Football reloads with 22 commitments

Stoops name key in Cats' second straight top-20 recruiting class

As he strolled into a McKale Center conference room yesterday, cameras clicking, reporters shuffling notebooks in their laps, Arizona football head coach Mike Stoops eased into his chair and smiled.

Six months of hard work and worry had paid off - 22 athletes had signed national letters of intent with Arizona, and Stoops couldn't have been happier.

"It's a really strong group," he said. "I've said all along about their character and their physicality, but I think what's important, we backed up last year's group with a solid one."

The Wildcats' 2006 class, rated in a tie for No. 18 according to recruiting service www.scout.com, is the team's second top-20 haul in two seasons.

The Web site ranked last year's class No. 15, thanks in part to the signing of quarterback Willie Tuitama.

Arizona, which has gone 3-8 in consecutive seasons, ended with the second-best class in the Pacific 10 Conference behind Southern California (No. 2).

"The rankings don't matter. It's about filling needs," said Jamie Newberg, national college football analyst for Scout.com. "To be an elite football team, you have to build your team on a consistent basis. ... As long as (the Wildcats are) committed to seeing improvement on the field, I don't see any reason they won't."

The team tried to shore up its injury-riddled offensive and defensive lines from a year ago, signing four players for each unit.

Highly touted five-star (on a five-star scale) junior-college transfers Louis Holmes (defensive end) and Gabe Long (defensive tackle), however, were conspicuously absent from the team's list of signed commitments.

Arizona associate athletic director Bill Morgan said neither Holmes nor Long had enrolled at Arizona as of Monday, and Stoops would not comment yesterday about their situations.

Nonetheless, Stoops said he was impressed by the potential of athletes like Braylon Broughton (defensive end), Lolomana Mikaele (defensive tackle) and D'Aundre Reed (defensive end).

"We got some big bodies," he said. "Defensive line was an area of concern."

The team's only top-100 player, cornerback Devin Ross, was key in the team's effort to add depth to its secondary, Stoops said.

Despite being one of the Wildcats' most talented and consistent groups last season, the unit took a big hit with the loss of senior safety Darrell Brooks, he said.

"That was probably our biggest need, along with (wide) receiver. ... To get some quality players was a highlight," he said.

Arizona added some needed height to its receiving corps with the additions of Delashaun Dean, Terrell Reese and Terrell Turner. All three athletes are 6-foot or taller, with Dean and Turner each measuring 6-foot-4.

Stoops said he thought each player has great athleticism - Reese, the leading scorer on his school's varsity basketball team, has a 36-inch vertical leap - and the ability to make difficult catches.

Turner, a three-star recruit, said he was attracted to Arizona after talking to Wildcats receivers coach Charlie Williams, who told Turner he had a shot at starting as a true freshman.

Turner said will-be sophomore receiver Mike Thomas and will-be senior receiver Syndric Steptoe gave him some early advice during his campus visit in December.

"It's not going to be easy," Turner said. "There's going to be some hard work, but it pays off in the end."

Thirteen of the Wildcats' commitments are from California, with six from Texas, three from Arizona and one from Hawaii.

"To sign 13 quality players from California shows that we're getting back into California in a big way," Stoops said.

Josh Gershon, a senior writer with www.goazcats.com, part of the Rivals network of recruiting Web sites, said the Wildcats were smart in targeting players from talent-rich states California and Texas, given the lack of a "hotbed of talent" within Arizona.

He said the team excelled in nabbing California athletes like Ross, offensive lineman Jovon Hayes, defensive back Michael Turner and tight end A.J. Simmons. Many of those players were looking at schools like Oklahoma, Florida, California and Oregon, he said.

Nonetheless, Stoops said he was pleased with the team's new local talent, running backs Glyndon Bolasky and Brooks Reed, both of Tucson Sabino High School.

He said Bolasky (6-foot, 192 pounds) has good speed and an ability to catch the ball but needs to add size and strength.

"He's a true tailback, and his best football's in front of him," Stoops said.

Allen Wallace, national recruiting editor for www.scout.com and publisher of SuperPrep magazine, said Arizona was able to nab sought-after recruits by dangling early playing time.

The Wildcats still need a lot of players at multiple positions, he said, which is less the case with national powerhouses like USC and Texas.

"If you go to Arizona, right away, you're going to get onto the field a lot easier than with other teams," he said.

Wallace added that the Stoops name - Mike's older brother, Bob, is the head coach at national power Oklahoma, where Mike was a defensive coordinator from 1999-2003 - carries a lot of weight with athletes who believe in winning traditions.

"There's a general feeling in the minds of a lot of recruits that because he's Bob's brother, even though Mike Stoops hasn't won a lot of games, he knows how to do it," he said.

Newberg said that with no Pac-10 team stepping up to be a consistent No. 2 power behind USC, Arizona has the chance to take that role, given a few more good classes.

"Despite not seeing the success on the field, kids are noticing and thinking that this is a program that can make a significant jump," he said.

Stoops said one of the biggest values from this year's haul is the new competition at established positions. Newcomers hungry to see the field, he said, will push everyone to improve for the fall and beyond.

"The bottom line is to win football games," he said. "These guys give us a good opportunity."