Recruiting is slow in September and October, mainly because college coaches can’t come out and recruit or evaluate because they are busy with their season. Activity picks up when teams have bye weeks and coaches can travel to see players that have been on their radar.
Just last week some pretty big name schools were in the Valley looking at prospects; Arkansas, Ole Miss and West Virginia were a few.
Three players received their first college scholarship, bringing the running total of players with an offer in hand to 57. This is on pace to match last year’s total of 90.
Prior to last week, the only player in Tucson with a division-one football scholarship offer was Canyon del Oro’s Blake Martinez. The 6-2 240 pound Martinez has been committed to Stanford for months. I learned that two more Southern Arizona players received D1 offers.
TE/DL Niko Kittrell from Sahuaro High School was offered by the University of New Mexico and by San Jose State. Coach McKee down at Sahuaro says that Weber State, San Digo State and Arizona have also expressed interest. Kittrell is an intriguing prospect because of his versatility. At 6-2 240, he doesn’t quite have what schools are looking for in a tight end but he moves around and plays h-back and with some added weight, could be a good defensive tackle.
The University of New Mexico also offered Salpointe Catholic defensive end Davierre Cummins. Cummins transferred to Salpointe from Buena High in Sierra Vista and Coach Bene at Salpointe says he has really progressed since moving in.
Now, New Mexico recently fired their head Coach Mike Locksley so these offers from the Lobos still could be up in the air as a the new head coach may chose not to honor these verbal offers.
Goodyear Desert Edge wide receiver Anthony Fletcher was offered by the University of North Dakota on Sunday night according to Desert Edge head coach Rich Wellbrock. Wellbrock says that NAU has expressed a lot of interest and the Lumberjacks could be the next to offer Fletcher. At 6-3 190, Fletcher is a big wideout that creates matchup problems in the redzone.