Arizona Football remaining recruiting needs by Position

With the Arizona Football off-season in full swing, we look at and break down the remaining recruiting needs by Position for the Wildcats. 

The 2021 Arizona Football season is finally over and this year was a rather tough one to follow. As we all saw, the Wildcats introduced a first-year head coach, they went through a myriad of injuries, and despite being competitive in a hand full of games, Arizona still stumbled to a 1-11 finish.

Now entering year two of the Jedd Fisch era, the Wildcats have a lot of work in front of them, especially if they are to turn around the product on the field.

For starters, development is going to be crucial. Arizona will likely return a large contingency of current players, and with recruiting being a longer process in fundamentally transforming a porous program like Arizona, that means this staff has to put a major focus on developing the talent they have.

Beyond that, Arizona Football also has to put a major priority on recruiting, and these are the recruiting needs by position for the Wildcats.

Arizona has a few more open spots heading into this off-season, and while the scholarships would be best used to improve talent everywhere, these should at least be the focused positions moving forward…

Quarterback

We all saw quite clearly the struggles the Wildcats endured at quarterback this past season. The position saw a lot of injuries, and at many times it felt like a revolving door.

While there are typically growing pains in year one of any new offense, however, it was clear that the Wildcats lacked the talent that is needed long-term to turn this thing around. So, given those struggles, Fisch and the Wildcats need to bring in more talent here.

So far, the Cats have SoCal star quarterback Noah Fifita committed and enrolling in January, however, that is just one player. It would be wise if the Cats would bring in another quarterback, preferably a proven guy that is in the infamous transfer portal. And with the options currently available, the Wildcats need to be aggressive here.

Offensive Line

In short, this group was not good. They had several, glaring weaknesses with a lack of depth perhaps being the biggest. Those issues became even more pronounced once the Wildcats suffered a few injuries.

If we’ve learned anything over the years, it is that we can never have enough depth along the offensive line, and given Arizona’s issues on offense, it would be vital for this group to be filled out even more.

Granted, Arizona does have a couple of offensive linemen committed for 2021, a few more would be wise, and preferably ones that are in the transfer portal that could have an immediate impact.

Defensive Line

A group that loses some talent in the departures of Trevon Mason, Mo Diallo, and Leevel Tatum III, this is a position that could use more depth and talent.

In 2021, Arizona did a decent job in getting to the quarterback, totaling 22 sacks for 139 yards. However, where the team seemed to struggle the most was in limiting opponents’ rushing attack, surrendering 180.9 yards per game and 4.6 yards per carry. That’s an area that needs to drastically improve.

Assuming Jalen Harris comes back, and the incoming freshmen are as good as advertised, this should be a group that’ll improve with time, however, another player or two in the transfer portal would be ideal.

Safety/Secondary

The Wildcats were dangerously thin here this past season and the production was also a bit limited as well. So naturally, what Arizona desperately needs is more depth in the secondary.

Coming in, there are a few solid names like Kyron Chambers and Tacario Davis currently but Arizona may have to continue to battle to keep Chambers on board, ultimately two players are not enough to fundamentally change and transform this group.

Arizona would be wise to bring another commit or two in the secondary, and much like their other needs, the portal is a great place to find immediate talent.