OTF Premium How Does This Even Happen? AZ Recruiting

[CJ Vogel]

I was perusing through the state rankings of Arizona this morning and came across one of the wilder recruiting anomalies you will ever see.

When it comes to recruiting, a lot of conversation stems from the talent in your backyard. Can you keep top talent home is something that Texas has even struggled with when it comes to elite wide receivers out of the Austin area, or prospects from Dallas or Houston leaving the state.

But this is something that I have never seen before.

Arizona State signed 5 of the top 10 prospects in the state from the 2017 class. But since then...

Arizona State has signed ONE top-10 in-state HS prospect.

I couldn't believe it.

The following schools have signed multiple top 10 prospects from the state of Arizona.

• Arizona
• BYU
• Cal
• Colorado
• Iowa State
• Kansas
• Kansas State
• Michigan State
• Minnesota
• Nebraska
• Notre Dame
• Ohio State
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Texas
• Texas A&M
• UCLA
• USC
• Utah
• Washington
• Wisconsin

There have been top ten prospects sign with Alabama, Baylor, Boise State, Clemson Duke, Florida State, Georgia, Purdue, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Stanford, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Washington State and West Virginia during this time period.

Yet just one with Arizona State.

That prospect was DB Zeth Thues, a 5-foot-11-inch safety who was ranked the No. 10 prospect in the class of 2026.

Now is Arizona a juggernaut of a state when it comes to recruiting? Maybe not. But it certainly has talent.

There have been 27 NFL Draft picks who played high school ball in the state of Arizona. Arizona State produced just two of those Draft picks.

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By my count, even expanding the search to the top 20 players in the state of Arizona, the Sun Devils signed just 7 prospects since 2018. Just a ridiculously low level.