July is a heavy recruiting month and that is where a lot of the attention is at this point on both the football and basketball side of things. It is an important time for Arizona as it continues to look at potential commits in both sports and in the coming weeks it will be time for recruits to be seen by the coaching staffs and make it out to Tucson for visits. Here is all the latest in this week’s War Room.
Football recruiting
It is a bit of a down time for the current football team as players are starting to return back from a break and preparing for camp in a few weeks. However, it is a busy time for recruiting as the dead period is now over and visits can start to take place once again. Because of that we will skip the football section of the War Room this week since there is plenty to get to with the recruiting side of things.
* First off, June 29 is the big date to remember as the Wildcats carry on this month. That is the date when the coaching staff will have its big end-of-the-summer junior day and it is inviting many of its top remaining targets out for that day. So far we know that Chris Olave, Kobe Smith and Jake Levengood will be a few of the prospects on campus that day but that will be a chance for the staff to really connect with a good amount of high-priority recruits and start to make some more headway with the class. The event is something the staff does every year about the same time and as Nike has its camp called The Opening every summer Rich Rodriguez tends to like to call this event The Closing. We’ll see what the list looks like when things get closer, but for now it is shaping up to be a solid event.
* Before we get to the prospects we were able to speak with over the weekend at the Battle at the Beach event in Southern California we had a chance to chat with Levengood as he was making his way to Oregon over the weekend. The two-way lineman from Vacaville, California received his offer from Arizona a few weeks ago but the relationship with the Wildcats began in the weeks before that back in May. Since then a relationship has been building and in particular Jim Michalczik has been putting the Wildcats in a good spot with the 6-foot-4 lineman who is being looked at on offense.
“Well coach Michalczik is a really knowledgable coach,” Levengood said. “He knows what he’s talking about, obviously. He has a good track record with everything. He mentioned that I fit into their offense well. They pass but they run mostly, so I really like that. Coach Michalcizk is just an awesome guy and I just like him.”
Levengood is looking forward to his trip out to Arizona at the end of the month and it will be an important one toward determining just how much he will keep the Wildcats in contention for his commitment as he moves along in the process.
"I just want to see and get to know the area," he said of his visit later this month. "How I like the weather down there and see how I like the campus. And just to see the whole town and see how it is. I'm really excited to go down there though ... it'll be fun."
Levengood said as of now he has a top three of Washington State, Arizona and Oregon State with San Jose State up there as well and something that Levengood is putting a high priority on as he looks at his options is the environment of the schools and their locales. The rising senior comes from Vacaville, California which has less than 100,000 residents and he is someone who would rather avoid playing in a big city. That is one reason Tucson has him so intrigued because of its college-town feel and the chance to feel more at home in that type of environment.
“I think I’d fit into a small-town school,” he said. “I'm not really a big city guy, because I grew up in Vacaville and it's only like 90,000 people. I don't really like big crowds, but anywhere to play Division I football. It's all really exciting right now."
Levengood plans on coming to a decision before the start of his senior year, but he is not locked into that by any means. His next round of visits, including his trip to Tucson, will help determine a lot about where things are going from this point on in his recruitment.
* Now we can jump into what we saw over the weekend and for the purposes of the War Room we’ll focus on the 2018 recruits we spoke with Saturday at the Battle at the Beach event at Edison High School in Huntington Beach, California. It is an annual passing tournament that features most of the top Southern California teams so it is an event we like to make it out to each summer. This year was another one loaded with talent and it gave us a chance to see some other prospects we haven’t quite watches as much this offseason or some of the newer recruits to pick up offers in recent weeks.
Here is a rundown of the rising senior Arizona targets we spoke with including their comments on UA and what we heard around the event talking with others around those prospects and others there as well.
- Chris Olave: As we mentioned above the San Marcos-Mission Hills receiver is someone who will be on campus in Tucson later this month for the UA junior day on June 29 and that will be a good chance for quarterbacks coach, co-offensive coordinator and San Diego area recruiter Rod Smith to continue to build a strong relationship with the 6-foot-1 prospect. We were impressed with what we saw from Olave at the event. He isn’t the type of prospect to blow you away with his size or his speed, but he does have very good hands and simply has a knack for making plays.
He showed some toughness dealing with a few defensive backs who were getting a little aggressive with him during the day and he has the makings of the types of receivers Arizona has been landing recently in that he could end up being a bit of an underrated recruit who produces at the next level.
