National Signing Day is less than two weeks away now and things are starting to wind down for Arizona and its 2013 class. The Wildcats' commits are through with their official visits to Tucson and many are all set to go with their plans to sign their letters of intent with the 'Cats on Feb. 6.
Not every recruit is set on that, however, as there was some news that we brought you on Saturday afternoon about a couple current Arizona commits taking a trip to one of Rich Rodriguez's former stops.
On the basketball side of things it was a big week for 2014 recruits trimming their lists down. There were a handful of Arizona targets who made the decision to clean up their lists a little bit by whittling it down to a more manageable number.
A couple of those recruits are key recruits for the Wildcats in the current junior class, so we'll have more on that as well this week.
With it being such a busy time of the year, there is plenty to discuss once again this week so let's get to it.
Football recruiting
* We got word Saturday afternoon that Arizona commits Brandon Golson and Mario Alford were on an official visit to West Virginia, and we let you guys know about it. It has been made pretty clear from the get-go by the Wildcats' coaching staff that Arizona commits taking visits is a no-no.
Golson and Alford took their visits to Tucson in October and Alford committed before heading back to Milledgeville, Ga. Alford had already committed earlier in the month before taking his official with his Georgia Military College teammate.
"This trip really gave me a lot to think about," Alford told WVSports.com. "I mean West Virginia is so much closer to home. My family can drive up and see me play. I like the fact it's closer to home and no one has to stay up late to see me play on the west coast. The games will be on mid-day or like I said, they can drive up to see me."
Both Alford and Golson are important recruits for the Wildcats, but the linebacker prospect might an even more important part of the 2013 class. Golson has had somewhat of a long road to this point, but he could be an impact guy for the Wildcats next season as a JUCO transfer.
Not many positions were deep for the 'Cats in Year 1 under Rodriguez, but the linebacker group was especially thin during the 2012 season.
Keeping a guy like Golson in the mix at Arizona could really go a long way to help add some depth to that group.
The other aspect to this news is that the official visit to West Virginia for Alford and Golson didn't happen on accident. Tony Gibson was the duo's lead recruiter when he was at Arizona and now - of course - the former Wildcat safeties coach is back with the Mountaineers.
Continuing to recruit players after changing schools is not an uncommon practice, but it's interesting considering Rodriguez's close relationship with Gibson throughout the years.
"Tony Gibson is why I'm looking at WVU," he said. "He's been part of my recruitment since day one."
As we said on Sunday, the Mountaineers feel pretty good about their chances to flip both the athlete recruit (Alford) and the linebacker (Golson), but they feel very good about their chances with Golson.
We'll see what happens over the next few days, but there will certainly be more on this story as things progress toward National Signing Day.
* The Wildcats did host some visitors over the weekend, but they were more of the walk-on variety than in other weeks. The group was mostly made of in-state recruits like Scottsdale (Ariz.) Chaparral safety prospect Alex Arnold. San Clemente, Calif., kicker Bret Miller was on hand for a visit this weekend as well. He will be walking on with the Wildcats next season.
* All of the current Wildcat commits have now visited officially and really it's about signing their name on the dotted line and making things official for most of the group. Two commits who recently took their trips to Tucson said things have been made very clear in terms of the mindset that will be expected of them when they arrive in Tucson.
Three-star cornerback Derek Babiash had freshman Will Parks as his player host the current Arizona defensive back was one who played in his first year.
"We talked about what to expect when I get there," Babiash said. "And if I want to start this is what I have to do, so it was nice to talk with him about that."
Future Wildcat defensive end Calvin Allen also spent time with some of his future teammates and Reggie Gilbert and Tevin Hood had similar words for the three-star prospect.
"It was good," Allen told GOAZCATS.com. "They were telling me about how everything was and how the coaches are. They're both defensive linemen too, so it was good to see how things work with them too."
