Arizona junior lineman has early offers

The top defensive lineman out West this year was Ekom Udofia from Scottsdale (Ariz.) Chaparral. Although it’s still very early in the process, there is a good chance the top defensive lineman in the region could be from Arizona once again.

John Romero, 6-5, 280 pounds from Tucson (Ariz.) Salpointe Catholic is a player we first started to hear about towards the end of his sophomore season. While watching a game tape of current Notre Dame offensive lineman and former Lancer John Kadous, we couldn’t help but notice Romero dominating on both sides of the ball.

“John is a monster,” Salpointe Catholic coach Dennis Bene said. “He’ll be the most heavily recruited player we’ve had here. You just look at him and you can’t help but be impressed. He’s so strong and can move. We’re already hearing from schools all over the country and both Arizona and Arizona State have already offered a scholarship. Other schools like USC, Miami and Michigan are asking for film and will be by in the Spring. He’ll be a national level prospect, everyone is going to be recruiting him.”

Romero attended the Nike Camp in Texas last summer but unfortunately, was only able to do the testing as the rest of the workout was rained out. Still the big lineman made an impression running a very quick 5.09 in the 40, jumped 26 inches in the vertical and did 21 reps on the bench. Physically, Romero looked more like a college player than a rising junior and it will be interesting to see how his recruitment develops over the next year. Last May, Romero listed his top schools as Michigan, Arizona, USC, Colorado and Notre Dame with the Wolverines being his childhood favorite.