7/28/2020 football Edit

2021 commitment: Los Angeles DE Ja'Quez Harvey picks Arizona

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 now has the 35th-ranked recruiting class for 2021 after landing a commitment from Los Angeles-Locke High standout defensive end Ja'Quez Harvey on Tuesday. The three-star prospect picked the Wildcats over offers from Oregon, Arizona State, Utah, Colorado, Kansas and several others.

"Its been a long process however I will like to announce that i will be committing to the University of Arizona," the 6-foot-3 recruit said in a post made to social media announcing his decision.

Among those tagged in his Twitter post was his head coach at Locke, Mike Klyce, who played defensive back for the Wildcats in the 2000s. That connection helped as UA was the first program to offer Harvey back in 2018.

The relationship survived a coaching transition on the defensive side of the ball, but now Harvey will get an opportunity to play for new defensive line coach Stan Eggen who aided area recruiter and cornerbacks coach Greg Burns in helping the program land the versatile defensive end.

Arizona's class has been on a steady climb since the start of the summer with increasing success with higher-rated and more highly-recruited prospects than in the early going of the cycle. Harvey is the eighth commitment for Arizona since the beginning of the month and the 16th since the start of June.

Overall the three-star prospect is the 19th commitment in the class and the 12th on the defensive side of the ball. Kevin Sumlin and his coaching staff have been focused on improving the depth on talent on defense under new coordinator Paul Rhoads and that has included the addition of several pass rushers such as Harvey who is the fourth defensive end to commit to UA for 2021 so far.

Louisiana defensive end Ja'Marian Peterson gave the Wildcats his commitment Sunday.

The Wildcats have the fifth-ranked recruiting class in the Pac-12 according to Rivals.com with Oregon (No. 3 overall), USC (No. 4), Washington (No. 24) and Arizona State (No. 31) being the programs currently ranked ahead of Arizona.

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