When it comes to his recruitment he mentioned that Arizona is standing out to him right now along with Washington State, Boise State and the local school San Diego State. His relationship with Smith is a big reason Arizona is in the mix and he also has ties to some other players at UA as well and that is helping the connection.
“I talk to coach Smith like nearly every week,” Olave said. “So he’s been recruiting me really hard and he wants me to come in and start as a true freshman.”
For the full interview with the 2018 receiver watch this video below with our own Riley Versfelt.
- Steve McIntosh: Another SoCal recruit we were watching for the first time Saturday was the Mission Hills-Alemany safety prospect who is still getting acclimated with his new team after making the move over at Chaminade. He made a lot of nice plays on the ball but he is a bit undersized. It is more difficult to truly gauge defensive players in passing tournaments but there are some things to like about the 5-foot-10 safety prospect. When it comes to his recruitment Arizona is the clear best option but he continues to take his time with the process.
“A great Pac-12 school,” he said of UA. “They have great coaching over there. Coach Yates is a great coach and an awesome DB coach, so I”m excited about that.”
- Kobe Smith: Serra in Gardena, California is a school that has become well known for the talent it puts out each year and it has also become well known for putting that talent at the Los Angeles schools with a pipeline built into USC. When UA sophomore quarterback Khalil Tate picked Arizona over USC is certainly created a different path for Serra players who wanted to look outside of that pipeline. One of the recruits who has an Arizona offer and will visit the school later this month for the junior day event is Smith. He is close with Tate and is also friends with basketball commit Shareef O’Neal and there has already been talk of joining both at UA eventually.
Smith is the type of recruit Arizona is looking for right now at the receiver position because of his size and he certainly fits the system with his skill set. USC is still going to be the favorite for him as he moves forward – he was wearing USC gloves – but the Wildcats are certainly in the mix.
“It’s pretty good,” Smith said about having an offer from UA. “Since my old quarterback plays there now (Tate) he tells me a lot about Arizona. He tells me how great of a place it is and how I should join him and do the same thing we did in high school.”
- Devon Cooley: UCLA is the clear favorite right now for the high three-star receiver from St. John Bosco in Bellflower, California. Cooley is starting to prove himself as one of the better receivers in the class out West and he recently made the decision to play his final season with the SoCal powerhouse program. But going back to his recruitment the Bruins are the program that he has mentioned are the favorite and nothing has changed there. We have heard there could be some academic concerns preventing it from taking place right now and going any further than it is right now, but in the meantime that is leaving room for other schools such as Arizona to get more involved.
Football recruiting
It is a bit of a down time for the current football team as players are starting to return back from a break and preparing for camp in a few weeks. However, it is a busy time for recruiting as the dead period is now over and visits can start to take place once again. Because of that we will skip the football section of the War Room this week since there is plenty to get to with the recruiting side of things.
* First off, June 29 is the big date to remember as the Wildcats carry on this month. That is the date when the coaching staff will have its big end-of-the-summer junior day and it is inviting many of its top remaining targets out for that day. So far we know that Chris Olave, Kobe Smith and Jake Levengood will be a few of the prospects on campus that day but that will be a chance for the staff to really connect with a good amount of high-priority recruits and start to make some more headway with the class. The event is something the staff does every year about the same time and as Nike has its camp called The Opening every summer Rich Rodriguez tends to like to call this event The Closing. We’ll see what the list looks like when things get closer, but for now it is shaping up to be a solid event.
* Before we get to the prospects we were able to speak with over the weekend at the Battle at the Beach event in Southern California we had a chance to chat with Levengood as he was making his way to Oregon over the weekend. The two-way lineman from Vacaville, California received his offer from Arizona a few weeks ago but the relationship with the Wildcats began in the weeks before that back in May. Since then a relationship has been building and in particular Jim Michalczik has been putting the Wildcats in a good spot with the 6-foot-4 lineman who is being looked at on offense.
“Well coach Michalczik is a really knowledgable coach,” Levengood said. “He knows what he’s talking about, obviously. He has a good track record with everything. He mentioned that I fit into their offense well. They pass but they run mostly, so I really like that. Coach Michalcizk is just an awesome guy and I just like him.”
Levengood is looking forward to his trip out to Arizona at the end of the month and it will be an important one toward determining just how much he will keep the Wildcats in contention for his commitment as he moves along in the process.
"I just want to see and get to know the area," he said of his visit later this month. "How I like the weather down there and see how I like the campus. And just to see the whole town and see how it is. I'm really excited to go down there though ... it'll be fun."
