Hey guys, today I had the chance to go out to Salpointe and interview both Keona Wilhite and Elijah Rushing on their visits to Arizona, updates on their recruitment and more. I'll have details down below.


Keona Wilhite: As we all learned yesterday, Wilhite has committed to Arizona giving the Wildcats their first Salpointe player since Justin Holt was on campus. He talked about the visit and how he loved the culture around the program and seeing the vision the coaching staff had for his career in Tucson and at the NFL level.

Now, Wilhite has taken visits to UCLA and Oregon State. And although he is committed to Arizona, he will be taking his visit to Washington this weekend. On top of that, BYU has been pushing hard for him to take a visit over the last several months, but he has not schedule one yet. He plans to go to both BYU and Nebraska during the season at some point.

Overall, I think Arizona is in great position to sign him come National Signing Day and he is a great addition to the class.

Elijah Rushing: A few months ago, I would've said that Arizona had no chance at landing Rushing to its 2024 class. However, with his brother now at Arizona, Keona Wilhite committed to the Wildcats and the coaching staff going hard in his recruitment, I think UA is in great shape right now at having a shot and landing the high four-star recruit.

When talking to Rushing about his official visit he talked about the culture at Arizona and how things have changed over the last several years. And he hammered home the point of the players on the roster truly loving the coaching staff and wanting to be in Tucson. Plus, he enjoyed meeting and being around the players on the roster and seeing guys he went up against in high school.

Rushing went on to talk about how the Wildcats' coaching staff teaches you with a purpose and it isn't "Yoda" talk that some coaches give you.

Now, I think Oregon is very much in play and in the lead right now with Rushing calling the facilities "college football's Disneyland." However, I would put Arizona near them and Norte Dame with the Wildcats making massive strides in his recruitment.

The Wildcats have hired Kevin Vance as their next pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. Vance has spent the last several years with Boston College helping the Eagles go 37-20 during the 2023 season.

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Done deal. All three of Arizona's targets at Apollo HS in Glendale have committed to the Wildcats together today. A big coup for Jedd Fisch and his staff to get such a haul from one school.

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It is looking like today will be a busy day for the Wildcats. At least three recent visitors will announce their decisions together this afternoon as the three Glendale-Apollo recent visitors (RB Adam Mohammed, OL Matthew Lado and OL Michael Watkins) will make their commitments known. Lado visited Colorado State this weekend, but all signs are pointing to the Wildcats for all three recruits. Mohammed visited Cal last week then cut his list down to two schools ultimately cutting out Boston College before a previously planned visit to the school.

In addition to that there are more commitments expected to be made public today beginning with another in-state recruit announcing his choice shortly. This one is from close to home and will be a big one for the Wildcats to get since other schools have started to make a stronger push as of late.

Could just be the start of a really huge day for Arizona that greatly increases the size of the 2024 class.

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Arizona has added a kicker to its commitment list for the 2024 class. Mission Viejo, California standout Michael Salgado-Medina is headed to UA continuing a strong pipeline with the top Southern California high school program. Salgado-Medina is widely considered to be one of the top kickers in the class, and Chris Sailer currently has him ranked 13th overall and a five-star recruit in his rankings system. That is equivalent to being a "FBS Power 5 Freshman Year Starter, Scholarship Pick" in his system of rankings. He's a big body at 6-foot-3 and also has the ability to punt as well.

The staff at Kohl's Kicking has him ranked No. 15 overall.

The Wildcats always want to have a scholarship kicker on the roster, and the staff likes what Salgado-Medina brings to the table.

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Back on May 17, Arizona received a commitment from Lithuanian forward Paulius Murauskas. However, Murauskas hadn't officially sign during this time. But, on Wednesday the Wildcats announced the signing of the forward on Twitter with a quote from coach Tommy Lloyd about the new addition.


Twitter:

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Now, the Wildcats are over the scholarship limit by one after the recent addition of North Carolina guard Caleb Love. However, I do think we will see that number drop by one here shortly.

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Lithuanian forward Paulius Murauskas made his commitment to Arizona public in the early morning hours. The 6-foot-8 prospect is the latest member of Arizona’s 2023 class. He’s already 19 so he’ll come in as an older freshman and has experience playing at a high level.

An inside out scorer who will add some quality depth for the Wildcats and give the team some more length.

He was the top scorer in the FIBA U18 European Championship tournament in 2022 averaging 20.7 points to go with 6 rebounds and 2.7 assists.

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Etiwanda HS (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) quarterback Dermaricus Davis was back on campus at Arizona for the second time this spring when he made the trek out to Tucson last weekend. The three-star recruit has become one of the priority targets at the position as of late, and he is getting closer to reaching a decision. Oregon State will host him this weekend before he takes an important visit to Washington that could ultimately decide where he ends up.

The Wildcats have been active in their pursuit of the 6-foot-4 prospect even since before offering him in May, and he's found a lot to like about the program. Davis had an opportunity to speak with Jayden de Laura, and he feels confident that the staff would be able to develop him to reach the next level.

Read the full update after his weekend visit with the Wildcats at the link above.

"This weekend was a great weekend," he said. "The hospitality was at a very high level. I spoke with a lot of players about the process. They gave me a lot of details about the school, and everything was really good."

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In-state offensive tackle prospect Matthew Lado was one of Arizona's official visitors over the weekend. The Wildcats came into the weekend looking like the leader in his recruitment, and the visit to Tucson did nothing to change that. He says UA is at the top of his list as he moves ahead in his recruitment. He will take an official visit to Colorado State before coming to a decision in July, but he is not hiding how well the Wildcats have done with him.

