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2024 Elijah Rushing 5* #1 Edge (Commits to Zona then flips to Oregon)

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Mario signed 7 players from Arizona during his tenure at Oregon, he’s pretty tapped in in the area.

Saguaro, Chandler, Hamilton, Chaparral, Gilbert, Salpointe Catholic, Highland, Pinnacle, Desert Edge & Perry are some of the best schools in AZ & in the country & have produced a lot of very good talent over the last 7 years or so.
 
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Memnon said:
Mario signed 7 players from Arizona during his tenure at Oregon, he’s pretty tapped in in the area.

Saguaro, Chandler, Hamilton, Chaparral, Gilbert, Salpointe Catholic, Highland, Pinnacle, Desert Edge & Perry are some of the best school in AZ & in the country & have produced a lot of very good talent over the last 7 years or so.
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**** done changed and/or I’ve been following this for a while. I still remember Everson Griffen being a 5 star in that 07 class and every one on Rivals and Scout questioning how good he was because AZ didn’t produce or had good competition.
 
bobbydigius said:
**** done changed and/or I’ve been following this for a while. I still remember Everson Griffen being a 5 star in that 07 class and every one on Rivals and Scout questioning how good he was because AZ didn’t produce or had good competition.
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Idk what happened, but AZ started producing some really good talent over the last few years on a consistent basis.

Especially on Offense, they run College style Offenses in a lot of AZ HS’s so a lot of their QB’s, OL’s & skill players have been balling in college, **** even a mid-tier 3-star kid like Brock Purdy balled out at Iowa ST. But in turn with the offensive advancement, some of their DB’s have been producing as well, most notably Keelee Ringo & Denzel Burke.

I think you get a lot of high football IQ kids from the Southwest regions, that’s why I’m always in favor of TX, AZ, Oklahoma & even Arkansas recruiting. IMO you speed up the development process when you recruit players who already understand College style playbooks/game-planning etc.. Obviously, raw high upside athletic kids are always a plus, but sometimes you gotta wait 3-4 years before those type meet their full potential & by the time that comes too much losing has already happened for it to matter lol
 
Memnon said:
Idk what happened, but AZ started producing some really good talent over the last few years on a consistent basis.

Especially on Offense, they run College style Offenses in a lot of AZ HS’s so a lot of their QB’s, OL’s & skill players have been balling in college, **** even a mid-tier 3-star kid like Brock Purdy balled out at Iowa ST. But in turn with the offensive advancement, some of their DB’s have been producing as well, most notably Keelee Ringo & Denzel Burke.

I think you get a lot of high football IQ kids from the Southwest regions, that’s why I’m always in favor of TX, AZ, Oklahoma & even Arkansas recruiting. IMO you speed up the development process when you recruit players who already understand College style playbooks/game-planning etc.. Obviously, raw high upside athletic kids are always a plus, but sometimes you gotta wait 3-4 years before those type meet their full potential & by the time that comes too much losing has already happened for it to matter lol
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Totally agree. Certain regions I've noticed seem to produce kids who are more mentally prepared to contribute day 1. I recall Urban Meyer saying in an interview he had a strong preference recruiting kids from certain areas & schools he knew would be adequately prepared to handle his program. Made sense cuz I noticed when he was at OSU and recruiting in NJ, Florida, Georgia, and Texas there was always roughly the same schools he was plucking kids from.
 
Memnon said:
Mario signed 7 players from Arizona during his tenure at Oregon, he’s pretty tapped in in the area.

Saguaro, Chandler, Hamilton, Chaparral, Gilbert, Salpointe Catholic, Highland, Pinnacle, Desert Edge & Perry are some of the best schools in AZ & in the country & have produced a lot of very good talent over the last 7 years or so.
Click to expand...
We got obliterated by Brett Hundleys chandler 7-7 squad many moons ago
 
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Memnon said:
Mario signed 7 players from Arizona during his tenure at Oregon, he’s pretty tapped in in the area.

Saguaro, Chandler, Hamilton, Chaparral, Gilbert, Salpointe Catholic, Highland, Pinnacle, Desert Edge & Perry are some of the best schools in AZ & in the country & have produced a lot of very good talent over the last 7 years or so.
Click to expand...
**** yes. Arizona is definitely slept on with us on the East coast especially the Gilbert/Chandler areas

I could be just misremembering but it feels that way
 
Calicane02 said:
We got obliterated by Brett Hundleys chandler 7-7 squad many moons ago
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I still remember when MNW got absolutely smacked in the Geico Bowl in 2017 by Chandler.

That was the Chandler team that had multiple 4-stars kids like N'Keal Harry, Mason Moran & Chase Lucas.

That’s the game when I knew Calijah Kancey was gonna be a NFL player, because we were getting the sh*t beat out of us & he was the only one still playing hard & making plays lol We were down by like 40 points in the 2nd half & he was still going full speed attacking OL’s as if it was the 1st quarter lol.
 
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“It was great to see the practice and kind of learn from Coach Taylor, a Hall of Fame [defensive end] with my build, so that was just the highlight of the day for me,” Rushing said. “It was like a dream come true. To see how things work for people with our type of build, like that long, rangy type of [defensive end]. It was great seeing what I can do better too to elevate my game.”

The nation’s top-ranked EDGE also got a chance to sit down with Mario Cristobal before leaving the facility after 6 p.m. on Saturday evening.

“He was just saying I’m a priority. He was saying when get here, me and him both can really do great things for this program,” Rushing said.

“Definitely loved to see [Nyjalik Kelly]. He was doing his thing out there. [Rueben Bain], [Jayden Wayne]. Just getting to see Cyrus Moss. That was somebody I watched in this process, I kind of looked up to. Just to see those people I watched before me do their thing in this defense is good for me to see and good for me to feel confident,” Rushing said.

Those true freshmen and sophomores standing out shows Rushing that the foundation of the program is being laid through an influx of talent.

“They’re definitely building it from the ground up like you say. You build it up from the trenches up and when I talk to them, that’s what their focus is here and that’s why I’m here,” Rushing said.

“It’s just getting to meet Coach Taylor, meeting the staff, getting into the meeting rooms. It’s like work. You’re there to work and to be the best version of yourself. That’s why he’s there, that’s why all the coaches are there. That’s the mindset of the players. You see that with them going about the drills. You can just feel their energy.”
 
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