This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports
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two SAD at iHeartRadio Station. A good afternoon. Welcome down to the Ball
now on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm your host, Jagan Zales. I'm
not solo today, but my partner, Steve is on the road headed to
the Alabama Arizona game up in Phoenix. He's trying to beat the traffic so
decided to get an early start. So in his place tonight today, I've
got my friend, my son, former sports information director at Arizona, covering
football, women's basketball, among other things. Adam Gonzalez. Adam, thanks
for being here, of course, thanks for having me. I appreciate you,
man. I know you probably see too much of me as it is,
but I do appreciate you being here. It's a big day for Arizona
Athletics, both from with the recruiting signing day to day and then you got
a big game with Alabama tonight. Yeah, and the women's team playing Gonzaga
right now down a point just started the second quarter. Yep. Playing them
tough. So it's the twenty twenty two nineteen Gonzaga. But Arizona, you
know, you know, doing pretty well right now. That Hall of Fame,
the Jerry Clangelo Hall of Fame Classic up in Phoenix. It's the same
event that the men are playing in tonight. Schedule for nine o'clock ASU women
a SU men are also playing in this thing. You're gonna be uh,
you're gonna say it for the whole game. I am. I'm not.
I'm probably not even gonna take a nap to get there. I'm gonna watch
the game and just trying to stay awake. I'm gonna gut it out.
But today is a big, a big day for at least for Arizona football.
Jed Fish and his crew signing a class of when I left the press
conference a little bit ago, they signed twenty guys, a combination of high
school recruits, a couple of transfers, a couple of guys who had flipped.
They got a big time quarterback out of Phoenix. And you talked about
a lot of that, and uh, and you know he's got We've got
play some of his comments here in a second. We want to let you
know, we do have Ryan Hansen joining us at about three twenty to talk
about the game tonight with Alabama. Ryan, as you know, was the
color analyst on the radio next to Brian Jeffery, So he'll give us his
thoughts on the Albate Obama game tonight. And then in the second how we're
gonna bring him Matt Modena, who will give us some of the specifics of
the Arizona class what he thinks of it. It's not as highly rated as
some of the other classes have been, but as you'll hear Jed say,
they went out to fill some needs and that's what that's what they were trying
to do. And that's a good place for Arizona to be in. Where
As before you just wanted you just needed good players. Right now they can
address certain goals exactly exactly. And that's really what pretty much what he said
today because he was asked, okay, so your first real recruiting class,
so not the one that he had to work on when he got here,
but his first full class. They focused on the offense, and the offense
took the big leap, that's the twenty twenty two, and then he got
the twenty twenty two classes really in the heart of the team so far.
Last year they focused on defense. So based on all that, Jed was
asked, Okay, so what is the theme of this class. What were
you guys looking for? This class really filled a lot of needs for us
in terms of depth and be able to really build the program the way we
wanted it to. We wanted to make sure we always had a great quarterback
as number one. Right Currently in our quarterback room we have the Freshman Player
of the Year in the PAC twelve of twenty twenty one, and the Freshman
Player of the Year of the PAC twelve in twenty twenty three, and now
we have an elite freshmen coming in. So we were always going to be
able to build our quarterback class. We wanted to make sure we continued in
our running back room to replace We needed to replace two there three really when
you count Stevie Rocker and then Mike Wiley and dj All moving on. When
it comes to receiver, you know we're only losing just Jacob Cowan. And
then defensively, as we've talked about, we want to get youth to then
push the older guys, and then we want the older guys to teach the
youth in the d line, and then at the linebacker position, we went
back to the youth because of the fact that we have Jacob Manu justin flow.
Then we have Tay Brown, then we have Kamu, now we have
Stacy Bay coming in. And then in the secondary, we really loaded up.
We loaded up with guys in the secondary because all of our secondary is
returning, but all of them are moving on probably are the safeties for sure
at the end of the year. So the theme is continue to get better
and continue to build depth that soon that this group will be able to take
over and become the stars of the team. So so really, I mean
that, you know, when you get to where they are, they're ninety
three, they obviously have a really good team. You're just and that's that's
a sign that there's no desperation. It's not like, as you said,
just trying to get good players at every position. Right. It's funny when
he started off with the quarterbacks, it reminded me of rich Ardriguez saying he
likes to collect quarterbacks exactly, and he had a collection. Oh yeah,
but no, it's a it's a good place to be in for sure.
