The Pac-12 Football Recruiting Picture

It is early into the recruiting season for 2012 but every Pac-12 school has at least a couple of commits already in. How does UW stack up to the rest of the Pac-12? Which school has landed the best prospects? And what other recruits are on the horizon?

Arizona
Committed Recruits:

Early Highlight of the Class: The early highlight of the class is Taylor McNamara who has experience both in the blocking game with a hand on the ground and as a route-running tight end. He is a solid pick-up for the Wildcats and should find playing time in the next couple of years.
Early Recruiting Grade: At only a few weeks in, Arizona is sitting about where most teams are in the Pac-12. A few recruits committed and a bunch more to chase. Right now, I will give the early class a B.
Recruits on the Horizon for Arizona: Arizona is recruiting almost all of the big fish on the west coast. They should be able to land a few of them as they do every year. Don’t be surprised if they manage to keep home a few of the talented in-state players like Reggie Daniels, DJ Foster, Zach Hemmila, and Davonte Neal.

Arizona State
Committed Recruits:

Early Highlight of the Class: The early highlight of the class is that they were basically able to cleanup all of the good players from one high school. Blandin, Fiso, Smith, and Goforth all are out of Polytechnic High School in California. They came in and were able to get Blandin to commit and shortly after the other three committed. The only downside to this approach is if one decides to reconsider they all might.
Early Recruiting Grade: At only a few weeks in, Arizona State is ahead of where most teams are in the Pac-12 by sure numbers. However, they haven’t landed any big fish just a bunch of role-players with potential. Right now, I will give the early class a B+.
Recruits on the Horizon for Arizona State: Arizona State is recruiting an in-state lineman named Andrus Peat and looks to have a good shot at landing him. He is ranked as one of the top lineman in the country. Most of their recruits should come by the 3-star variety but they should land a few 4-stars.

California
Committed Recruits:

Early Highlight of the Class: Zach Kline is one of the best QBs in this class, Scout.com has him listed as the 6th best QB in the nation. He is a solid pickup for the Bears, especially being able to land him this early.
Early Recruiting Grade: At only a few weeks in, California is behind of where most teams are in the Pac-12 by sure numbers. However, they have landed two different 4-Star guys. Right now, I will give the early class a B.
Recruits on the Horizon for California: Shaquille Thompson is the best safety in the country and looks to be headed Cal’s way. He hasn’t committed yet but is leaning towards them. Cal is also in the mix with some of the in-state lineman like Zach Banner and Josh Garnett. Even though the Golden Bears haven’t been playing the best football lately they still seem to be one of the best recruiting programs in the Pac-12. They should land a bunch of good recruits from the majority of the west coast.

Colorado
Committed Recruits:

Early Highlight of the Class: The early highlight of the class is Colorado was able to pickup Shane Dillon out of California which ushered them into the Pac-12 recruiting scene. Look for both Colorado and Utah to be active in California now that it is more open for them.
Early Recruiting Grade: At only a few weeks in, Colorado is in-line where most teams are in the Pac-12 by sure numbers. However, there is no one in this early recruiting class that should get a Buffalo fan really excited. They need to begin to land a few more big targets to really make a dent in the Pac-12 recruiting scene. C+.
Recruits on the Horizon for Colorado: Colorado doesn’t have a great shot at him but they are still in on Gunner Kiel, the number 1 QB in the nation. Paul Thurston, Joey O’Conner, and Alex Kozan are all in-state recruits they have a good shot at landing.

Oregon
Committed Recruits:

Early Highlight of the Class: Oregon tends to recruit a little more untraditional with the guys they pick up. From the way it looks Baylis is the best grab for them but the Oregon staff are really excited about the Amaoko brothers out of Texas.
Early Recruiting Grade: At only a few weeks in, Oregon is in-line with where most of the teams in the Pac-12 are at by sure numbers and they were able to land a couple of decent players in Baylis and Rodrigues. B.
Recruits on the Horizon for Oregon: Going to the national title game helped Oregon go into any home in the nation this season. They are recruiting all over the country and for the most part the top players at many of the positions. If Oregon is able to land even just one or two of them, that could help them for years into the future. Names to keep an eye on; Gunner Kiel, Quay Evans, Kyle Murphy, Alex Baducci, and Jordan Simmons.

