KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Arizona head football coach John Mackovic and his coaching staff were able to sign 18 prep and five junior college prospects to national letters of intent yesterday. The recruits should help UA improve on last season's 4-8 record.

Quarterbacks, athletes highlight top-30 recruiting class for Mackovic's staff

Any doubts voiced about head coach John Mackovic's leadership abilities might be starting to fall by the wayside, as supported by the 23 national letters of intent the UA football team received yesterday.

The 2003 Wildcat signing class received top-30 rankings from both Prepstar and Rivals.com, two of the premier prep-recruiting firms in the nation.

"After all the things said and done since November, I feel that this might cast some stability on our football program," Mackovic said. "I don't think anyone gave us much of a chance, but it was an extremely successful process."

With 13 recruits on offense and 13 on the defensive side, the staff's goal was to balance out the team while filling the empty spots in between. Highlighting the signees are blue-chip recruits Richard Kovalcheck, a quarterback from San Diego, and Marcus Thomas, a heralded tailback from the Phoenix area who is expected to play wide receiver.

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Thomas is Arizona's all-time prep rushing leader, but Mackovic and his staff welcome the switch to receiver. Rivals.com put Thomas as the No. 11 athlete recruit in the nation. The athlete position is a designation given to multi-talented players that have yet to get their position determined.

"This is a kid that has lots of talent when the ball is in his hands," Mackovic said. "He came here wanting to try receiver. He can really run with the ball though, so we figure that there is nothing wrong with a runner who catches the ball fifteen yards downfield and turns it in to a huge gain."

Thomas, along with four others categorized as athletes, earned Arizona the nation's second-ranked class of all-around athletes.

Kovalcheck, ranked No. 11 by ESPN recruiting guru Tom Lemming, signed with Arizona after a high school career that saw him throw for over 7,000 yards and 70 touchdowns at St. Augustine High School in San Diego. Kovalcheck said he isn't worried about last year's problems with the team and is just looking forward to getting out there and competing.

"I've been getting along with (Mackovic) very well," Kovalcheck said. "He's been really cool to me through everything. I'm just excited to get down there in the summer and get the chance to put myself in the position to compete mentally and physically for the job."

Mackovic said the 6-foot-3, 205-pound, Kovalcheck has a chance to jump right in and compete for playing time because of the type of offense he ran in high school.

"One of the things that has slowed Nic Costa's development is that he played in a program that didn't pass much at all," said Mackovic. "(Kovalcheck) can throw the ball very well because he played in a pro-style offense."

Mackovic was also high on 6-foot-3, 215-pound quarterback Kris Heavner from Johnson City, Texas. Kovalcheck and Heavner combine to give the Wildcats the No. 8 spot on the Rivals.com team rankings for quarterback signings.

Lionel Dotson, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound defensive end from Pasadena, Texas, gives Arizona a quality pass-rusher.

Mackovic said he expects Dotson to be able to reach the 250-260 weight range through training, adding strength to the quickness that allowed him to amass 13 sacks last season.

Among the most intriguing recruits, Anthony Johnson, a 6-foot-1 wide receiver from San Diego, might be the Wildcats' newest version of Peter Hansen or Michael Schwertley.

Hansen, a 2002 graduate, and Schwertley, who played football last season for the Wildcats, both originally came to Arizona to play basketball, ultimately finding themselves on the gridiron instead as kick-blocking specialists. While Johnson has the talent to compete for a spot in the receiving rotation, Mackovic said Johnson might try and walk-on to the basketball team also.

Mackovic said he was pleased with the coaching staff's ability to gain depth across the board, especially under the tough circumstances surrounding the team turmoil last November.

"I think that our coaches did the best recruiting job of anybody in America this year," Mackovic said. "We had so many obstacles thrown in our way, and we had to overcome so many things to have the kind of class that we have. I doubt that any other staff could have done a better job."