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Then, the Arizona head coach wasn't just a recruiting coordinator for his longtime mentor Dick Tomey — the winningest head coach in UA history — at San Jose State. Brennan was also a wide receivers coach for the Spartans.��

"'OK, am I focused on recruiting or am I focused on trying to get a first down this week?'" Brennan said, as the Wildcats prepare for the early signing period for the 2026 recruiting class on Wednesday.��

For better (and one could argue for worse), recruiting in college football isn't what it used to be. The advancement of technology, recruiting websites, social media and added roles to recruiting departments have alleviated the stress of recruiting for coaches.�� ��

"I've been in this thing long enough to remember the days when you traveled with a box of blank VHS tapes and you would literally go to a high school and record deck-to-deck, push play and record," Brennan said. "The young people in the room are laughing, because they have no idea what I'm talking about — they have no idea what a VHS tape is."

Nowadays, "film is so much more available," Brennan said. Between players and coaches directly sending Brennan and the Arizona coaches highlight tapes, along with the various platforms for players to display their talents, whether it's social media or , "there's so much film that comes in and it's an overwhelming number, where before, it was much more regionally based."

It's why the Wildcats having a scouting department led by general manager Gaizka Crowley and director of scouting Fletcher Kelly, along with over a dozen student interns who pore over hours of film.

Kelly and Arizona's interns produce "cut-ups" for the UA coaches, which is a condensed version of a recruit's film — and it's not just highlights, they expose weaknesses, too.

“That way the coaches can have not just a highlight, but a deep dive on how that player is,” Crowley said in September. “Fletch does a great job. He’s passionate about football, he’s passionate about the film evaluation. He and I work really well together and we’re lucky to have him.”

Kelly didn't know how many prospects the Wildcats evaluated for the 2026 recruiting class, but it's “over a thousand.”��

“Our student interns do an unbelievable job,”�� Kelly said. "They’re the first line of defense in our pipeline of prospect identification. From there, they pump them up to me. Collectively, they’ve watched every bit that I have and then some. We wouldn’t be able to operate without those guys in the back.”��

Before the days of robust recruiting departments, “we were recruiting proximity areas, maybe a state or two that touched your state,”�� Brennan said on Monday.��

“Now, it's so much more national because you have so much more access to video, so they're incredible at helping us and organizing that and getting thorough evaluations of the players we're bringing into our football family,”��said the Arizona coach.����

Added Brennan: “One of the things that Gaizka and Fletcher do a good job of is that they're the front door of the evaluation process, and then they make sure everyone is accountable to our process.

“The position coach seeing the players, the coordinators seeing the players, me seeing the players, so we have consistency of our evaluation process. Then, 'OK, we like this kid and we're going after him' or 'No, we don't, we don't think he's good enough.' That part of it is really helpful.”��

Arizona is set to ink its second recruiting class since the hiring of Brennan, and the Wildcats have one of the top recruiting classes in the Big 12.��

Arizona's 21-player recruiting class for 2026 currently ranks No. 32 nationally, according to . The Wildcats have the fourth-best recruiting class in the Big 12 behind Texas Tech, BYU and TCU. 

The Wildcats' two latest additions to their ’26 recruiting class are Hutchinson Community College (Kansas) defensive lineman transfer Kevin Moorer and four-star El Paso, Texas, offensive lineman Justin Morales, who flipped his commitment from Kansas State. Morales also held offers from Arkansas, Baylor, Arizona State, Nebraska and Wisconsin, among others.

With the addition of Morales, the Wildcats have six four-star prospects committed for ’26: Morales, Northern California wide receiver RJ Mosley, Dallas-area cornerback Xaier Hiler, Phoenix-area offensive lineman Malachi Joyner, Los Angeles-area quarterback Oscar Rios and Seattle-area tight end Henry Gabalis.��

Excluding Morales and Rios, the four other four-star prospects were previously three-star prospects that were elevated to four-star status on after they committed to Arizona. 

The six four-star prospects are the most for Arizona since its historic 2022 recruiting class that was headlined by star wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan and quarterback Noah Fifita, whose younger brother Dash Fifita is a linebacker commit for the Wildcats' ’26 recruiting class.��

Here's a region breakdown of Arizona's 2026 recruiting class (previous high school), excluding the 6-4, 277-pound Moorer, the Wildcats' lone commit from the junior college ranks:��

Texas (6):��Hiler (Denton), Morales (Franklin), wide receiver Caleb "Jet" Smith (Allen), linebacker Jaden Parker (Anna), offensive tackle Khalil Sanogo (Mansfield Legacy) and safety Griffin Tillis (Grand Oaks).��

Southern California (4):��Rios (Downey), Fifita (Santa Margarita Catholic), defensive tackle Manoah Faupusa (Santa Margarita Catholic) and offensive lineman Nathan Allen (Carlsbad).��

Arizona (3): Joyner (Gilbert Williams Field), defensive lineman Keytrin Harris (AZ Compass Prep) and safety Hamisi Juma (Chandler).��

Northern California (2): Mosley (Pittsburg) and running back Brandon Smith (Central East)

American Samoa (1):��Lineman Kaisi Lafitaga (Tafuna)

Georgia (1):��Safety Hannibal Navies (Grayson)

Nevada (1):��Defensive end Prince Williams (Bishop Gorman)��

Utah (1): Defensive end Harvie Moeai (Skyridge)

Washington (1): Gabalis (Archbishop Murphy)

All of the aforementioned recruits had to meet the prerequisites to play at Arizona. There are three questions Brennan uses to filter recruits.��

Are you tough?��

Do you love football?

Do you want to be here?

“That's one of those things that's hard to measure or hard to validate,”�� Brennan said. “We're always looking for guys that want to be what we talk about here.”��

In September, Crowley said, “If we have to beg you to come, it’s not going to work out.”

“We focus on guys that want to be here, that want to live in Tucson and connect with our fans,” Crowley said. “That’s the biggest thing we’re focused on. ... That’s part of our process. We want to make sure they have a passion for this place because this is a passionate fanbase and a great town. We want our players to match that. If you’re begging them to come here, then you’ll be begging them to stay.”

So far, Arizona's current recruiting model has been a recipe for success and a key reason why the Wildcats went from 4-8 to 9-3 in one year.

“I think we have a great group of recruiters here,” Brennan said. "I think people in our personnel department ... have done an incredible job. Recruiting is an everyday thing, it's an exhausting thing, but it's also really fun.

“The momentum we have as a football program is also showing up on the recruiting trail.”