It's a place that Arizona hasn't been in in a bit. Yep. And
I'm sure this was not necessarily to say it wasn't a stressful, you know
time recruiting this class, but a little less stressful, I would imagine it
seems like maybe easier too, well maybe easier when and that gets you're,
you're really you're, you're, you're taking us right into the next thing,
because you know, he was asked, what was it? What's the difference
between the way you had to recruit and what you were selling when you got
here versus what you're selling now. And I don't know if you'd call it
easier, but it's certainly different. We have a better understanding of our team,
and we have a better understanding of our needs and wants. So as
we're able to go out there to the landscape, we're able to share specifically
with the player, this is how you fit into our system, this is
who you would be replacing one day. So watch him, look to see
what that looks like. Take an eye and see do you like the way
t Mac produces? You know, do you like the way Jacob Cowing produces?
Do you like the way Jonah Coleman produces, Okay, well, those
guys are juniors next year, you would be an incoming freshman. Do you
like the way Isaiah Ward as a pass rusher Ephesians Price Sock as a corner,
to Carlo Davis as a corner, Jacob Mono is a linebacker. They're
all juniors next year, and now we're able to point the players and they're
able to say, do you like the way they develop? Do you see
how much better they've gotten? You know, how does a player come in
here that has had no offers and become a first team All Pac twelve linebacker
in two years? How does a player come in here that had minimal offers
that chose to come to Arizona, brought three of his teammates and become the
freshman player of the Year and be on the Heisman watch list for a year
from now. It's a development of the players. And now we could sell
the development rather than talk about, hey, if you come here, we
will develop you. Now we're able to show them how players and our team
have developed. That's a big deal, one hundred percent. You know,
in two years he's established really a solid track record for for what they can
do here because he's got these guys who you know, have become you know
who they are. Jacob Mine is a perfect example. You know, we
had what we had, but talk about you know, did you think Jacob
Mine was going to be really good? I can't remember if it was Lamont
Hunley or no. I take back, it was Donnie Salem, your linebacker
you know from the eighties, said what did you think of Jacob Mine?
Said? I thought he was too small? You know, I just thought
he was too small. And I watched him running around up and he's proven
that he's not too small. Even though he's not a big linebacker, what
he's been able to do shows that his size hasn't mattered. And here's the
thing. The good teams. Everybody says, oh, you know Ohio State,
Georgia, Alabama, those guys, those guys get all the best recruits
because you know, they win the championships. That's not true. They get
the best guys because they send the most guys in the NFL. Right,
So if you're developing these guys, that's gonna show that's you're gonna give him
better players. Right, If you're getting guys in the NFL what's been the
big the big knock on Arizona for the you know, since the rich Rod
years. You're not getting guys into the NFL. How are you going to
get players? Because even rich Rod, even though he had some good teams,
those guys weren't going in the NFL. So you'd be right, didn't
make it into the NFL. You know, Andrew Solomon, who was you
know it probably had as great a freshman year as anybody. You know,
he didn't even finish his college career. His players were not going to the
NFL. Those receivers that he had, you know, Buckner and and and
and uh and uh, Austin Hill, Austin Hill and all those guys.
Know, those guys did not get into the NFL. And that's what these
guys are looking for. Absolutely absolutely, So I thought one of the one
of the more interesting uh what not what answers was you know his the the
u of A's approach to recruiting in the transfer portal, uh era, because
you have you know, you have Deon Sanders, who's on one extreme where
he's building his team in the transfer portal. Really isn't you know, making
very little effort to get guys out of high school. And then you got,
uh the guy from Clemsonosweeney, who doesn't want to recruit the portal and
he's trying to build it all entirely on high school players, and his program
is deteriorate. Well, I think with Colorado they have to go transfer portal
first, Like that's just kind of the position they're in. You need if
you want to make it quick, which is kind of how you have to
do it these days. You have to go transfer portal and then once you
kind of have a base right there, that's then you can start going a
little more heavier high school. I understand, And I wasn't trying to play.
He's going to do it like that from now on, because you know,
Jed turned his program around great quickly through the transfer portal, but he
also went out and got a whole you know, some great high school recruiting
classes. But here's not how he talked about what his approach is and what
the program's approach is to recruiting high school and the portal. Our freshmen are
juniors from twenty twenty two, So why would I go out in the portal
and go take a junior rather than or a senior, rather than a guy
that's been with us for three years or two years going into three knows our
system and can lead our program. The guys that are out there portaling,
in my opinion, are out there portaling because people left their program and they
need to fill spots, or they're deciding that high school recruiting isn't that important.
