6/15/2020 football Edit

2021 commitment: Houston DE Kevon Garcia discusses Arizona pledge

Matt Moreno • GOAZCATS

Senior Editor

Matt Moreno is the senior editor at GOAZCATS.com. He joined the staff in August of 2011 and began as senior recruiting editor with the site before becoming senior editor in June of 2014.

Arizona continues to load up on the defensive side of the ball and the Wildcats added another piece on Monday when three-star defensive end Kevon Garcia gave the program his commitment. The 6-foot-2 prospect from Dekaney High School in Houston, Texas was offered by the Wildcats in March and since then the two sides have remained in steady contact leading up to his decision Monday.

"What made me pick Arizona was just the relationship with the coaches," Garcia said. "We have a great relationship. Also, I feel like I can I can grow on the field and off the field so that's a good thing. Basically that was it.

"My relationship with the coaches is great."

Special teams coach Jeremy Springer and outside linebackers coach Andy Buh have both played a big role in recruiting Garcia to the Wildcats, and the new UA commit said that attention from the coaching staff influenced his decision quite a bit.

"They called every day and checked up on me every day to make sure I was straight at the end of the day," he said. "It was a long process with them and I love the relationship that we have. It's an honor to have them in my corner."

Garcia is a pass rushing threat off the edge and Arizona has continued to look for options at defensive end under new coordinator Paul Rhoads who is heading into his first season with the program. However, The 6-foot-2 recruit has also quietly been working on his coverage skills with a planned move to linebacker in his future.

As of now he said the Wildcats are planning to use him in different roles to take advantage of his skill set, but he will primarily be a linebacker in Rhoads' 3-4 scheme.

UA has focused on the defensive side of the ball in the 2021 class, and all but one of the current commits is a defensive player with three of the prospects committing to play for the Wildcats in the last two days.

Versatile linebacker/safety Cole Batson committed to UA on Sunday while Texas defensive back Dalton Johnson picked the Wildcats shortly after Garcia made his decision public on Monday. Arizona now has seven commitments overall in the 2021 recruiting class with the latest trio of prospects bumping the Wildcats up the team recruiting rankings and into the eighth spot in the current Pac-12 rankings.

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