Comfort with Arizona, coaching staff helps Short make early decision

High three-star safety Rhedi Short had plenty of options to choose from, and he knew at some point he was going to have to pick one. It eventually came down to a handful of select programs with Arizona winning out and earning his commitment Sunday. The Los Angeles (Calif.) Cathedral safety was once committed to UCLA but after opening up his recruiting process earlier in the year Arizona quickly became one of the programs most in play to eventually earn his pledge.

A visit early in the spring was able to get the ball rolling and with continued work from Donté Williams and the rest of the coaching staff the Wildcats sealed the deal Sunday.

"Again, I just wanted to make the decision before the season that way I could focus on my senior season and that only," he said. "Really at Arizona I felt like I could best do what I wanted to do and I felt most comfortable there."

As Arizona makes the transition to an entirely new defensive staff the 2017 class is the group's first recruiting class, and it is bringing with it a sense of having a shot to get on the field sooner rather than later for the members of that group.

The Wildcats have already mentioned how many freshmen will be on the field this season and it likely won't be much different in 2017. Knowing he has the chance to potentially get on the field early in his career helped move things along for Short with the Wildcats after getting to know the coaching staff.

"That was a really big part of the decision for me," he said. "The new coaching staff that they have there are all really cool dudes and all really young. So, I like that a lot. ... They told me about the coverages they run and that they run three safeties on the field. So, as soon as they said that that already caught my eye. Plus with them having a new coaching staff basically in my mind that told me that everything is up for grabs on the defensive side of the ball."

The new Wildcat commit said he will play either the spur or bandit position when his college career gets going next year. Short chose the 'Cats over offers from schools such as Oregon, Arizona State, Cal, Illinois, Penn State and Washington among many others.

Short, who coincidentally wears No. 21 at Cathedral, is the 21st commitment for the 'Cats in the 2017 class as UA remains a top-10 class in the Rivals.com team rankings.