I don't see it that way. I think where job as college coaches
is to recruit high school players and develop high school players, and then if
you need to fill a need, you go ahead and go fill in need
with a portal player, be a free agent, so to speak. The
best football teams build their program through the draft in the NFL, and then
they use free agency as a way to supplement a spot or two, similar
to what college football has become. The draft is recruiting and free agency would
be the portal. I would much prefer to train than retrain, and I
would much prefer to coach a player that walks in our building, that wants
to be here as a high school kid, that we can develop and we've
proven and we've shown our commitment to those players, and those players can be
in our program and our strength and conditioning program and our training program, and
I think it's a testament to our staff that people don't like to leave here.
And I think what you'll see is our team continues to get better because
guys don't leave here. You know the tail end of that comment, yeah,
because you know whats right where Arizona fans we're always thinking the worst,
and we're thinking Jed could leave at any minute and would start all over again.
But the tail end of that comment kind of got me believing that he's
kind of dug in here a little bit because he you know, he wants
to do this with this program and bring in players, and then he's not
bringing in players and tell them you know, we're gonna here develop you,
and then he's gonna take off somewhere. Well, what was his first mantra?
It's personal, right, right. I still think he lives by that
where there are so many people that probably told him, hey, this is
a terrible job. Why would you do This is your first head job.
You're gonna go You're gonna maybe win three games and then you'll get fired after
four years. We'll look at him now, he's probably saying, Hey,
I want to show why Arizona can consistently win eight to ten games. Yeah,
well, and then you know, as Arizona fans, we obviously hope
that's what it is. But all the all this stuff that we just played
really again kind of confirms how much planning when has gone into his system and
how he was going to approach being a head coach at this level. I
mean, he's he thinks all this stuff through and then he's got guys behind
him. Who are you know, we're helping to execute that. You know,
we're we're out of time here before we got to get Ryan Hanson on
a little later. I want to play this clip. Okay, you were
you were Jet? The s I d for Jet's first year was Matt Doherty
here when with him? I never met him, I've never seen him.
Awesome dude. He you know, we got a clip from him talking about
the in state recruiting. As impressive as anybody I've met. Yeah, Matt
Dorty is really really he's really good at what he does. Really impressive person,
awesome guy, And yeah, watching it doesn't surprise me. Yeah,
watching it. You know, he was part of the press conference today,
you know, had you know, Jed let him talk answer a couple of
questions, and I can understand you listen to me. You can understand how
he could get on the phone with a recruit or a parent or have somebody
on campus. Uh. And you have to be impressed by the guy thirty
seconds for me to be totally impressed by you. Yeah. Yeah, But
he's what they call the director of player personnel basically recruiting coordinator, right,
or maybe a bit more than that. Yeah, definitely evaluator, all that
kind of stuff. I mean, it just runs the recruiting offer. He
kind of manages the roster. At least when I was there, he has
a big hand in managing the roster, if that makes sense from all asked
by that, You mean, I mean we like how many players are where,
like what we will need down the road, Like what kind of players
we will need, things like that. Well, very impressive guy. We're
gonna have to get him on the show at some point. All right,
we're here about to the first break, so we're gonna get Ryan Hanson and
we're gonna talk some basketball, get his thoughts on on the on the game
coming up tonight. It's a it's a uh, it's a big one.
I think it's a it's gonna be a fun game playing up at the uh
up at the Footprint Center. The women are down thirty one twenty eight late
in the late the second quarters. Was a good game going on up there.
So we'll be right back with Ryan Hanson. I have a good sampoling
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Go to azpest dot com to schedule your free evaluation Today. Streaming live
on the iHeartRadio app. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and
Ja Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Welcome back, Doy on the Ball.
I'm the host for the day, Jagonzales. My buddy Steve is on
the road to Phoenix for the Alabama Arizona game tonight, as is our guest
right now, Ryan Hanson, who's joined the US on his up headed up.
