Arizona made another quality walk-on addition to the program Thursday as three-star athlete Carson Cota announced his decision to commit to the Wildcats over offers from New Mexico State, Georgia Tech and Utah State. He also recently picked up a preferred walk-on offer from Oregon. The 6-foot-5 prospect will come to Arizona as a tight end but he also could play along the defensive line and that is why he's listed as an athlete by Rivals.com. He is the younger brother of UCLA junior receiver Chase Cota. As of now the expectation is that he will arrive on campus as a walk-on before being put on scholarship as a blue-shirt player once the first semester comes to an end. As I had previously mentioned the Wildcats were likely to take that route with some prospects because of how little room there is in the class.
Taking a blue shirt will allow Cota to count toward the 2022 class and not take up any room for 2021 though he will get to join the team right away and potentially play early on as well. The Wildcats have been active when it comes to recruiting tight ends under the new staff and quarterbacks coach Jimmie Dougherty obviously has a connection with Chase Cota since he was the receivers coach at UCLA previously. All the pieces lined up to get the three-star prospect to Arizona over taking the PWO route at Oregon that would have kept him closer to home.
Watching his senior film from the spring he does have playmaking abilities and is someone who could be used all over the field. With as much as Arizona is going to be using its tight ends (it looks like) the more players with talent at the position the better. He'll have to improve his blocking, but he certainly looks like a player who could help early catching passes in the new system.
