Arizona lands commitment from 2022 4-star TE Keyan Burnett

Arizona landed its biggest commitment of the last several years Sunday as four-star legacy tight end Keyan Burnett announced his decision to pick the Wildcats over a host of other offers. Burnett committed to USC earlier in the year, but he decided to back off that pledge earlier this month upon taking official visits to both Arizona and USC.

The son of former UA standout linebacker Chester Burnett, the California tight end is the highest-rated recruit to commit to the Wildcats since receiver Boobie Curry made his decision to join the program back in 2018.

Burnett is the highest-rated prospect from California to commit to Arizona since running back Nathan Tilford made his decision in 2016.

The 6-foot-4 tight end will now have an opportunity to continue playing alongside his current high school quarterback at Servite High School in Orange Country. Noah Fifita committed to Arizona back in April and has been working to pull Burnett and their four-star teammate and wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan with him to Tucson.

All three recruits took their official visits to Arizona at the same time in June.

Being able to continue playing with Fifita played a big part in the process for Burnett in addition to the other connections to the Wildcats.

"That means everything, that means the world to me," Burnett previously said about the chance to play in college alongside Fifita. "Playing with a guy that I've known since eighth grade who's been my guy throughout high school and playing in college. It can't get any better than that, the chemistry."

While the addition of Burnett is a big one for new head coach Jedd Fisch, it is a sign of the type of impact new tight ends coach Jordan Paopao can have on the program. The California native was viewed as one of the top recruiters in the Pac-12 back when he was at Washington. He guided the recruitment of Burnett for the Wildcats, and he played a big role in Burnett ultimately flipping his decision from USC to Arizona.

"It's been a great," Burnett said about building a relationship with tight ends coach Jordan Paopao. "He's a great guy. I've actually known him for a while. Since eighth grade he started recruiting back when I was going to JSerra and he was coaching at Washington. So, I've known him for a while.

"He's a great guy. A great tight ends coach."

The addition of Burnett helped Arizona jump up around 10 spots in the latest Rivals.com team recruiting rankings with the Wildcats now at No. 40 overall in the 2022 class and third among Pac-12 teams behind Oregon and USC.

Washington, Miami, Utah, Cal, Arizona State and Colorado are some of the other programs that offered Burnett during the process.

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