I ten as well, so Rhino for joining us. We do appreciate
it. Great to be on Jay. Good to have you and your better
half Adam versus Steam. I'm much happier to have him on the air than
well. We certainly brought the average age of the room down quite a bit
with with Adam being here, no doubt so. So Rhino. First,
before we get to the Alabama game. First year, your thoughts coming out
of the Purdue game. You know, I mean, it was a loss,
but it was a loss to a really good team, essentially a road
game. Nothing to be freaked out about, panicked about. Maybe you know,
we saw some things that we hadn't seen, but you know, produce
a really good team. And what are your thoughts? I absolutely agree with
every point you've made, especially when you characterize who Purdue actually is. They
are one of the best offenses in the country, have arguably the player of
the year in the country, and someone you have to scheme for, you
have to account for. I would say Arizona's defense was not exposed by any
means. It wasn't like, oh man, Arizona's defense it's a fraud.
Purdue did some things because of their personnel that other teams aren't going to be
able to do against Arizona, and I thought that was good for the Wildcats
to have to find a different way defensively to win or at least to be
competitive in the second half. I loved that Tommy switched up to the zone
and when you really step back at you know, thirty five thousand feet,
Arizona was tied with Purdue at thirty. Purdue went on a run and looked
very good for a significant period of time over the end of the first half
into the beginning of the second, got up fifteen. Arizona then turned the
tables, helped Purdue without a field goal for seven and a half minutes,
went on a run of their own, got right back in the game.
You and I would both agree a two possession game is right back in the
game. And then Purdue made all the plays down the stretch. At that
point, Arizona couldn't, obviously, you know, get over the hump.
So what else did you learn from that? For me, if you score
eighty four points in a quasi road game against a high level team like Purdue,
your offense was probably good enough to win. It's really defensively, I
think Arizona gave up too many second shots, too many second chance points,
and they didn't defend the three point line very well trying to account for Zach
eating So even though the game was in December. How important do you think
that game, uh specifically was to you know, March and when it comes
to time to play a team like that, well, I think, first
of all, I think the selection committee will reward Arizona for playing that game.
There will be no demerits on their resume because they lost. Because you
can just see Purdue, They're gonna probably run through the Big Ten, you
know, not maybe unblemish, but with just a handful of losses at the
most. So you're staring down a loss at to to come selection Sunday for
the Wildcats. What I love, and I think it's a good point,
is you played against a different style of team, a team that sets on
ball screens away from the basket, with two players in particular that can stop
and pop for three. So Arizona's standard man demand drop coverage, meaning Lumar
Balo or Mo Cretis, whoever's guarding the big man setting that on ball screen
way up top at the top of the key or even further out. How
Arizona has defended that all year is worked just fine, But against Purdue,
they weren't able to defend it that way because those two guards came off the
screens and made shots. In addition, when you're going against a big like
Zach Edie, you've got a double team and in some cases and Arizona learned
some lessons of how to double team better, how to rotate better out of
those double teams, and they unfortunately learned it the hard way. Yeah,
so that game kind of felt like a pick your poison, and when those
two guys are shooting like that, it to me it felt like there was
not a ton that Arizona could have done. Did it kind of feel that
the same way as every single shot was going down. I wouldn't actually characterize
that. I felt that Purdue a shot greater than their potential. Did their
two guards score over their averages, Yes, for sure, But I felt
like Arizona defensively could have changed some things. I felt like the double teaming
and the post came from the wrong places a couple of times. I felt
like the rotations were slow, so those shots were far more open than they
should have been. But I do agree with you that you don't want Zach
Edie to go for forty and really just destroy you from the inside out.
So it is a little bit of you don't sacrifice completely one for the other,
but you do have to account for it dramatically. And I get your
point of saying, boy, you can't just then lock up on the guards
and let Zach Edie roam unguarded practically, and that's what they did. So
we got a game with Alabama tonight. Two teams in terms of the way
they like to run up and down the floor. There's you know, it's
kind of one of those games where both teams are expecting to get well into
well into the into the eighties. What what what are we going to see
tonight? Are these teams as similar as we think in terms of what they
do? Definitely from a pace perspective, Jay, you've nailed it. These
two teams probably want to play as fast as any in the country, especially
at the power five level, get it and go from almost all five positions.
Alabama can do it from four of their five starters. Rip a defensive
rebound and their four man is very comfortable get taking it up the floor,
Grant Nelson just like a Keisha Johnson would be. They try to spread you
out offensively, uh and really are looking for driving lanes. They want to
get downhill and attack the lane with their perimeter drivers. The big difference for
me is their post play. Their big men aren't looking to post up on
the low block. They're kind of standing in the short corner waiting for a
driver to attack the lane, and the health defense then fags in on the
driver and there they become lob threats or dump off threats versus traditional back to
the basket low post post scores. That's probably one of the biggest differences offensively
between the two teams. Dead for you, that means the dunker spot what
that means, okay, I don't but that's okay. And wreck ball for
j that's the layups. So so so where where you know? What's the
I don't know, I mean, what's the key? I mean? Who
who has to play really really well tonight to to defend what Alabama does.
