Arizona Football

Top takeaways from Arizona’s National Signing Day press conference

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Despite the conventional season being over, early signing day is upon us.

Arizona currently has the 34th nationally-ranked high school class, according to 247 Sports.

247 Sports has also given the incoming Wildcats an 87.46 average recruit ranking, the highest in school history.  Both head coach Brent Brennan and general manager Gaizka Crowley spoke Wednesday during a press conference about the incoming class on and what it was like during the recruiting process.

Revenue sharing

Following the settlement of landmark case of House v NCAA, the financial aspect is at the forefront of the college athletics world. 

 “It absolutely has an impact in every single conversation you have,” Brennan said. “I think it’s both. I think it’s positive because now it’s a much more open discussion. The challenging part is the disparity in it, an ongoing back and forth.” 

 “We want a kid to be here for the right reasons because as we all know, in a five-year football career it’s not always going to go well,” Crowley said. “It’s a hard sport, so making sure the kid is built of the right stuff, and (having) the family foundation to be able to get through the tough times is kind of what we’re looking for.”

Safe to say, Arizona is not going to have one of the biggest payrolls in the sport but will have players who want to be here — a mantra they have preached all season. 

Winning in the trenches

The Wildcats signed a 10 linemen from high school this recruiting cycle. Of the 10, six were on the defensive side.

“We are trying to add some girth to this football team,” Brennan said with a smile. “You win upfront and I think that played out for us this year in terms of what our D-line was able to do, and what our offensive line became.” 

 Arizona finished 14 of 16 in sacks allowed in the Big 12, a positive point, while the defensive line ranked 13 of 16 in sacks. The additions will be able to help in that area. 

Development vs Portal

Arizona had more transfers last year, 30, than high school signings, 23. 

While a few factors could have played a part to that being the case, Brennan and Crowley both went in depth about why they want to change that. 

“We’re still going to be developmental,” Brennan said. “I think you have a better chance to develop the chemistry and connection that you need to build championship football programs if you can do it with players that have been in your program for years.”

“For us, like coach (Brennan) said, we want to be developmental,” Crowley said. “You take a look at all the offensive and defensive lineman we signed that is going to be really important to us.

“That’ll always be the basis, and then the portal players — look at the players this past year — you see the impact they had. So for us, it’s going to be important for us to balance it.”

WHEN THEY SIGNED ON SIGNING DATE

NamePosTime (MST)Hometown
Hannibal Navies IIS5:45 AMGrayson, Ga.
Khalil SanogoOL6:04 AMDallas, Texas
Jaden ParkerLB6:22 AMWichita, Kan.
Xaier HilerCB6:34 AMDenton, Texas
Griffin TillisS6:53 AMSpring, Texas
Kevin MoorerDL7:05 AMMobile, Ala.
Harvie MoeaiDE7:13 AMCason, Calif.
Malachi JoynerOL7:20 AMGilbert
Justin MoralesOL7:34 AMEl Paso, Texas
Keytrin HarrisDT7:45 AMChandler, Ariz.
Dash FifitaLB8:20 AMHuntington Beach, Calif.
Nathan AllenOL8:23 AMCarlsbad, Calif.
Henry GabalisTE8:30 AMSnohomish, Wash.
R.J. MosleyWR8:35 AMPittsburg, Calif.
Oscar RiosQB8:40 AMDowney, Calif.
Brandon SmithRB8:47 AMFresno, Calif.
Prince WilliamsDE8:50 AMHenderson, Nev.
Caleb SmithWR8:58 AMAllen, Texas
Manoah FaupusaDL9:03 AMWestminster, Calif.
Kaisi LafitagaDT11:50 AMPago Pago, American Samoa
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