There’s been a lot going on in the Arizona Wildcats world of football recruiting so I figured now would be a nice time to come up with an update. June was a pretty fun and successful month for Arizona. They landed ten commitments and I broke down all of them, asserting themselves as top 15 class nationally.

Now as we begin July, the Wildcats started off the month in a good way, landing 3-star OG Cody Shear. Arizona can add their 21st commitment on July 3rd with Rhedi Short’s upcoming decision date and there are a couple of intriguing visits that involve commits and targets.

I did not receive any questions this time, so feel free to hit me up on the Twitters.

Cody Shear commitment

Arizona added the 20th member of their 2017 recruiting class, but this one was to be expected. Shear kept me informed throughout the entire process and that’s usually a huge indicator that they are a hard Arizona lean or just a really good kid, which both apply to Shear.

He’s finally been ranked by three recruiting services and while he’s a low-end 3-star, I don’t think he’s a guy who will make a huge jump in the rankings. Sheldon High School had gone to the state semifinals each of the last two seasons, with huge credit going to Justin Herbet, now freshman Oregon Duck.

Shear wanted to commit before the season so that he could focus on getting past the semifinals. They’ll need some strong offensive line play for a heavy run game.

Rhedi Short commitment date

The date is set for July 3rd and while the Crystal Ball has eight predictions, all for Arizona, including mine, I’m not 100% confident he ends up at Arizona. He’s done a pretty good job of keeping it low key, playing no favorites. He initially told me Arizona and Oregon, with Penn State in the mix, then added Arizona State and California not too long ago.

I’d be 100% shocked if he decides on anywhere else besides Eugene or Tucson, but I wouldn’t be too shocked if he picked the Ducks. He still plans on taking visits, so even if Arizona does land him, the fear of those visits certainly do start to set in considering he already decommitted once and it’s still very early in the process.

Elijah Blades wants an Arizona visit

Speaking of visits, Elijah Blades low key wants to visit Arizona.

I figured from the beginning that he was going to be a guy that was going to take his visits, but he’s been pretty vocal about the Wildcats and he has some great relationships with the current commits.

While Florida might be his dream school, I think there’s still a good chance he flips. Him committing to Florida originally might have been a little easier on Arizona fans as well. Here, there is no pressure to land him, yet there’s still a good chance he ends up in Tucson.

I like Arizona’s position for him now, and I’d say there’s about a 35% chance that he flips to Arizona.

Nathan Tilford visits Nebraska, causes panic

Speaking of Arizona fans becoming uneasy with commits taking visits, we’ll talk about Nathan Tilford. He was at the Nebraska satellite camp and then took an unofficial visit to their huge Friday Night Lights event. I had felt like the Huskers lost some momentum, but the event definitely got a lot of guys back on the hype train.

There have been a lot of whispers about Tilford flipping to Nebraska, and even two new Crystal Ball predictions for Nebraska. He’s kept it quiet, but based on what I know, I don’t think Tilford leaves Arizona.

Darrian McNeal has Arizona at the top of his list

Based on the 20 commitments, plus a heavy load of pass catchers, I figured that there really wouldn’t be too much room for any other guys not named Joseph Lewis or KJ Hamler, with someone like Bruce Judson maybe getting pushed out as well.

But Darrian McNeal tells me that the staff is recruiting him extremely hard; he feels it’s as the top target for the slot position. He’ll be coming out for an unofficial visit next week and he tells me “If I like it when I come out there, I’m there. Number one option for me right now. Best fit.”

So this is definitely something to keep your eye on. Georgia Tech has made a move but McNeal seems like he could very well be committing to Arizona and potentially during his visit, despite his later plans. With that being said, I have McNeal to Arizona as my Crystal Ball prediction but that can certainly change.

Chris Brooks is also set to commit at the end of July as a slot receiver and Arizona is communicating with him fairly often so we’ll see how the timing of this goes down. I felt like he missed his chance, but Arizona could have some tricks up their sleeve to land a huge recruiting class.

Jaylon Redd update

If things don’t work out with flipping Elijah Blades, I think Arizona can land 4-star corner Jaylon Redd. He’s been pretty pro-Arizona lately. It seems as if Oregon has a lead on him but I wouldn’t count Arizona out just yet.

Arizona likely to land Odua Isibor, Jalen Harris or My-King Johnson

If you missed it, I spoke to 3-star defensive end Odua Isibor the other day and got a pretty good vibe from him. Arizona is also targeting two other in-state options with Jalen Harris and My-King Johnson.

Based on their schools, which all seem to be Oregon, Texas A&M and USC, I’d be pretty shocked if Arizona doesn’t come away with any of them. I think Arizona has a great shot at Isibor. I’ve been told that Harris is an Oregon lean but Arizona might not be too far behind and Johnson continues to feel out the process with A&M. So while I’m not sure which one comes to Arizona, I do feel good about saying they get at least one.

Elijah Watson’s Mountain View High School update

In my last round up, I answered a question about Elijah Watson’s ranking, as he remains as the only 2-star prospect for Arizona. His high school has not done well historically, winning only 14 games since 2010, but this year they are projected to go 7-3 and make the playoffs for the first time in school history.

With that playoff exposure, he might be seeing an update in the rankings by the end of the season. He’s about one hundredth of a decimal point away from being labeled as a 3-star.