COMMITMENT: Arizona flips Alabama commit, Rivals250 OL Raymond Pulido

If last year taught Arizona anything about recruiting, it's that they should never give up on a prospect they really want until the ink is dry on a National Letter of Intent. When four-star offensive lineman Raymond Pulido inks his NLI next week it will be with the Wildcats and not Alabama — the school he had been committed to since August.

Brennan Carroll was one of the first coaches to begin building a relationship with the 6-foot-6 prospect from Apple Valley, California, and that relationship never went quiet. Even as Pulido started to see his stock rise and more offers come into the picture, the Arizona offensive line coach remained persistent.

Carroll recently made the trek out to the California desert to watch Pulido play basketball, and along with head coach Jedd Fisch the duo held an in-home visit with the Rivals250 prospect.

The persistence paid off and Sunday night his dad, Robert, confirmed the four-star lineman would be backing away from his commitment to Alabama and signing with the Wildcats next week.

Robert Pulido noted Carroll and Fisch's "vision" as key components of why Raymond will be staying closer to home out west for college.

That Pulido is headed to Arizona as a member of the 2023 class should not come as a huge shock. The Wildcats had remained in the picture all the way up until his decision to pick Alabama over the summer.

At one point, Arizona was among his top five alongside Alabama, Oregon, UCLA and Louisville.

And, Pulido has never been shy about the strength of the bond between he and Carroll.

"I can never forget about him," Pulido said of the Arizona offensive line coach earlier in the process. "... He's still my guy. He's been there from the start."

Pulido made an early visit to Arizona before he started to see a rush of offers come through, and the early attention from the Wildcats is something that has continued to stick with him at different points of the process.

"They kind of noticed me first, and I really appreciate that," he said. "That's that love that I like and I needed being at Apple [Valley High School]."

Pulido, who is currently rated as the 20th-ranked offensive tackle in the class and the 233rd-best recruit overall for 2023, is now the highest-rated commitment for Arizona and second four-star to join the class in as many days. Receiver Trech Kekahuna announced his commitment to the Wildcats on Saturday over a final group of Oregon, Arizona State and Wisconsin.

Overall, the Wildcats have three four-star commits with Colorado-based quarterback Brayden Dorman being one of the first recruits to give the program his pledge early in the year. All three are set to sign with Arizona next week.

Unlike Dorman, who is set to arrive on campus in January, Pulido will not arrive on campus in Tucson until the summer as he continues to go through his senior season on the basketball court.

Washington, Tennessee, Michigan, Miami and Maryland are some of the other schools that offered Pulido during the process.