I know it's still relatively early and commitments right now might not hold until December, but just wanted to give some updates on (fairly) recent commitments by Arizona targets to other programs and what the chances are the Wildcats remain involved and still have a shot at the recruits.
Overall, not many of Arizona's options are off the board yet as the 2019 group has been a little slower to pull the trigger in general. Sunday, however, two high-level prospects came off the board at the same time with Oregon picking up the commitments of Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei standouts Jeremiah Criddell and Sean Dollars. The Wildcats offered both early on after the new staff was on board with Demetrice Martin leading the way with both Southern California prospects. Both recruits transferred to Mater Dei from Rancho Cucamonga, California where one-time Arizona cornerback target Thomas Graham was at. He eventually ended up at Oregon and he was part of the same Ground Zero seven-on-seven program as Dollars and Criddell.
Donté Williams and Keith Heyward led the recruitments and their ties to California were a big part of the decisions. Criddell was much more of an option for Arizona than Dollars, but even then it surprised me a bit when the Wildcats weren't included in his final group before coming to a decision. The Rivals100 prospect had a lot of positive things to say about Martin and the coaching staff at UA when I spoke to him earlier in the year, but the Wildcats could simply never gain real traction with him in the end.
I don't think this will be the end of Criddell's recruitment, so I don't think the door is completely closed on Arizona but for now the Wildcats will wait it out and see where it goes from here.
It was an interesting few days for the the Honolulu-based prospect as he picked up his first Power Five offer as Arizona decided it would be the first big school to jump in the race after other programs like Hawaii, Fresno State and Utah State had already offered. A day later he picked up an offer from USC and before the Wildcats could even truly begin the process with the three-star defensive tackle he was committed to the Trojans.
This is one I could see changing over time if USC eventually finds someone it likes more than Quinones. His recruitment is just getting started in many ways and December is a long time away. If he does happen to have to part ways with USC down the line I would expect the Wildcats to be right in the mix, but this was certainly an interesting situation to see play out over the last several days.
Someone I would not expect to be in play with Arizona as things move along is the tight end from Chandler. Liebrock blew up right away earlier this spring and like so many other top prospects from Arizona he had a chance to leave home and it always felt like that would be the case when push came to shove. Alabama, LSU, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State and USC were all options on the table before he decided on Texas a couple weeks ago.
It's the thing Arizona will have to continue to face with in-state prospects. There is always that pull to leave home and play somewhere else if that opportunity comes up. Liebrock sounds locked into his commitment for now, but if he does decide to open it up it doesn't feel very likely he looks to stay in state.
Overall, not many of Arizona's options are off the board yet as the 2019 group has been a little slower to pull the trigger in general. Sunday, however, two high-level prospects came off the board at the same time with Oregon picking up the commitments of Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei standouts Jeremiah Criddell and Sean Dollars. The Wildcats offered both early on after the new staff was on board with Demetrice Martin leading the way with both Southern California prospects. Both recruits transferred to Mater Dei from Rancho Cucamonga, California where one-time Arizona cornerback target Thomas Graham was at. He eventually ended up at Oregon and he was part of the same Ground Zero seven-on-seven program as Dollars and Criddell.
Donté Williams and Keith Heyward led the recruitments and their ties to California were a big part of the decisions. Criddell was much more of an option for Arizona than Dollars, but even then it surprised me a bit when the Wildcats weren't included in his final group before coming to a decision. The Rivals100 prospect had a lot of positive things to say about Martin and the coaching staff at UA when I spoke to him earlier in the year, but the Wildcats could simply never gain real traction with him in the end.
I don't think this will be the end of Criddell's recruitment, so I don't think the door is completely closed on Arizona but for now the Wildcats will wait it out and see where it goes from here.
It was an interesting few days for the the Honolulu-based prospect as he picked up his first Power Five offer as Arizona decided it would be the first big school to jump in the race after other programs like Hawaii, Fresno State and Utah State had already offered. A day later he picked up an offer from USC and before the Wildcats could even truly begin the process with the three-star defensive tackle he was committed to the Trojans.
This is one I could see changing over time if USC eventually finds someone it likes more than Quinones. His recruitment is just getting started in many ways and December is a long time away. If he does happen to have to part ways with USC down the line I would expect the Wildcats to be right in the mix, but this was certainly an interesting situation to see play out over the last several days.
Someone I would not expect to be in play with Arizona as things move along is the tight end from Chandler. Liebrock blew up right away earlier this spring and like so many other top prospects from Arizona he had a chance to leave home and it always felt like that would be the case when push came to shove. Alabama, LSU, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State and USC were all options on the table before he decided on Texas a couple weeks ago.
It's the thing Arizona will have to continue to face with in-state prospects. There is always that pull to leave home and play somewhere else if that opportunity comes up. Liebrock sounds locked into his commitment for now, but if he does decide to open it up it doesn't feel very likely he looks to stay in state.
