COMMITMENT: Coleman goes with the 'Cats
The process took a few months to come together, but the night before the rest of the 2018 class gets to sign Dayven Coleman announced the he will be playing his college football for Kevin Sumlin at Arizona.
The Mesquite (Texas) West Mesquite standout defensive back and outside linebacker was once committed to Louisiana Tech and then UCLA after that, so he took some time to come to what will be his final decision. Arizona turned up the heat with Coleman after he backed away from his commitment to the Bruins in the fall and had him out for what would be his first official visit in November.
He said that trip set the bar high for the rest of his trips and he eventually was able to take more visits before coming up with a final four of Arizona, Illinois, Utah and Kansas State.
Once Sumlin was hired at Arizona the pieces began to fall into place with his lead recruiter with the Bruins, Demetrice Martin, joining the staff in Tucson earlier this month along with the Wildcats retaining defensive coordinator Marcel Yates.
Sumlin recently went out to Texas to meet with Coleman and that was followed by a visit from Martin and eventually all the attention from UA helped push things over the top as he came to a decision.
"So many people like Kevin Sumlin because he's a good coach," Coleman said about what played into his decision. "So many people like coach Meat because he's a real coach and he'll always keep it one hundred with you no matter what, and he has a lot of connections."
Coleman, who had 71 tackles and eight tackles for loss as a senior, said Arizona and Illinois were the two schools that stayed in the most contact with him throughout the process and that certainly made a difference as he sorted through his options.
The 6-foot-2 recruit said the plan will be for him to play in the secondary in some formations and outside linebacker in others as Yates continues to adapt his defense under Sumlin.
Getting a chance to reunite with Martin and play as part of the same defense as he coaches on is something else the new UA pledge is looking forward to.
"He was one of the reasons I committed to UCLA, because I liked him a lot when I went to a camp out there," Coleman said of Arizona's new cornerbacks coach. "He's a really good coach and he knows what he's talking about when it comes to defensive backs and producing them and putting them out there.
"He's a really good coach and I like him a lot. He'll always keep it real with you and give you the good, the bad and the ugly."
The Texas-based recruit is the first new commitment of the Sumlin era at Arizona and the 22nd in the 2018 class. He is expected to sign with the Wildcats on Wednesday.
Read more on how Coleman's commitment come to fruition in this article plus hear from our Rivals.com expert on what he will bring to the table in Tucson.