Arizona football recruiting: Kevin Sumlin active in Texas

It is a busy time for the Arizona Wildcats football team.

New head coach Kevin Sumlin has not only been hiring a new staff (which should be announced soon), but recruiting as well. He has kept up a high ops tempo since he’s been in Tucson and continues to prioritize signees and commits.

Let’s take a look at what happened on the trail this week.

Christian Young

Sumlin made his way to Texas this past week, specifically the Houston area. His first stop? To check in on safety signee Christian Young.

Young was a priority for UA’s previous staff and now Sumlin. He has great instincts and I really like what he brings to the defensive backfield.

Young was a huge step for UA getting into Texas for the 2018 class. He committed quickly to Iowa State after a visit, but it never seemed like that was where he was ultimately going to end up.

Darrius Smith

Sticking around Houston, Sumlin and Director of Recruiting Chris Singletary made their way to Pearland to visit running back signee Darrius Smith.

The agile back has been solid on his pledge to UA since committing at the end of June and signed during the early signing period.

Thomas Marcus

There were some signees who did not make it to Tucson for their official visit before signing in December. One such player is wide receiver signee Thomas Marcus.

This weekend, however, he did make it out to campus for his official visit and to meet Sumlin.

---

Tre’Shaun Harrison

Moving to new recruits on Arizona’s board, we’ll start with the 4-star athlete from Garfield High School in Seattle, Wash. The versatile prospect can play either receiver, safety, or cornerback.

UA has some factors in its favor when it comes to Harrison’s recruitment. Defensive coordinator Marcel Yates and soon-to-be safeties coach John Rushing both coached Harrison’s high school coach Joey Thomas. That should give Arizona a real chance to land him. That being said, UA’s biggest competition will be Oregon (who he visited this weekend) and Florida State.

Harrison will be taking a visit to Tucson this coming week.

Jalen Preston

The 4-star receiver from Manvel High School in Manvel, Texas is a current Texas A&M commit who gave his pledge to the Aggies when Sumlin was still head coach. However, he didn’t sign during the early signing period.

It isn’t a surprise to see Arizona going after the Houston-area talent. The surprise will be if the ‘Cats can pull him away from his home state. There is a chance, but in order for that chance to increase UA will need to get him on campus.

Deneric Prince

Another Manvel product, Prince is also an A&M commit. The 3-star running back was recruited by soon-to-be UA running backs coach Clarence McKinney.

Prince did not sign with the Aggies in December so the ‘Cats have a real chance here. After hearing Sumlin has backed off UA commit Martell Irby, I would expect him to bring Prince to campus next weekend and get him to flip.

Bobby Wolfe

Moving to the 2019 class we find another Houston defensive back on the receiving end of an Arizona offer.

Wolfe was an Ole Miss commit in 2017 but backed off of his pledge and is wide open. Arizona will have to contend with schools like Oregon, LSU, Texas, and Texas A&M. There is, however, plenty of time for UA to make up ground.

Wolfe is a 3-star prospect.

Erick Young

Staying in the Houston area we find the 2019 4-star cornerback from Fort Bend Bush High School in Richmond, TX.

Young is the No. 1 corner in Texas for the 2019 class and that has a lot of schools interested. Ohio State, Colorado, UCLA, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Florida State, Georgia, and Oklahoma are just some of the schools who are after Young’s services. And Friday Arizona decided it wanted to jump into the fray.

Grant Gunnell

Sumlin and his soon-to-be staff have been busy this past week in Houston. Multiple offers went out to prospects throughout the week and on Sunday night, two more went out.

The first was to one of the top quarterbacks in the 2019 class, 4-star Grant Gunnell. The 6-foot-6, 212 pound passer from St. Pius X High School in Houston picked up his offer from soon-to-be offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Noel Mazzone.

Gunnell is currently a Texas A&M commit and gave his pledge to Mazzone and Sumlin while they were in College Station.

Chase Lane

The second offer from Sunday night was to another Texas A&M commit, 3-star wide receiver Chase Lane.

Like Gunnell, he is from Houston-based St. Pius X High School. And just like Gunnell, he committed to the Aggies on the same day, June 5th, 2017.

As of now I’d say both Gunnell and Lane are two prospects to keep an eye on.