The Arizona Wildcats have landed yet another commitment for the 2017 class. Xavier Bell, a 6-foot-2, 185 pound safety out of Mater Dei (Santa Ana, CA), announced his verbal commitment to Arizona on his twitter account.

He is a 3-star prospect according to Scout, who was receiving interest from Arizona State, Florida State and Texas A&M.

This now gives Arizona 17 commitments for the 2017 class and their third defensive back, including Greg Johnson and Scott Young. Add that with the five safeties from the 2016 recruiting class and Arizona is steadily growing their secondary with some extremely talented pieces. Nine of the 2017 commits are on the defensive side of the ball.

This commitment is tapping into another winning football program. Since Rich Rodriguez has taken over in 2012, the staff had been steadily climbing up to the powerhouse programs. Now with this defensive staff, there has been an obvious and abrupt culture change in recruiting.

What I like about Bell is his size. He’s a rangy free safety that can patrol the top of the field and also step into the gap to stop the run. Here are his junior year highlights at Mater Dei