Arizona's entire perimeter defense is going to be on call. Alabama has a multitude
of perimeter guys that are versatile, that can handle the ball, that love
getting downhill. So the perimeter defenders cannot allow straight line drives, meaning just
drives straight at the rim that are easy drives for them to finish. The
Wildcats have to also not help so dramatically off of their man to help that
driver that they expose. You know, they leave a rim runner like Nick
Pringle for lob threats or Mohamed Woggi for lob threats. But the other scary
part, Jay, that you've read about Alabama is ready to shoot threes.
Now, they shoot twenty eight threes a game. I would expect them to
shoot over thirty tonight, and so they kind of want you to help off
of your man with that drive because they're looking for lobs or kickouts for threes.
So defending the three point line might be the most critical stat for the
Wildcats tonight. And I say that because that's not been their strength thus far
defensively. The Arizona is a much better rim protecting team and lane protecting team
statistically then they have been three point line defensive efficiency, and so that may
be the key one. Well. And as you said, you know,
they're coming off a game where that was the key to that game is that
they didn't defend the three point line. So correct Arizona, Jay. Just
to kind of add to your point there, part of the reason why Purdue
had all the open threes was Zach Edy Alabama does not have Zach Edy.
I don't anticipate Arizona double teaming in the post if there is even a traditional
post pass to an Alabama postman, So you won't see exactly the same type
of potential open threes that Purdue did. But you are right in the fact
that running shooters off the three point line is going to be big. How
much do you think Tommy has challenged Kylin because it was pretty glaring to see
how much he didn't play in the second half because he just wasn't defending great
and he and he'll tell you that too, But this feels like a big
game for him to kind of have a good bounce back. And he's still
a super young kid. But what do you think Tommy's saying to him,
Adam, that's a great point, right, He is still a young sophomore.
He's still developing. He came out of the shoot so incredibly poised.
His shooting percentages were so good. He was a bull defensively that I think
everybody's expectations just shot through the roof of who he could be at the end
of the year. So he's going to have his ups and downs, and
you're right, he didn't have his best game, he didn't have his best
shooting game. He clearly defensively was not in the best five during that second
half run. So Tommy went with the best five, and it happened to
be Jaden Bradley running the point. Defensively, more so than anything for Arizona,
Arizona's got to have Kylon Boswell tonight play better. And a lot of
it is because of how good Alabama is on the perimeter. Kylon's going to
be needed to guard their best player in Mark Spears, And I think Kyland
physically has a great chance to defend Mark spears Well. Mark is not super
toll, but he's loaded the ground, tough, explosive with the dribble,
can finish at the rim. That kind of suits Kyland defensively, I think.
And so what Arizona needs Kyland to be Kylan uh and not. I
don't want to say disappeared against Purdue, but Adam, you're right, it
was not the Kylan that we've grown used to seeing. So let's flip this
over. What does Alabama have to do? What's what Arizona does, Because
you know, Tom's to say we're gonna do what we're gonna do. They're
gonna have to find an answer for Umar Ballo and Mo Crebus. I think
they're gonna They clearly have lost some of their rim protection. They're not blocking
shots at the same rate that they did last year. They lost an NBA
draft pick from the middle of their defense from last year's group. Uh,
they can get it. Their foul trouble prone. You look at Mohammed Wagi,
He's the transfer from West Virginia, maybe the best defender in the post
group. He's fouled out of the last two games against Creighton and Purdue.
Uh So it can't Arizona get him into foul trouble. I think for Alabama
this year, it's defensively, can they match how good they are offensively?
They're good defensively, they're elite offensively. So for them, can they stop
Arizona enough? And can they account for the Wildcats in the painted area?
How much fun is this going to be for Arizona Because you know, you
come off a game like that, you want to you know, you want
to come back and you know prove or show you know that that wasn't us
the other day. We're better than that. But those games, there's they're
not. They shouldn't be pressure for these guys. They should be fun.
They absolutely should be. I'm glad Arizona is not playing a home game against
Directional Universe. Could they could come home and play Western Texas University which doesn't
exist, But let's just use that for an example and blow them out by
thirty and everybody goes home with the holiday spirit feeling like all as well.