Both Babiash and Allen also said that the Arizona coaching staff has made sure they understand that the mindset they should have is to head to Tucson like they will be starting next season.
Running back commit Zachary Green said something similar over the weekend when we spoke with him at the South Bay BMW West Coast Bowl.
"They told me they don't want me going in with the mindset that 'oh, you're going to redshirt,'" Green told GOAZCATS.com. "They said I have the body of a sophomore already and its already mature. So they want me going in there to challenge people and they don't want me to go in there and drop everything with my work habits and everything like that.
"They said that they want me to keep at it and keep hungary. We're all hungary, because of all the schools that didn't recruit us. So we're all ready to get after it."
* When it comes to the 2014 class the Wildcats plan on having a pretty big junior day next weekend. Green's younger brother Brandon will be one of the visitors in attendance.
Four-star Nick Wilson is another recruit expected to be in town that weekend as well.
When it comes to the 2014 class, however, it is really a year the Wildcats want to leave their mark on the state of Arizona. We discuss it all the time, but in-state recruiting is going to be a big part of the next recruiting cycle for the 'Cats. Rodriguez and his staff are already off to a great start with four-star Tucson (Ariz.) Salpointe athlete Cameron Denson committed, but there are other targets.
* One big target who continues to be intrigued with the Wildcats is Scottsdale (Ariz.) Desert Mountain wide receiver Mark Andrews.
The four-star prospect has held an offer from the 'Cats for a while now, and he still has plenty of interest in the in-state program.
"Both in-state schools are coming hard and I'm definitely interested in both of them," Andrews told Rivals.com's Adam Gorney over the weekend.
"In terms of schools making more of an effort, Notre Dame is coming really hard and they're probably pursuing me the most right now. Oklahoma is pursuing pretty hard. As of right now I don't have a list or anything but those are a few of the main ones."
Andrews is very close friends with four-star quarterback Kyle Allen, and the duo has talked about attending the same school. They have offers from many of the same programs, but my feeling right now is that the pair of 2014 recruits being a package deal is not as certain as it once was.
The big 6-foot-6 receiver is also friends with Scottsdale (Ariz.) Chaparral recruits Tyler Whiley and Trevor Wood. The Wildcats are doing very well with both Whiley and Wood, so it's not inconceivable that the trio could all land in Tucson. It's still a long way from getting to that point, but it is something interesting to think about.
Basketball recruiting
Everything continues to stay the same with the 2013 class as Aaron Gordon is in no rush to make his decision, but it was the week of 2014 recruits making some headway with their lists that was the big news of the week.
Some big-time Arizona targets decided to make things a little neater with their lists and start the process of focusing on a few more select programs.
* One of the Wildcats big targets for the 2014 class is five-star wing prospect Stanley Johnson. The 6-foot-7 recruit from Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei is having a very good junior campaign and he decided that it was the right time to narrow things down once again.
The remaining schools on his list include: Arizona, USC, UCLA, Kentucky, Syracuse, NC State, San Diego State, Oregon, UNLV and Louisville.
"I've talked to every head coach and feel that the head coach really likes my game and they have recruited me the hardest," he told Rivals.com. "In doing that, I can kind of see myself at every school."
Kentucky is obviously in intriguing destination for many elite prospects, but I'd also keep an eye on both in-state schools. USC is on the list for a reason and depending on what happens with the coaching situation with the Trojans it would be interesting to see if they became more of an option down the road.
Right now the Wildcats are doing very well with Johnson, however, and that should continue for the foreseeable future.
* Another five-star target who recently trimmed things down is Houston (Texas) St. Johns standout Justise Winslow. The 6-foot-6 wing kept he Wildcats among the group, but there are also some other very prestigious programs in the mix as well.
Winslow plans on making his decision from this group of schools: Arizona, Duke, North Carolina, UCLA, Florida, Kansas, Texas A&M, Stanford, Baylor and Houston.
