Enrolling early is a major advantage for recruits who are mentally ready to skip their final semester of high school and begin a college curriculum and weight training program. Additionally, enrolling early allows the recruit to become acclimated with the program and participate in spring practice -- a major leg up on the other incoming players who must wait until the summer to start school.
Arizona football recruiting: Wildcats bring in 7 early enrollees
Rich Rodriguez and his staff are putting together one of the top classes in the Pac-12. There are a handful of players set to arrive on campus before spring ball begins.
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Arizona is welcoming seven early enrollees for the 2014 recruiting class, which consists of 28 members, including five four-stars.
Jeff Worthy, a three-star defensive tackle out of Santa Ana College in California, has a short time to play at Arizona because of the time he spent at junior college, so enrolling early will be a big help in his quest to play early on. Worthy chose the Wildcats over a handful of west coast programs, including Colorado and Fresno State. He originally committed to play at Boise State out of high school. Worthy is rated as the No. 14 defensive tackle and the No. 83 junior college player nationally.
Worthy will be joined in Tucson by Jonathan Haden, a high school senior who graduated in December. Haden is an impressive all-purpose running back recruit out of Friendship Academy in Washington D.C. Haden is rated three-stars by the 247Sports composite -- a combination of the four major recruit rating services -- and is rated the 10th APB recruit nationally. He also held offers from Ohio State and West Virginia, among others. Haden could see early playing time, especially if Ka’Deem Carey turns pro.
Kaige Lawrence, Jerod Cody, Antonio Smothers, Patrick Glover and Jerrard Randall are the other Wildcats set to arrive in Tucson for the spring semester.
Still to come
Arizona also holds non-binding verbal commitments from several star recruits it hopes to sign on February 5, National Signing Day.
The best of the unsigned commitments for Arizona is Cameron Denson, a four-star athlete out of Salpointe Catholic in Tucson. Denson chose the ‘Cats over offers from Alabama, Arizona State, Oklahoma State and West Virginia. He is the 154th-best prospect in the country nationally and should thrive in Rich Rodriguez’s up-tempo offensive attack.
On defense, Arizona landed two gems out of Salesian High School in Los Angeles. Marquis Ware and Jamardre Cobb are two four-star linebackers who could see plenty of early playing time in UA’s 3-3-5 stack defensive scheme. Ware projects to be more of a pass rusher who can also drop back in coverage, while Cobb, 6’2 and 230 pounds, will likely patrol the middle of the field.
