Recruiting is at the forefront for any college program and it has to be. Arizona has struggled in recruiting over the last several years and has mostly been a middle-of-the-pack program when it comes to recruiting within its own conference. The turn things around in Tucson and have success new head coach Jedd Fisch is going to have to find a way to change that.

He is a first-time head coach who has only been an assistant in the Pac-12 footprint once before at UCLA. He was only at that school briefly, but he has a pulse on what needs to improve to bring some success to the Wildcats under his watch.

Arizona's last two coaches, Rich Rodriguez and Kevin Sumlin, both tried to focus their efforts on in-state recruiting but it didn't lead to much success. Rodriguez had better luck than Sumlin with several of the top players from around the state and even in Tucson opting to leave home for schools in other parts of the country.

It's not exclusively an Arizona problem as many West Coast programs are struggling to keep their recruits home. However, that problem is magnified when thinking about Arizona because there are fewer Power Five players available than in a state like California. One issue is that many of the players who live from Arizona are not from the state originally.

It is a state of transplants who have ties to other parts of the country and ultimately many prospects decide to return or are more open than recruits from others states when it comes to looking at college in other areas.

Arizona signed just one in-state prospect this month, Tucson running back Stevie Rocker Jr., and it is not likely that any others will sign in the 2021 class. That is the type of uphill battle Fisch faces as he takes over the program officially this week and that is why he has his sights focused on keeping as many players as he can from leaving to other parts of the country.

"We need to focus in on the state of Arizona and the neighboring states," Fisch said over the weekend when asked about his recruiting plan with the Wildcats. "We have to do a better job in this state, first and foremost. I think there were 57 Division I players (from Arizona) that were signed, we didn't sign enough of them. I know the starting quarterback at Oklahoma (Spencer Rattler), I recruited him when he was an eighth grader and freshman at Pinnacle High School. The starting quarterback at Oregon (Tyler Shough), another Arizona guy. There's too many Arizona guys that are slipping out, we gotta own the state. Gotta put a lock down on the state."

That is easier said than done, but unless Fisch finds a way to make that a reality it will be difficult for the Wildcats to find a ton of success especially when the talent level and depth of talent in Arizona continues to grow.

Fighting the in-state battle is only one part of the puzzle for an Arizona head coach. The other part is figuring out where to focus the rest of the resources, effort and time. Rodriguez made Florida a key recruiting base for the Wildcats while Sumlin leaned on what he knows and prioritized Texas, primarily Houston, and Louisiana.

For Fisch, California will be an important area for the Wildcats to focus on while he his head coach with Southern California being at the top of the list.

"We've gotta do a good job in Southern California," he said. "Must do a good job there. It's too critical of a situation in that in that scenario. So we've got Southern California, California itself. We gotta do a good job in Nevada. Nevada is a huge part for us. And then we have to consider to look at the Utah area, and then parts of Texas. We don't want to start going too far away from our core, these areas, and really try to attack at the state of Arizona and the surrounding spots."

Like Arizona, Nevada and Utah have continued to improve with talent and Las Vegas has started to become a bit of a hotbed for top college players. There are already a handful of Rivals250 recruits in the 2022 class who call the Las Vegas area home.

Fisch, who has already made sure to virtually meet with the UA recruiting staff, said the program has around 10 or 11 spots remaining to add to the 2021 class so his priority will be figuring out how to best utilize those spots. January recruiting will be important for the Wildcats and Fisch will have to hit the ground running with UA currently sitting at 11th in the Rivals.com Pac-12 rankings for 2021.

****

> DISCUSS the article with other Arizona fans as the Wildcats continue Building The Tradition

> WATCH the latest videos from GOAZCATS.com and subscribe to our YouTube channel

> FOLLOW us on Twitter (@goazcatscom, @MattGOAZCATS)

> FOLLOW us on Instagram (@goazcats)

> LIKE us on Facebook

> SUBSCRIBE for all the latest Arizona Wildcats team and recruiting news (subscribe now)