But Tommy knows that did we at step take a step forward tonight if they
lose? Is at the end of the season, of course not. This
is an exceptional group in Alabama who is much better than their record would portray
at six and four, primarily because of the strength of their opponents and the
schedule that they've played. But this is exactly what you've talked about, Jay,
in an NBA arena again, playing against a high level power five opponent
who wants to play your style. Wildcats should be salivating at an opportunity to
what kind of restamp their dominance or at least their place in the top ten
in the country. Tonight on national television against Alabama should be fun? All
RIGHTO have a good game tonight. Yard Wildcat Sports twelve ninety. If you
sit next to Brian Jefferies, you know, turn the volume down on your
TV and listen to rhightin on and Ryano and Brian do the game right,
Jay and Adam? Great talking to you all right, Ryan answered from again
twelve ninety. Yeah, this guy has been doing this for a long time.
Started out as a manager at Arizona. Just guys stuck around and still
hanging around doing the basketball stuff. And he's been great. He's I mean,
when I was a kid, I remember listening to that all the time.
Yeah, and you know what, he still looks way younger than your
dad too. Anyways. Okay, so we'll take your calls in the next
segment five two zero four one six seventy four forty still got a couple of
clips to play from Jed Fish's press conference. Promises a clip on Matt Doherty,
who was just very impressive, the director of player personnel for Arizona.
So stick around for that. We'll be right back. If you're an Arizona
men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years now.
Take a look back at the Loudolsen era. In my new book, Lessons
from Loot It was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former
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Arizona Bowl. Dott, This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and
Jay Gonzale sound Fox Sports fourteen to fifteen. Subscribe now to the podcast on
the iHeartRadio while Just Surgery, I on the Ball talking back on the Ball.
I'm your host for the day, Jay Gobzalas my partner Steve Rivera is
on the road headed to the Arizona Alabama game up in Phoenix. I've got
a very capable partner today in Adam Gonzalez, who most recently sports information guy
out of Arizona out of the U of A, worked at jed Fish in
his first year at Arizona, also spent some time including a Final four run
with the Dia Barnes. We do have the Arizona Gonzaga game for going on
as we speak, not going as well as it was last time we talked
about it. No, yeah, I got solids fifty one thirty five middle
of the middle of the third quarter. Go Zag has been pulling away because
that is pretty good. I think they're ranked number yes, yes, they're
ranked so you know Arizona's had had its work cut out from to begin with.
Anyways, So anyways, you want to get back to the recruiting National
Signing Day today for Arizona, just wanted to get to the in state piece
of this because it was it was brought up and Jeed's made it a Jeedfish
has made it a priority and said when he got here, he said,
we've got to get the guys out of Arizona, and and he has been.
It hasn't been lip service. They've got some more guys today, including
what you would call the prize of this recruiting class before star quarterback out of
out of Phoenix. But I had his press conference to day. He brought
Matt Doherty with him, who's his titles, Director of Player Personnel, which
goes beyond just you know, coordinating the recruiting. He's basically managing as this
says, managing the personnel. But Jed asked Matt to answered the question about,
you know, the focus on in state recruiting and how important that is
and how they're going about it here at Arizona. Obviously it was talked about
at the outset of coach Fish being hired, but then put into practice.
It's just the consistency, and then it's the volume in terms of the people
involved. Starting with the head football coach. I think all six of these
guys that signed today would tell you he was at the forefront of their recruitments.
He was at the forefront of the building of those relationships. He used
every opportunity he could to visit them in person, spend time with them when
they were here, regardless of the context, not just official visits, but
any time that they set foot here, which was you would stand as the
reason. I haven't counted this out, but I would venture to guess that
those guys were here at a higher clip than maybe some guys that don't live
inside the state. So I think it's just the the sorry to use the
cliche, practice what we preach, but it's it's really that simple. And
then spelling out the individual plan for those guys. We don't skimp. We
don't cut corners just because they're in state, don't. We don't take it
for granted and just assume that because we reside in a certain area code that
they will maybe sacrifice some things to play here so they get the full,
the full breadth of our efforts and obviously it's very special in terms of their
ability to represent the states here. So you know, there's some guys and
some people, I should say just guys. There's some people that they get
in front of a microphone or at a presentation or you know, you meet
him personally and you shake their hand and you go, holy hell, I'm
impressed by this guy. Matt Dougherty did that to me today. So he
did this too for that twenty twenty two recruiting class. And so I was
still the sid then, and so Jed told me, hey, Matt's gonna
sit next to him. Like, okay, sounds good. I didn't know
we're gonna do that, but that works. And he had never talked to
media or anything like that. And you know, he sits up there and
he's like, yeah, he knows what he's talking about. He's he knows
exactly what he wants to say. Yeah, and he's really good. Yeah.
