KEVIN B. KLAUSArizona Daily Wildcat Arizona head football coach Mike Stoops announces the Wildcats' 2004 football recruiting class, his first atop the UA program, on NCAA National Letter of Intent Signing Day. Stoops inked 20 recruits to letters of intent.

UA signs 10 defenders, 4 offensive lineman, 2 receivers, 1 kicker

With the vast majority of the offense returning, the Arizona football team has signed 20 recruits, mostly on defense and mostly from the Lone Star State.

Head coach Mike Stoops' first recruiting class featured 20 preps - 11 defensive players, eight offensive players and a kicker - along with four mid-year players.

"I'm really excited about this class," Stoops said. "The thing I like about it is it has a lot of diversity. I think we hit our needs in some critical areas."

Nine of the signees are from Texas, with eight from California, two from Arizona and one from New Mexico.

"Obviously, I couldn't be more pleased with our efforts in Texas," Stoops said.

Arizona picked up four defensive linemen, two linebackers, four defensive backs, one kicker, two receivers, two tight ends and five offensive linemen.

"From the win-loss percentage standpoint, we came in and did as well as we could," Stoops said.

Headlining the class is McCollins Umeh (6-foot-3, 245 lbs.), who shunned Kansas State for Arizona. Umeh is rated as one of the top defensive ends in the country.

"You always dream of big pass rushers, big guys on the edge, and McCollins Umeh possesses a lot of those characteristics," Stoops said.

Yaniv Barnett, a 6-foot-3, 285-pound defensive tackle from Clemens High in Schertz, Texas, was all-state and a top 50 D-line prospect.

"McCollins and Yaniv are two very dynamic football players. Those are two guys that bring a smile to your face because you like those guys rushing the quarterback," Stoops said. "I think our secondary guys will really appreciate them."

Dominic Patrick, a 6-foot, 200-pound safety, and Bobby McCoy, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound wide receiver, join Umeh and Barnett as Arizona's four recruits from Klein Forest High School. As a linebacker in high school, Patrick was second-team all-district and first-team his junior year. McCoy is one of the top sprinters in Texas and was a PrepStar All-West honoree.

The Wildcats signed another pair of players from the same school, with cornerback Antoine Cason and offensive lineman Danny Espinosa from Los Alamitos (Calif.).

The class conspicuously lacked both a quarterback and a running back, but Stoops says he's happy with the team's depth at the quarterback position. As with much of the roster, the QB slot is loaded with underclassmen. In the season's final game against Arizona State, the Wildcat depth chart had only seven juniors and one senior among the 22 starters.

"Obviously, not signing a quarterback and running back will be areas that we target as we speak, but I think it will enhance our opportunities, obviously, to get a quality running back (and) a quality quarterback when we didn't sign one this class," Stoops said. "We felt the reason for that is that we wanted a quarterback who can make a difference."