A very busy day for the conference and NCAA as a whole yesterday with National Signing Day, and it was an especially big day for Arizona, which signed 26 guys. Simply put, RichRod says Arizona needs bodies, and they got a lot of ‘em. On the hoop court, the No. 7 Wildcats celebrated the 40th anniversary of the McKale Center by beating Stanford 73-66 thanks to the leadership of seniors Solomon Hill and Mark Lyons. The blog Pac Hoops takes a look at some favorite McKale memories over the years.
You think 26 guys is a lot? How about the 27 that Arizona State signed? The Forks have an explosive offense, as evidenced by the 62 they dropped on Navy in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, so the Sun Devils are depending on defense. The one bit of bad news with this Arizona State recruiting class is that top quarterback recruit Josh Dobbs chose Tennessee, but Arizona State did get some late surprises.
With Mike MacIntyre’s 2013 class complete, the Buffs are still struggling to recruit in state. However, Colorado did sign 23 guys, 13 of them three-star players. A couple of the highlights were Chidobe Awuzie and Tedric Thompson choosing CU over others (San Jose State and U-Dub for Awuzie, Minnesota and Fresno State for Thompson – so a BCS school and a Mountain West spot for each).
One of the bigger surprises of the day was Torrodney Prevot flipping from USC to Oregon. The four-star defensive end out of Houston had been a USC verbal, but decided to take his talents to Eugene at the last moment.
Over in Westwood, Jim Mora inked an outstanding recruiting class, one that is considered to be a top-10-15 class nationally. This group of 23 youngins has the OC Register asking could the class of 2013 make an immediate impact?
Yes, more USC football recruits withdrew commitments to the Trojans, including one guy who opted for UCLA. Despite that, there is still plenty of talent to go around for USC, as the class is ranked 14th by ESPN, so here is a look at the Trojans’ incoming freshmen.
Which recruits are headed to Corvallis, you ask? Why, just click the link to find out! In equally happy news, the Beavers got a gut check and a victory Wednesday night with an 82-64 dub over Utah thanks to 26 from Roberto Nelson and a near-triple-double from everybody’s favorite big man, Joe Burton. The Beavers had too much talent to be stuck on one conference victory.
On the flipside, Utah’s wounds were self-inflicted against Oregon State, as the Runnin’ Utes still have yet to win back-to-back conference games since joining the Pac-12. Some big news on the gridiron, not just because of the official Utah Signing Day roster, but because Kyle Whittingham interviewed Dennis Erickson for an assistant coaching position. In either case, the Utes tried to get faster and longer with their signees.
Guess who else had a top-20 class? Washington, of course. The class was so good that it had Bob Condotta researching how this Huskies recruiting class compares to previous ones based on rankings by the big boys (Rivals and Scout, namely). It also never hurts to hear Sark speak about Signing Day.
With every head coach being interviewed on the Pac-12 Networks on Signing Day, you knew that the guy from Washington State was going to be entertaining. And he was, as Mike Leach took a break from recruiting talk to discuss his Quentin Taratino film favorites. Overall, the Cougars were reeling in linemen on National Signing Day.
Just 12 guys signed for Stanford yesterday, but they didn’t need much. A couple of things for you Cardinal fans to sink your teeth into: Take a comprehensive look at Stanford’s 2013 class courtesy of The Bootleg and watch David Shaw break down the class of 2013 on YouTube.
Sonny Dykes brought in 25 newbies for his first signing class, a class in which Cal football recruiting focused on fixing both sides of the line. In women’s basketball news, Layshia Clarendon was named a finalist for the Lowe’s Senior Class award.