"I just wanted to get serious about the whole process," Winslow told GOAZCATS.com. "Let the schools that I'm interested know that I'm really interested in them and just start narrowing down the process so I can make the decision as soon as possible."
The Wildcats are doing well with Winslow too, but other programs feel they are doing well along with Sean Miller's program.
As things stand now, however, the 'Cats should continue to be a program that stays in the mix for the talented wing recruit from Texas. It would also not be surprising to see him visit Tucson again before the season is out.
* Arizona has T.J. McConnell lined up to takeover the starting point guard spot next season, but there also remains a need for a point guard of the future in Tucson. The Wildcats continue to look at many options in the 2014 class and one of those options is four-star prospect Jordan McLaughlin.
Keeping with the theme of the week, the Etiwanda, Calif., standout also made some revisions to his list last week and the Wildcats found themselves on that list as well. There were plenty of familiar programs on the 5-foot-11 point guard's list.
As things stand now the Rivals150 prospect plans on making his decision from this list of programs: Arizona, UCLA, Gonzaga, San Diego State, Stanford, UNLV, Indiana, Kansas, UConn and New Mexico.
"The style of play and the coaching staffs were the factors in my decision," he told Rivals.com. "I just got a good vibe from them."
Although his list is now a little bit more manageable, McLaughlin has no plans of going further than that right now.
"I'll probably just finish season and wait to make any further decisions in my recruitment," he said.
* The last Arizona target to cut his list last week was four-star wing prospect Kameron Chatman. The Wildcats offered the Long Beach (Calif.) Poly standout some time ago, but Chatman wanted make things a easier on himself by making the cuts to his list.
As things stand now, these are the schools the 6-foot-6 recruit will be choosing from: UCLA, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Michigan, Louisville, Georgetown & UConn.
Chatman plays for a talented team at Long Beach Poly and he felt making the cuts to his list would help him focus for the rest of the season.
"I just felt that it was time to trim it down a little going into playoffs just so I can focus on my team more," Chatman told Rivals.com.
The nation's 38th-best recruit in the 2014 class doesn't plan on taking official visits until his senior year.
Not every recruit is set on that, however, as there was some news that we brought you on Saturday afternoon about a couple current Arizona commits taking a trip to one of Rich Rodriguez's former stops.
On the basketball side of things it was a big week for 2014 recruits trimming their lists down. There were a handful of Arizona targets who made the decision to clean up their lists a little bit by whittling it down to a more manageable number.
A couple of those recruits are key recruits for the Wildcats in the current junior class, so we'll have more on that as well this week.
With it being such a busy time of the year, there is plenty to discuss once again this week so let's get to it.
Football recruiting
* We got word Saturday afternoon that Arizona commits Brandon Golson and Mario Alford were on an official visit to West Virginia, and we let you guys know about it. It has been made pretty clear from the get-go by the Wildcats' coaching staff that Arizona commits taking visits is a no-no.
Golson and Alford took their visits to Tucson in October and Alford committed before heading back to Milledgeville, Ga. Alford had already committed earlier in the month before taking his official with his Georgia Military College teammate.
"This trip really gave me a lot to think about," Alford told WVSports.com. "I mean West Virginia is so much closer to home. My family can drive up and see me play. I like the fact it's closer to home and no one has to stay up late to see me play on the west coast. The games will be on mid-day or like I said, they can drive up to see me."
Both Alford and Golson are important recruits for the Wildcats, but the linebacker prospect might an even more important part of the 2013 class. Golson has had somewhat of a long road to this point, but he could be an impact guy for the Wildcats next season as a JUCO transfer.
Not many positions were deep for the 'Cats in Year 1 under Rodriguez, but the linebacker group was especially thin during the 2012 season.
Keeping a guy like Golson in the mix at Arizona could really go a long way to help add some depth to that group.
