Courtesy of Arizona Athletics:
Arizona Wildcats head coach Rich Rodriguez took the first official steps in building their 2018 recruiting class, announcing Wednesday that 16 student-athletes signed National Letters of Intent on the first day of the December signing period. “We are very excited to welcome these additions to our program for the 2018 season,” Rodriguez said. “Our goal was to get bigger, stronger and more athletic as a football team, and we have done that. We also have the opportunity to add to this class in the coming months, and our staff will continue looking for the best players and best people to address the remaining needs.”
Arizona hauled in nine standouts on offense and seven on defense, while going coast-to-coast to round out the group. The Wildcats bring in 10 players from California, three from Texas, two from Arizona and one from Georgia“These young men all bring a toughness that we are looking forward to adding to our program,” Rodriguez said. “They have the drive and work ethic that shows football is important to them, and they know we’re expecting them to come in and compete to make us a better team immediately.”
The critical areas addressed in the earning signing period were adding size and depth to the lines on each side of the ball. In total, six of the 16 signees are either offensive or defensive linemen.
Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown (Last School)
Tre Adams WR 6-3 190 Frisco, Texas (Wakeland HS)
Steven Bailey OL 6-2 290 Litchfield Park, Ariz. (Peoria Centennial HS/Glendale CC)
Jailen Bailey WR 5-11 180 San Diego, Calif. (Lincoln HS)
McKenzie Barnes CB 6-2 170 Fresno, Calif. (Edison HS)
Jhevon Hill CB 6-3 185 San Bernadino, Calif. (Cajon HS)
Mykee Irving DT 6-4 320 Calabasas, Calif. (Calabasas HS)
Issaiah Johnson LB 6-2 210 Los Alamitos, Calif. (Los Alamitos HS)
PJ Johnson DL 6-5 315 Sacramento, Calif. (Burbank HS/City College of San Francisco)
Donovan Laie OL 6-6 290 Oceanside, Calif. (Oceanside HS)
Thomas Marcus WR 6-3 180 San Diego, Calif. (San Diego HS)
Jake Peters TE 6-4 240 Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. (Santa Margarita HS)
Darrius Smith RB 5-9 170 Pearland, Texas (Dawson HS)
Nahe Sulunga DE 6-3 255 Inglewood, Calif. (Calabasas HS)
David Watson OL 6-5 290 Tucson, Ariz. (Amphi HS)
Zach Williams TE 6-3 230 Johns Creek, Ga. (Johns Creek HS)
Christian Young S 6-2 195 Richmond, Texas (Foster HS)