but I wouldn’t count Arizona out just yet.

Arizona likely to land Odua Isibor, Jalen Harris or My-King Johnson

If you missed it, I spoke to 3-star defensive end Odua Isibor the other day and got a pretty good vibe from him. Arizona is also targeting two other in-state options with Jalen Harris and My-King Johnson.

I’d be pretty shocked if Arizona doesn’t come away with any of them. I think Arizona has a great shot at Isibor, I’ve been told that Harris is an Oregon lean but Arizona might not be too far behind and Johnson continues to feel out the process with A&M. So while I'm not sure which one comes to Arizona, I do feel good about saying they get at least one.

Elijah Watson’s Mountain View High School update

In my last round up, I answered a question about Elijah Watson’s ranking, as he remains as the only 2-star prospect for Arizona. His high school has not done well historically, winning only 14 games since 2010, but this year they are projected to go 7-3 and make the playoffs for the first time in school history.

With that playoff exposure, he might be seeing an update in the rankings by the end of the season. He’s a borderline 3-star prospect so with some decent production he could get that bump.