The other aspect to this news is that the official visit to West Virginia for Alford and Golson didn't happen on accident. Tony Gibson was the duo's lead recruiter when he was at Arizona and now - of course - the former Wildcat safeties coach is back with the Mountaineers.
Continuing to recruit players after changing schools is not an uncommon practice, but it's interesting considering Rodriguez's close relationship with Gibson throughout the years.
"Tony Gibson is why I'm looking at WVU," he said. "He's been part of my recruitment since day one."
As we said on Sunday, the Mountaineers feel pretty good about their chances to flip both the athlete recruit (Alford) and the linebacker (Golson), but they feel very good about their chances with Golson.
We'll see what happens over the next few days, but there will certainly be more on this story as things progress toward National Signing Day.
* The Wildcats did host some visitors over the weekend, but they were more of the walk-on variety than in other weeks. The group was mostly made of in-state recruits like Scottsdale (Ariz.) Chaparral safety prospect Alex Arnold. San Clemente, Calif., kicker Bret Miller was on hand for a visit this weekend as well. He will be walking on with the Wildcats next season.
* All of the current Wildcat commits have now visited officially and really it's about signing their name on the dotted line and making things official for most of the group. Two commits who recently took their trips to Tucson said things have been made very clear in terms of the mindset that will be expected of them when they arrive in Tucson.
Three-star cornerback Derek Babiash had freshman Will Parks as his player host the current Arizona defensive back was one who played in his first year.
"We talked about what to expect when I get there," Babiash said. "And if I want to start this is what I have to do, so it was nice to talk with him about that."
Future Wildcat defensive end Calvin Allen also spent time with some of his future teammates and Reggie Gilbert and Tevin Hood had similar words for the three-star prospect.
"It was good," Allen told GOAZCATS.com. "They were telling me about how everything was and how the coaches are. They're both defensive linemen too, so it was good to see how things work with them too."
Both Babiash and Allen also said that the Arizona coaching staff has made sure they understand that the mindset they should have is to head to Tucson like they will be starting next season.
Running back commit Zachary Green said something similar over the weekend when we spoke with him at the South Bay BMW West Coast Bowl.
"They told me they don't want me going in with the mindset that 'oh, you're going to redshirt,'" Green told GOAZCATS.com. "They said I have the body of a sophomore already and its already mature. So they want me going in there to challenge people and they don't want me to go in there and drop everything with my work habits and everything like that.
"They said that they want me to keep at it and keep hungary. We're all hungary, because of all the schools that didn't recruit us. So we're all ready to get after it."
* When it comes to the 2014 class the Wildcats plan on having a pretty big junior day next weekend. Green's younger brother Brandon will be one of the visitors in attendance.
Four-star Nick Wilson is another recruit expected to be in town that weekend as well.
When it comes to the 2014 class, however, it is really a year the Wildcats want to leave their mark on the state of Arizona. We discuss it all the time, but in-state recruiting is going to be a big part of the next recruiting cycle for the 'Cats. Rodriguez and his staff are already off to a great start with four-star Tucson (Ariz.) Salpointe athlete Cameron Denson committed, but there are other targets.
* One big target who continues to be intrigued with the Wildcats is Scottsdale (Ariz.) Desert Mountain wide receiver Mark Andrews.
The four-star prospect has held an offer from the 'Cats for a while now, and he still has plenty of interest in the in-state program.
"Both in-state schools are coming hard and I'm definitely interested in both of them," Andrews told Rivals.com's Adam Gorney over the weekend.
"In terms of schools making more of an effort, Notre Dame is coming really hard and they're probably pursuing me the most right now. Oklahoma is pursuing pretty hard. As of right now I don't have a list or anything but those are a few of the main ones."
Andrews is very close friends with four-star quarterback Kyle Allen, and the duo has talked about attending the same school. They have offers from many of the same programs, but my feeling right now is that the pair of 2014 recruits being a package deal is not as certain as it once was.
