The transition to the 2023 class is already underway, and quarterback recruits are always the first prospects to make decisions. Someone Arizona has continued to pursue since offering earlier in the year is Bay Area quarterback Jaden Rashada from Pittsburg High School in California. Today, the No. 80 recruit in the 2023 class announced his initial top-10 list and the Wildcats made the cut. Penn State has gained a lot of buzz with the junior signal caller and the Nittany Lions are on the list as well. UCLA, Washington, Oregon, Arizona State, Oregon State, Arkansas, Auburn and Oklahoma are the other schools to make the cut. Jimmie Dougherty is leading the process for UA, and the Wildcats should have a solid shot to ultimately land the Northern California quarterback. He has great size at 6-foot-4 and checks off a lot of the boxes Arizona is looking for at the position.
While Southern California was the big area of focus for 2022, the Bay Area and Northern California in general is a region Jedd Fisch and the staff is looking like it will be an area the Wildcats look to make some more noise in the next recruiting cycle. There is a lot of talent in the class in that part of the country, and Arizona is hoping to take advantage of it.
Rashada, whose dad played at Arizona State, visited UA over the summer. He's hoping to make a decision early in 2022, so naming a top 10 is a step toward making that happen.
“I’m huge on throwing the ball because I'm a quarterback and not nothing else other than that,” Rashada told Devils Digest earlier in the year. “The quarterback does need to throw the ball well, so that's definitely my priority. I don't use my feet unless I have to. I definitely do like throwing the ball better than running it. This last year I really improved a lot on both my arm strength and accuracy. I also improved on my anticipation and timing and I’m a whole different player for this upcoming year than I was back then. It's been a lot of learning for me, and I know I hit some of those (learning) curves , and I'm pretty glad I went through them.”
