Ross down to two

Rancho Cucamonga (Calif.) defensive back Devin Ross narrowed his choices down to three a few weeks ago and after taking what will be his final official visit of the year this past weekend to Arizona, he's now down to a final two.

Ross, a 5-10, 170 pound corner is one of the nation's elite players at his position. He's a top 100 player nationally and gifted enough to compete for early playing time wherever he ends up. The athlete pulled in early offers from national powers like Oklahoma, Tennessee, Michigan and Nebraska as well as most of the Pac 10.

Ross took visits to Nebraska and Oregon and was expected to trip to Cal this past weekend.

"I liked Cal, it's a good school but I wanted to narrow my list down to two and my final two are Arizona and Oregon. I just took an unofficial visit to Arizona two weeks ago but I wanted to come back for an official visit so I could spend more time with the players and coaches there and I was able to do that this past weekend.

"This was about my third time visiting Arizona so I already knew a lot about the school. On my previous trips there, I had already seen the football facilities, the weight room, locker room, things like that. I had also checked out the academic side of things and talked to some people about my major. So this trip was really just about getting to know the guys on the team more and I really had a good time.

"James Alford was my host but I hung out with a lot of the players there and all of the defensive backs. It was cool, I really enjoyed talking with guys like Antoine Cason and Michael Beach. Arizona has a young team so I felt like I fit in really well there. That's probably the one thing that stood out the most to me on the visit was how well the players get along and how they all interact together.

"Sunday before I flew back home, I had a chance to spend a lot of time with the coaches, especially the Stoops brothers since Mark is the DB coach and Mike is the head coach. They told me about their defense, how they like to play aggressive and really get after people. Coach (Mike) Stoops said he's a defensive minded head coach and he really preaches defense. He said he wants to build up that side of the ball and told me that even though they start two sophomores at corner, he thinks I'm good enough to come in and compete for a starting job right away.

"Right now, I'm basically done with recruiting. No more visits and no more home visits although I think Arizona might come back in one more time this week. Both Arizona and Oregon have already come in and both head coaches have come over as well. It's going to be a hard decision for me because I really like both schools a lot. Oregon has a great coaching staff and I got along well with the players.

"At Arizona, it's the same thing. I like the players a lot and I'm comfortable with the coaches. The main thing for me in my decision is I just have to decide where I feel the most comfortable. That's what it's going to come down. You can analyze a lot of things- early playing time, coaching staff, facilities, who wins more, but for me, when it's all said and done, I'm going to pick where I feel the most comfortable and just go with my gut feeling. I'll be announcing January 7 at the Army All-American game."