I chatted with the Glendale-Apollo standout rising senior about the visit, and you can read the full update above.

"I like the culture the team has, like a family that not many other programs have. The highlight of the program was talking about football with coach [Brennan] Carroll in his room as well as seeing the players workout."

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Arizona has picked up a commitment from one of its weekend visitors as Katy (Texas) Tompkins edge rusher Eduwa Okundaye has announced his pledge to the Wildcats this morning. The 6-foot-3 prospects holds offers from Kansas State, Washington State, San Diego State, Houston, Tulane, Texas State, and Sam Houston State. He also previously visited Boise State. A nice underrated addition for the Wildcats. Jason Kaufusi led his recruitment for UA.

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Arizona has added a commitment from Carlsbad, California outside linebacker Luke Ferrelli today. UA is the only Power Five school to offer him so far but the staff seems to really like him. He’s another guy with great size, which has been a theme with the 2024 class so far.

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The Mater Dei pipeline continues for Arizona. A nice addition for up front as Kaho Tuihalamaka announces his pledge to Arizona.

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Check out my article on the review of the Arizona baseball season

Tonight is a great illustration of Lawn’s ineptitude. Everybody could see that Walty didn’t have his stuff tonight, leaving everything up in the zone and no movement on his breaking pitches, yet Lawn left him in the game. 3 outs, 50 pitches, 6 runs (54.0 RPI). You can’t throw 90% strikes and expect to survive.

Also…this announcer is annoying. He loves to talk about ASU’s 3-2 season record against Arizona but neglects to mention that Arizona was 2-0 and outscored them 32-3 in their last two games. He talked about USC getting locked out but didn’t mention that Arizona won two of their last three against them.

Game’s not over. Arizona‘s bats will stay hot, but they need to get some easy outs so they don’t burn out the bullpen tonight.

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Chatsworth High (Chatsworth, Calif.) freshman Alijah Arenas has been on fire this spring, and it has added up to a number of impressive offers. One offer that could ultimately be difficult to beat in his recruitment came through this evening. Arizona has decided to jump into the mix early with the 6-foot-4 guard by offering him a scholarship and an opportunity to follow in his dad, Gilbert's, footsteps with the Wildcats.

There's still plenty of room for development as he still has three more high school seasons to play but I'd expect Arizona to be very active in his recruitment as he continues to grow as a player.

UCLA, Washington, Xavier, Kansas, Virginia Tech and Ole Miss are some of his other early offers. He already has over a dozen offers on the table as he closes out his freshman year of high school.

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A look across the country here:

Arizona's time in the NCAA tournament gets underway Friday, and today the team has announced its starting pitcher for the opening game of the Fayetteville Regional against TCU. Righty Cam Walty (5-0, 5.33 ERA) will get the nod against the Horned Frogs, which will send RHP Kole Klecker (9-4, 4.04 ERA) to the mound.

In case you missed it yesterday, here are interviews with Walty, shortstop Nik McClaughry, reliever Chris Barraza and head coach Chip Hale ahead of the team's departure for Arkansas.

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Matt, Elijah Rushing is supposedly visiting this weekend, any updates on his recruitment or scoops for us? He’d be such a huge commit, probably the best, in terms of the fact that he’s from Tucson!

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The Pac-12 is set to release the conference schedules today, and here's a look at what it will look like for Arizona. A leak was released yesterday and have confirmed it to be accurate.

Bold = home game

Sept. 2 - Northern Arizona
Sept. 9 - @ Mississippi State
Sept. 16 - UTEP
Sept. 23 - @ Stanford
Sept. 30 - Washington
Oct. 6 or 7 - @ USC
Oct. 14 - @ Washington State
Oct. 21 - BYE
Oct. 28 - Oregon State
Nov. 4 - UCLA
Nov. 11 - @ Colorado
Nov. 18 - Utah
Nov. 25 - @ Arizona State

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As first reported by Eurohopes, Arizona is set to add Spanish guard Conrad Martinez for the upcoming season. The 6-foot prospect announced earlier today on his Instagram page that he will be leaving his current team, Club Joventut Badalona, but he has not yet announced his move overseas to play for the Wildcats. Not expecting this to impact Arizona's pursuit of other guards for next season. There's still some roster movement expected to take place meaning there will be room for another addition of a transfer player, which Arizona still very much wants, moving forward this offseason.

He definitely has some size limitations and I wouldn't expect him to come in and push anyone for serious playing time right away like the other international players being added, but he is a nice piece to have for depth and there's upside there for the staff to develop.

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Arizona has lost cornerback Isaiah Rutherford to the transfer portal. Rutherford came over from Notre Dame and has struggled the last two seasons in a Wildcats uniform.

One of the main issues with Rutherford has been that he hasn't been healthy enough to stay on the field and meanwhile, the younger talent on Arizona's roster has developed and risen through the ranks.

Rutherford wasn't going to be a key piece this season. Also, he was around fifth or sixth on the depth chart at the cornerback position after starting spring on the second unit.

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Arizona has landed its highest-rated transfer of the offseason with North Carolina guard Caleb Love now committed to the Wildcats after a weekend visit. He has been training in Arizona so it only makes sense, but it is still a monster addition for UA. Love committed to Michigan earlier in the offseason but had issues begin admitted into school, so now it is Arizona's gain as he adds a proven scorer to the rotation and now UA has some legitimate depth on the perimeter.

Love averaged 16.7 points to lead the Tar Heels last season.

Headed to Fayetteville. It’ll be a tough regional but they’re playing well and with a ton of confidence. Erase the records; it’s a new season. Let’s goooooo!!!