Oregon State
Committed Recruits:

Early Highlight of the Class: Oregon State is a little slow out of the gate in recruiting circles but should be excited at being able to take a Washington product. Sark is known for keeping in-state kids home, and Oregon State was able to take a decent TE in Stanton.
Early Recruiting Grade: At only a few weeks in, Oregon State is under where most teams are in the Pac-12 by sure numbers. But they don’t have any exciting signings thus far. C-.
Recruits on the Horizon for Oregon State: Isaac Seumalo and Joel Skotte are in-state kids that may want to stay home and play for the Beavers. Oregon State doesn’t appear to be the favorite for very many recruits but are hanging around with a lot in California such as; Seth Jacobs, Derrick Woods, Marc Evans, and others.

Stanford
Committed Recruits:

Early Highlight of the Class: Alex Carter is a fantastic athlete that could find himself playing a variety of spots on the football field in college. He is leading the way in this recruiting class.
Early Recruiting Grade: Stanford has been really successful so far this year recruiting all over the country. They have landed a commit from Florida, Virginia, and Texas and 2 of those 3 are exceptional players. A-.
Recruits on the Horizon for Stanford: Stanford has a real shot at re-landing de-commit Aziz Shittu and they look to be the most likely to take away either Zach Banner or Josh Garnett from UW and potentially they could land both. They are also heavily in on Gunner Kiel and have a shot at landing him.

UCLA
Committed Recruits:

Early Highlight of the Class: UCLA has landed two decent running-backs out of Hawaii. Both are big bruiser type runners. Use their strength and size with agressive downhill running. It’s hard to declare either of them the bigger pickup at this point.
Early Recruiting Grade: Nothing is overly impressive in this early class from UCLA. D.
Recruits on the Horizon for UCLA: Bryce Treggs, Walker Williams, Ellis McCarthy, Lacy Westbrook, all seem to be receiving strong interest from UCLA. Those are just a few of the names to keep an eye on. My guess is that UCLA ends up with a pretty good recruiting class when this is all said and done, they just are off to a slow start.

USC
Committed Recruits:

Early Highlight of the Class: Arik Armstead is a great early add, he is one of the best lineman in the country.
Early Recruiting Grade: At only a few weeks in, USC probably couldn’t be asking for a better early recruiting class. It is amazing how much they have done with or without sanctions. A+.
Recruits on the Horizon for USC: The real question is going to be how many more can USC add with the sanctions upon them. But don’t look for them to slow down, they are in the running and could easily land recruits like Brandon Beaver, Alphonso Marsh, Ellis McCarthy, Aziz Shittu, Jordan Simmons, Kyle Murphy, and many more.

Utah
Committed Recruits:

Early Highlight of the Class: Travis Wilson is a solid addition for the Utes, as a pro-style quarterback with good pocket presence. Grabbing a California recruit will help them throughout this year of recruiting.
Early Recruiting Grade: At only a few weeks in, Utah is right in line where most Pac-12 schools are in terms of numbers. However, they need to find most of their talent outside of their state this year. B-.
Recruits on the Horizon for Utah: Brandon Fanaika, Troy Hinds, and Moana Ofahengaue are the headliners that are in-state. Utah has the early jump on them, but look for them to try to steal a few recruits from some of the other Pac-12 schools.

Washington
Committed Recruits:

Early Highlight of the Class: Both quarterbacks are solid grabs. It is impressive when one program can grab two top 20 quarterbacks this early. Especially, when both quarterbacks will remain at the QB position in college.
Early Recruiting Grade: At only a few weeks in, Washington is about even with most of the other schools, numbers wise. They were able to grab the best senior in-state QB in Lindquist and even able to grab another impressive QB from Colorado. They even added a few role-players in Washington and Owens. B.
Recruits on the Horizon for Washington: Zach Banner, Josh Garnett, Walker Williams, Nathan Dean, and Keivarae Russell are the front runners for in-state recruits. They also have a decent shot at Brandon Beaver and Alphonso Marsh. Coach Sark has proven that he knows how to get into homes and land recruits all along the west coast.

Washington State
Committed Recruits:

Early Highlight of the Class: None of these early committed recruits are really that impressive. Jones is probably the best right now in this week early class.
Early Recruiting Grade: At only a few weeks in, Washington State is about even with most of the other schools, numbers wise. However, they haven’t had any signings to prove this is a great early recruiting class.C-.
Recruits on the Horizon for Washington State: WSU tends to linger around many recruits and never really becoming their favorites but never really getting eliminated and sometimes in this process they may sign a recruit here or there. Look for them to be that same dark horse again this year. With that being said, they shouldn’t have too impressive of a recruiting year, similar to last year.