12/3/2020 football Edit

2021 recruiting: SoCal DE Ja'Quez Harvey backs off Arizona commitment

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 has done a good job of building and holding onto members in its 2021 recruiting class, but as the early signing period approaches that could always change. Thursday, one of the program's most talented prospects decided to back off his commitment to the Wildcats as Los Angeles-Locke standout defensive end Ja'Quez Harvey announced his plans to reopen his recruitment.

"I would like to thank coach Eggen and coach Burns as well as the coaching staff at the University of Arizona for giving me an opportunity and believing in me," the three-star prospect wrote in a statement posted to Twitter. "They gave me the chance to further my education at a higher institution. However at this time I am decommitting from the University of Arizona and opening my recruitment up."

Harvey picked Arizona over offers from Oregon, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah, Washington State and Kansas among others.

Arizona was the first program to offer the 6-foot-3 defensive lineman back in 2018 by the program's previous defensive staff. The new UA coaches continued to make him a priority and he eventually joined the commitment list in late January after building a relationship with defensive line coach Stan Eggen and defensive backs coach and area recruiter Greg Burns.

The Wildcats have had a built-in connection with Harvey through his former head coach at Locke High School, Michael Klyce, who played at Arizona.

Defensive end is one position the Wildcats have recruited heavily in the current cycle and Harvey emerged as one of the top targets early in the process. His departure from the class leaves the Wildcats with just three defensive end commits in the class and four defensive linemen overall.

The Wildcats now hold 22 commitments for the 2021 class with the early signing period set to begin Dec. 16. It has been a challenging cycle for programs and recruits alike with a dead period in place since March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That has prevented coaches from meeting with recruit in person and also prevented recruits from taking campus visits to schools across the country. The NCAA's extended recruiting dead period is not set to come to a close until the spring.

MORE: Senior editor Matt Moreno gives his take on Harvey's decision

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