There have definitely been more decommits than a normal year with Arizona, but if you really take a look at who Arizona won't have versus who it will come next week it tells a different story than what it looks like on the surface. The 'Cats have lost some talented guys, but what this staff is looking for and you can see it with the recruiting is the long-term health of the program by utilizing guys who will contribute for three or four good years instead of just two or one.
The stop-gap plug-in type guy just isn't working. Moving forward there is going to be much more emphasis on development and doing so with guys who are ready to go earlier at the same time. I will give you just this example. London Iakopo was certainly a talent, but he was injured a lot last season and he is a JUCO guy coming in during the summer as opposed to midyear. There's going to be an adjustment period for at least some part of the season. So let's say at best you get one and a half quality seasons from Iakopo. That's great and it helps you in the short term, but I would much rather have - as a program - three or four quality seasons from Chacho Ulloa.
Winning now is great but to me it's all about the overall health of the program from a top-to-bottom standpoint. If you look at who Arizona will end up replacing some of the decommits with I think an argument can be made that they are upgrades from a "health of the program" standpoint and having guys who maybe redshirt but are ready to go sooner and will be in the program for longer.
Outside of Modster I don't know that there were any who I would say "that was a tough loss" when you think of the direction UA wants to go in with the new staff members on board and this rejuvenated attitude about recruiting.
The stop-gap plug-in type guy just isn't working. Moving forward there is going to be much more emphasis on development and doing so with guys who are ready to go earlier at the same time. I will give you just this example. London Iakopo was certainly a talent, but he was injured a lot last season and he is a JUCO guy coming in during the summer as opposed to midyear. There's going to be an adjustment period for at least some part of the season. So let's say at best you get one and a half quality seasons from Iakopo. That's great and it helps you in the short term, but I would much rather have - as a program - three or four quality seasons from Chacho Ulloa.
Winning now is great but to me it's all about the overall health of the program from a top-to-bottom standpoint. If you look at who Arizona will end up replacing some of the decommits with I think an argument can be made that they are upgrades from a "health of the program" standpoint and having guys who maybe redshirt but are ready to go sooner and will be in the program for longer.
Outside of Modster I don't know that there were any who I would say "that was a tough loss" when you think of the direction UA wants to go in with the new staff members on board and this rejuvenated attitude about recruiting.
