NOTE:
The University of Arizona football team added to its impressive list of defensive back recruits this morning by getting perhaps the jewel of the crown.
Strong safety/outside linebacker DaShon Polk of Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Calif., committed to attend UA on a football scholarship.
Polk, 6 foot 3, 210 pounds, is the sixth player to commit who could be a candidate to fill major gaps next year in the UA secondary. But he also has the ability to play outside linebacker, according to his high school coach, Troy Starr.
“He’s an impact player,’ Starr said. “He has great speed and hitting ability. He is perfect for the style of defense Arizona has. I think they immediately plan to use him at strong safety.’
Polk, who runs a 4.6 in the 40-yard dash, registered 85 tackles as a free safety for Taft. He is rated fifth in the West by Blue Chip Illustrated recruiting service as a linebacker and he is the 48th rated overall prospect by SuperPrep.
He made his decision based on the “Desert Swarm’ style and the fact several athletes from the Woodland Hills area – Richard Dice and Ontiwaun Carter – recently have had success at Arizona, Polk said.
Polk and close friend and Taft teammate Jerry Brown visited UA last weekend. Polk said he had been considering Arizona as his No. 1 choice from the beginning of the recruiting process and chose the Cats over USC, California and Illinois.
Polk has not reached the minimum score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test and will retake it. He said UA has agreed to offer him a scholarship and wait for his next test result.
Polk and Brown, a speedster who runs a 4.3 40-yard dash, originally hoped to attend the same school. Brown, rated third by Blue Chip in the West, is interested in UA and would greatly enhance a speed corps already committed, but his test scores are more of a problem than Polk’s.
“He likes UA but his scores are not close enough,’ Starr said. “We won’t know about where he’ll go until much later down the line.’
Arizona now has 23 commitments, seven by offensive linemen and the six by defensive backs. These are the prime areas this year for recruiting.
Athletes make commitments official on national signing day, Feb. 1.