Saguaro’s Tristan Monday Goes In-Depth on Arizona Commitment

Saguaro outside linebacker Tristan Monday has thrived in the backfield over the last two years. 

Since 2019, The 6-foot-4, 240-pound edge made 98 tackles, 44 tackle for loss and 15.5 sacks.

So with a skill set like that, it makes sense Monday would want to play for defensive coordinator Don Brown AKA “Dr. Blitz.” 

The class of 2022 pass rusher gave his verbal pledge to Arizona on Monday.

“They’ve really made it clear that I’m a top target for them and they want me down there,” Monday said. “Based on a lot of the coaches’ coaching history, I know what they’re about and I want to be a part of that.”

Brown, who recruited former Sabercat Quintin Somerville heavily while at Michigan, and linebackers coach Keith Dudzinski led the charge on Monday’s recruitment, and were laser-focused on getting him to Tucson.

“The moment they watched his film, they’ve been all-in on him and making him they’re No. 1 priority,” Saguaro head coach Jason Mohns said. 

“I think (the coaching staff) is painting a picture of what they want that program to become and how they need guys like Tristan to get there.” 

Tristan Monday and Creating A Pipeline to Tucson

This creates a strong start to the 2022 in-state class with Monday and Hamilton offensive lineman Grayson Stovall, who committed to the Wildcats last month.

It’s been a promise to prioritize in-state recruiting by essentially every regime that has coached at Arizona, ASU and NAU for decades. In this case with this coaching staff, they’re delivering early on in their tenure.

“They want to make an All-American team out of Arizona kids, which was really great to hear,” Monday said.  “A lot of these kids know each other. They’ve played youth football and any other sport together. They know those kids, and if they can all go to college together, it’s going to be a tight-knit family.”

In addition to the Wildcats, Monday holds offers from Baylor, Colorado, Florida State, Idaho, Iowa State and New Mexico. 

He recently told Sports360AZ Arizona and Colorado had made the strongest push for him recently. 

According to Mohns, Tristan Monday is the type of player this program can build around and help them climb the ladder within the Pac-12.

“They’re getting an extremely underrated player,” Mohns said. “I think they’re getting one of the best players in Arizona. He’s a freak…I’m shocked that he didn’t have every single school in the country try to recruit him because I think he’s that caliber of a player.”