Top Tucson recruit Denson commits to Arizona football

By ZACK ROSENBLATT Published January 14, 2013 at 2:25am Updated January 14, 2013 at 2:25am

With his 2013 recruiting class finished for the most part, Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez is looking ahead to 2014.

He’s off to a pretty good start.

On Saturday, Rodriguez received a verbal commitment from Salpointe Catholic receiver Cameron Denson, one of the top prospects in the state. He is also the first recruit from Tucson that Rodriguez has signed in his short tenure.

The 6-foot-1, 175-pound receiver had scholarship offers from Arizona State, Colorado, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon State, UCLA, Utah and Washington.

Denson is rated as the eighth-best receiver in the 2014 class and a four-star prospect, according to Scout.com. He’s also rated the 51st-best prospect in the nation, which, if that holds up, would make him the highest-rated prospect in Rodriguez’s UA tenure as well.

Denson is considered a top-notch athlete, and after starting the season as receiver for Salpointe he was pressed into quarterback duty when the starter went down with an injury.

He finished his junior year with 408 passing yards and three touchdowns, 1,026 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns and another 585 yards receiving on 37 receptions. Denson also played some defense at cornerback and recorded two interceptions.

247Sports rates Denson the sixth-best junior cornerback in the nation. He is Rodriguez’s first 2014 commit.

The 2013 UA recruiting class has 27 commits, and is led by four-star cornerback Derek Babiash, quarterback Anu Solomon and running back Pierre Cormier. Junior college transfer quarterback Jesse Scroggins, formerly at USC, is expected to challenge B.J. Denker for the starting position under center.