Levengood said as of now he has a top three of Washington State, Arizona and Oregon State with San Jose State up there as well and something that Levengood is putting a high priority on as he looks at his options is the environment of the schools and their locales. The rising senior comes from Vacaville, California which has less than 100,000 residents and he is someone who would rather avoid playing in a big city. That is one reason Tucson has him so intrigued because of its college-town feel and the chance to feel more at home in that type of environment.
“I think I’d fit into a small-town school,” he said. “I'm not really a big city guy, because I grew up in Vacaville and it's only like 90,000 people. I don't really like big crowds, but anywhere to play Division I football. It's all really exciting right now."
Levengood plans on coming to a decision before the start of his senior year, but he is not locked into that by any means. His next round of visits, including his trip to Tucson, will help determine a lot about where things are going from this point on in his recruitment.
* Now we can jump into what we saw over the weekend and for the purposes of the War Room we’ll focus on the 2018 recruits we spoke with Saturday at the Battle at the Beach event at Edison High School in Huntington Beach, California. It is an annual passing tournament that features most of the top Southern California teams so it is an event we like to make it out to each summer. This year was another one loaded with talent and it gave us a chance to see some other prospects we haven’t quite watches as much this offseason or some of the newer recruits to pick up offers in recent weeks.
Here is a rundown of the rising senior Arizona targets we spoke with including their comments on UA and what we heard around the event talking with others around those prospects and others there as well.
- Chris Olave: As we mentioned above the San Marcos-Mission Hills receiver is someone who will be on campus in Tucson later this month for the UA junior day on June 29 and that will be a good chance for quarterbacks coach, co-offensive coordinator and San Diego area recruiter Rod Smith to continue to build a strong relationship with the 6-foot-1 prospect. We were impressed with what we saw from Olave at the event. He isn’t the type of prospect to blow you away with his size or his speed, but he does have very good hands and simply has a knack for making plays.
He showed some toughness dealing with a few defensive backs who were getting a little aggressive with him during the day and he has the makings of the types of receivers Arizona has been landing recently in that he could end up being a bit of an underrated recruit who produces at the next level.
When it comes to his recruitment he mentioned that Arizona is standing out to him right now along with Washington State, Boise State and the local school San Diego State. His relationship with Smith is a big reason Arizona is in the mix and he also has ties to some other players at UA as well and that is helping the connection.
“I talk to coach Smith like nearly every week,” Olave said. “So he’s been recruiting me really hard and he wants me to come in and start as a true freshman.”
For the full interview with the 2018 receiver watch this video below with our own Riley Versfelt.
- Steve McIntosh: Another SoCal recruit we were watching for the first time Saturday was the Mission Hills-Alemany safety prospect who is still getting acclimated with his new team after making the move over at Chaminade. He made a lot of nice plays on the ball but he is a bit undersized. It is more difficult to truly gauge defensive players in passing tournaments but there are some things to like about the 5-foot-10 safety prospect. When it comes to his recruitment Arizona is the clear best option but he continues to take his time with the process.
“A great Pac-12 school,” he said of UA. “They have great coaching over there. Coach Yates is a great coach and an awesome DB coach, so I”m excited about that.”
- Kobe Smith: Serra in Gardena, California is a school that has become well known for the talent it puts out each year and it has also become well known for putting that talent at the Los Angeles schools with a pipeline built into USC. When UA sophomore quarterback Khalil Tate picked Arizona over USC is certainly created a different path for Serra players who wanted to look outside of that pipeline. One of the recruits who has an Arizona offer and will visit the school later this month for the junior day event is Smith. He is close with Tate and is also friends with basketball commit Shareef O’Neal and there has already been talk of joining both at UA eventually.
Smith is the type of recruit Arizona is looking for right now at the receiver position because of his size and he certainly fits the system with his skill set. USC is still going to be the favorite for him as he moves forward – he was wearing USC gloves – but the Wildcats are certainly in the mix.
“It’s pretty good,” Smith said about having an offer from UA. “Since my old quarterback plays there now (Tate) he tells me a lot about Arizona. He tells me how great of a place it is and how I should join him and do the same thing we did in high school.”
- Devon Cooley: UCLA is the clear favorite right now for the high three-star receiver from St. John Bosco in Bellflower, California. Cooley is starting to prove himself as one of the better receivers in the class out West and he recently made the decision to play his final season with the SoCal powerhouse program. But going back to his recruitment the Bruins are the program that he has mentioned are the favorite and nothing has changed there. We have heard there could be some academic concerns preventing it from taking place right now and going any further than it is right now, but in the meantime that is leaving room for other schools such as Arizona to get more involved.
