DB Dayven Coleman Bears Down on Arizona commitment

If Arizona defensive coordinator Marcel Yates would have known everything that was to come for the Wildcats football program and Dayven Coleman after he offered him in the spring, he probably wouldn’t have expected to be hearing from him on the eve of National Signing Day.

But after head coaching changes both in Tucson and UCLA, Coleman - who de-committed from the Bruins in the fall - turned his attention back to the Wildcats and announced his commitment to them on Tuesday night.

“[Arizona head coach Kevin Sumlin] came and visited me a couple of weeks ago,” Coleman said. “Me and him talked and it was really good. He already knew who I was, and I knew him from when he was at (Texas) A&M, so we were just chopping it up about a lot of stuff.

“Arizona is an up-and-coming program; nothing is affected by [Rich Rodriguez] being gone.”

Coleman chose Arizona over a couple of other options, but perhaps Kansas State was the next closest team to land his commitment. While he had some complimentary things to say about the program, there were were certain intangibles that he felt he would only find at Arizona.

“Kansas State produces a lot of players that go to the NFL,” he said. “They have a great business program and I liked their coaching staff a lot. Coach (Blake) Seiler was recruiting to play ‘will’ and was selling me on a dream and I was kind of believing it.

“On all the other official visits that I took, I liked the coaches and stuff, but just didn’t like the environments. I didn’t like Champaign (Illinois), I didn’t like Manhattan (Kansas), and I didn’t like Salt Lake (Utah). So that really made it easier.”

Of course, his familiarity with Yates and fellow assistant Demetrice Martin - who had been on the UCLA staff when he was previously committed there - played a major role as well. Not only did he feel he was a strong fit in the scheme they’ll run next season, it looks as though he’ll have opportunity to get involved quickly.

“It will be a great improvement next season,” he said. “They’re going to be running like a 4-2-5 defense, kind of like my high school runs. So I’ll be playing like a nickel or outside-linebacker type role and the guy that had played my position graduated but I am the only player that they recruited at my position, so it was a win-win.”

Coleman said that now he’ll get to work recruiting players involved in the TrueBuzz Athletics training and academic program that he was involved with during high school. He said 2020 running back Ty Jordan, and 2019 prospects Dylan Wright, Velton Gardner and recent Texas A&M commit Bobby Wolfe are all on the shortlist.

When Coleman signs his letter of intent on Wednesday, he’ll bring an end to a recruitment where he collected nearly 20 FBS offers and several top Power Five programs vying for his services.

“It’s been a fun experience,” he said. “Not too many people get this opportunity, I was real blessed. I worked for it, and I’ll never forget it.”