The big 6-foot-6 receiver is also friends with Scottsdale (Ariz.) Chaparral recruits Tyler Whiley and Trevor Wood. The Wildcats are doing very well with both Whiley and Wood, so it's not inconceivable that the trio could all land in Tucson. It's still a long way from getting to that point, but it is something interesting to think about.
Basketball recruiting
Everything continues to stay the same with the 2013 class as Aaron Gordon is in no rush to make his decision, but it was the week of 2014 recruits making some headway with their lists that was the big news of the week.
Some big-time Arizona targets decided to make things a little neater with their lists and start the process of focusing on a few more select programs.
* One of the Wildcats big targets for the 2014 class is five-star wing prospect Stanley Johnson. The 6-foot-7 recruit from Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei is having a very good junior campaign and he decided that it was the right time to narrow things down once again.
The remaining schools on his list include: Arizona, USC, UCLA, Kentucky, Syracuse, NC State, San Diego State, Oregon, UNLV and Louisville.
"I've talked to every head coach and feel that the head coach really likes my game and they have recruited me the hardest," he told Rivals.com. "In doing that, I can kind of see myself at every school."
Kentucky is obviously in intriguing destination for many elite prospects, but I'd also keep an eye on both in-state schools. USC is on the list for a reason and depending on what happens with the coaching situation with the Trojans it would be interesting to see if they became more of an option down the road.
Right now the Wildcats are doing very well with Johnson, however, and that should continue for the foreseeable future.
* Another five-star target who recently trimmed things down is Houston (Texas) St. Johns standout Justise Winslow. The 6-foot-6 wing kept he Wildcats among the group, but there are also some other very prestigious programs in the mix as well.
Winslow plans on making his decision from this group of schools: Arizona, Duke, North Carolina, UCLA, Florida, Kansas, Texas A&M, Stanford, Baylor and Houston.
"I just wanted to get serious about the whole process," Winslow told GOAZCATS.com. "Let the schools that I'm interested know that I'm really interested in them and just start narrowing down the process so I can make the decision as soon as possible."
The Wildcats are doing well with Winslow too, but other programs feel they are doing well along with Sean Miller's program.
As things stand now, however, the 'Cats should continue to be a program that stays in the mix for the talented wing recruit from Texas. It would also not be surprising to see him visit Tucson again before the season is out.
* Arizona has T.J. McConnell lined up to takeover the starting point guard spot next season, but there also remains a need for a point guard of the future in Tucson. The Wildcats continue to look at many options in the 2014 class and one of those options is four-star prospect Jordan McLaughlin.
Keeping with the theme of the week, the Etiwanda, Calif., standout also made some revisions to his list last week and the Wildcats found themselves on that list as well. There were plenty of familiar programs on the 5-foot-11 point guard's list.
As things stand now the Rivals150 prospect plans on making his decision from this list of programs: Arizona, UCLA, Gonzaga, San Diego State, Stanford, UNLV, Indiana, Kansas, UConn and New Mexico.
"The style of play and the coaching staffs were the factors in my decision," he told Rivals.com. "I just got a good vibe from them."
Although his list is now a little bit more manageable, McLaughlin has no plans of going further than that right now.
"I'll probably just finish season and wait to make any further decisions in my recruitment," he said.
* The last Arizona target to cut his list last week was four-star wing prospect Kameron Chatman. The Wildcats offered the Long Beach (Calif.) Poly standout some time ago, but Chatman wanted make things a easier on himself by making the cuts to his list.
As things stand now, these are the schools the 6-foot-6 recruit will be choosing from: UCLA, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Michigan, Louisville, Georgetown & UConn.
Chatman plays for a talented team at Long Beach Poly and he felt making the cuts to his list would help him focus for the rest of the season.
"I just felt that it was time to trim it down a little going into playoffs just so I can focus on my team more," Chatman told Rivals.com.
The nation's 38th-best recruit in the 2014 class doesn't plan on taking official visits until his senior year.