And as I was saying, I could imagine getting on the phone with
this guy. You know, I'm being recruited by Arizona and he's the he's
my contact. And every time you talk to him, you're you're impressed,
and and and you feel good about, you know, the people that Jed
Fish has working for. I mean he's worked at Miami, He's worked for
I think Michigan. I think he got to start with the Patriots. So
like he's been some places around the block or Tam or two as as has
as has uh Jed so so. But I guess to my point is that
those aren't like he didn't He hasn't only been working at you know, small
schools and Arizona's his first big gig. Like, no, he's been.
He's been working in big time football exactly exactly. And you can tell,
you can just tell he's not you know, he's not caught up in this
moment or anything like that. He's he's been doing this and and he's good
at it. Again, So anyways, and then those so speaking of the
n Sate recruiting, the what I would you would say is the prize of
this class. But there's always one. You got to pick a guy,
right you know, Uh it was it was it was Tam mac in twenty
twenty two he was the five star guy. It was last year, who's
their five star guy? Last year? There who's the top of the class.
Last year, I can't even remember it at this point. If he
was so good, I can't remember his name because I don't remember names.
But anyway, there's always a guy, and in this case it seems to
be four star quarterback Demond Williams out of Bashia High School up in Phoenix.
They got the he's one of the best quarterbacks, if not the best quarterback
that's come out of Arizona. Out of Arizona, and he think about all
the great quarterbacks in the Commander. He's got all the stats for that.
Jedfish spoke highly of him, and then you'll catch at the end of this
Jed got some advice from some pretty h prominent people on how good they think
Demond Williams is. Obviously it was talked about at the outset of coach Fish
being hired, but then put into practice, it's just a consistency and he
doesn't throw a lot of incompletions. That's the first thing I would say,
which is an incredible sign of somebody that knows how to play the game of
football. He is an elite athleticism in terms of speed. He's flat out
fast for a quarterback. He does a great job of taking over a game
at any given moment that you can really put the ball in his hands and
he can win you the game. He took bash You to the first ever
state championship. He's a four point zero student both football student and academic student.
He loves the game of football. He fits in what we do.
You know, I once made a comment that you know, you don't want
a football team that when you watch you, you look at your position group
and everybody's kind of all over the place and you don't really know what you're
trying to get. You know, our quarterbacks are a certain look when they
have a certain skill set, and they have a certain feel, and they
play the game a certain way, and that enables us to game plan for
those guys and puts us in position that we can that Demand can now continue
to learn from and grow without having to throw. Well, this will be
different for you, Demand, and this will be different for you. You
know, it's not that so everything about Demond. He's the best player in
the state of Arizona. He was the number one ring quarterback in the state
of Arizona. It was a huge deal for us to get him to want
to join our program. His father played college football at Michigan State. His
mom's from Tucson. I mean, this is this is who should come to
Arizona. This is what this is who should be here. And you know,
I had Sean McVay watch his film. I had Josh McDaniels look at
his film, Mike Lombardi look at his film, and all these guys are
just singing this kid's praises and they just know how elite of a player he's
going to be one day. It's pretty good. You know. We again,
we're Arizona and quarterbacks just like that haven't come here historically. When I
mentioned he's the best quarterback, you know, to come out of the state,
I mean best quarterback to come to Arizona. He's the highest rated quarterback
they believed to be to ever come to Arizona. I don't think you've ever
gotten a four star. You know, Andrew Solomon was pretty highly rated and
kind of new might have been a four star kid, but he had and
he had a great freshman year, but never you know, didn't materialize after
that. You know, we talked about uh Nick Foles, who came in
as a transfer, so he wasn't really a high school recruit. They've had
some good ones, but not great ones. Williams is five five eleven one
eighty, which gives you a sense. And he's sort of a maybe a
couple of inches taller, maybe a little sort of in the uh No of
Fafida kind of category to Jade and DeLaura kind of category. And as as
Jed was saying, they get certain kinds of quarterbacks they fit, there's a
certain type of fit that they get, right, That's what I think sticks
out about this guy. Well. And it's a pretty good thing if your
best player in this class as a quarterback, because regardless, the quarterback is
the most important position to get you gotta have a good quarterback and people and
and you know, a lot a lot of times, you know, ratings
are you know overall are basically how did you do it? You know the
key position, right obviously, you know that's what So we'll talk more.
