5/26/2018 football Edit

The culture at Arizona sold Wiley when making his decision

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.

Houston? Check. Running back? Check. Arizona landed its third commitment for the 2019 class Saturday when Houston-Strake Jesuit standout back Michael Wiley gave the program his pledge. It wasn't completely unexpected, as Wiley told GOAZCATS.com last weekend that he was planning on coming to a decision this weekend and UA was leading at that point for his pledge.

However, that does not diminish the work UA running backs coach Clarence McKinney put in to land the 5-foot-11 versatile back. The Wildcats became involved with Wiley early in the process way back in February when it was able to focus on the current class some more.

Since then things took off between Wiley and the Wildcats leading up to Saturday's commitment.

"Just the culture and how they treated me when I visited," Wiley said of why Arizona made sense in his recruitment. "I feel like they treated me like a king over there, and I really like that. It felt like home over there.

"Then just the relationships with the coaches. I'm really excited with them. Then my parents really like it, too."

Wiley visited Arizona last month and it was that trip that truly put things into overdrive and sent his recruitment toward a commitment. He left that trip thinking heavily about UA after being able to get to know the coaching staff some more and get a feel for the campus.

"I really like it and was really impressed with the facilities and the campus," he said about the trip. "Their education and the presentation was really good. ... It impacted me a lot seeing what they run and how they run it. I like how they play and the offense is really good for running backs, and I like that."

Princeton, Yale, McNeese State and Georgetown are his other offers, and while academics are important to him, getting to play on a big stage was a bigger factor.

"I'm good with my breakaway speed and making people miss," Wiley said of how he will fit into UA's scheme. "Then they (Arizona's staff) said they could put me outside as a receiver sometimes and I really like that."

Wiley joins Dallas-based cornerback Logan Wilson and Phoenix-Desert Vista punter Kyle Ostendorp as the members of UA's current 2019 class. Ostendorp committed to the Wildcats Monday.