But Matt, I know about about about DeMont Williams and what he means to
this program. But a lot of guys, uh you know, some four
stars and and and then the key to all of that is that they're keeping
guys right. There was an announcement, uh Johnny Nansen announced his press conference
that that uh, the the defensive lineman Bill Norton. Bill Norton is staying,
Uh, he's a guy who could you know, could have gone.
He's the guy came out of you know, transfer here out of Georgia.
Did I mean to me he was the key to the defense, right because
he anchored a defensive line. Well, I would say, Jacob Mane,
Well, but that made that made Jacob mond who Jacob mana You Jacob Mineho
can't be Jacob Monu without a great defensive line. And historically that's how Arizona
linebackers have gotten. You've been really good. The great linebackers have had great
defensive lines that they've that they've worked with. And that's just the way it
is. The defensive linemen are supposed to get in the way, plug holes
and create openings for linebackers. So, you know, Jacob mine is really
good because it was a really good defensive line and Bill Norton was the anchor
to that defensive line. Yeah. No, it's usually for him to come
back. I mean, you saw how good the defensive line was this year.
It's been a long time since Arizona has had a line like that like
this yeah, a long time. Well, yeah, you're talking about I
mean, you're talking you know, desert swarm time Rob Wall eight. Is
that a way when Brooks Treed deandremore playing justin Washington. Well, some of
those stoops lines were incredibly physical. But but again, you know, it's
it's who you keep. You know, when you're looking at the list of
of of players who are transferring from other schools, and the list of list
of guys that have left Arizona is pretty small and not uh, you know,
not the incredibly high profile. Let's say Stevie Rocker is about his high
profile a guy because he was came out of CDO thought highly of a got
on the field as a freshman, but hasn't been able to get on the
field. Outside of that, Isaiah Taylor, the the safety who's played some.
But other than that, they're you know, they're backups and young guys
who have left the program, and you know, and you know there are
there are some there got to be schools that I mean, I don't know
everything that goes into it, but like who wouldn't want McMillan, who wouldn't
want Efesians Price sock right right right? Some of those guys to Carrie O
Davis all who wouldn't want Jacob mone One there? You know? I mean
Justin Flows is is here there a game? Nansen talked to me in his
press conference and I'm getting this from the guys who stayed so since I wasn't
there, but that that, uh, Justin Flows getting a lot of run
preparing for the ALBUMO Bowl. So I saw guys the other linebacker he ended
the portal Moly Moly Daniel. Yeah, yeah, so a couple of guys,
right, But you know, I'll go get into break you news to
talk about Florida's recruiting class has been decimated by a bunch of flips, you
know, four or five star guys, and I you know, are you
gonna? Are you hold things together? But you thought you had all these
guys recruited and now they've all decided to go somewhere else. It's not anything.
It's crazy football recruit just recruiting in general, is it is? It's
insane. It was insane. Before we were talking about you, you knew,
you knew you were friends. Steve and I were trying to have a
conversation by how would Dick have handled this? What do you think, what
do you have hated it? You've just dealt with it. I don't think
he would have enjoyed it, yeah, too much. It's it's I don't
know. You have to recruit. You recruit players to come to your team,
and then you have to keep recruiting the right right their entire career,
their entire career. I'll you know, I'll forever remember what you know.
Uh, Danny Dany Hurley just you know, they just won the the West
Regional in this press conference last year and he was talking about Dan Hurley from
Yukon and was just talking about how I'm sitting here, We've just won the
region, we're going to the final four, and I'm still having to recruit
my guy right now today, I'm recruiting my guys, you know, which
give you a sense of what his postgame speech was. They're like, guys,
you know, we got to stick together kind of thing, and they
have to do that, and it's nuts. All right, we're at the
top of the hour, so we're gonna come back. We're gonna do some
breaking news. Uh, we'll follow up on what's going on in the Arizona
women's basketball game going so well and then we're gonna have Matt Mordeno for rivals
at goisycats dot com come in and talk to us about the recruiting class that
we've been talking about all afternoon, so be sure to stick around for that
breaking news at the top of the hour and we go back. This is
the moment. Tonight is the night will tell