Sting Factor: QB Clay Millen decommits from Arizona

When a major program loses a key recruit, Rivals.com takes a look at how big of a blow it is to the respective school, analyzing it from a local and national level. To quantify the “sting” of each decommitment, we assign a score from 1-10, with one being no big deal and 10 being a catastrophic hit.

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CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State

CLASS OF 2022 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State

COVERAGE: Rivals Transfer Tracker | Rivals Camp Series

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There is still recruiting movement in the 2021 class despite almost everyone signing in the early period and this revolves around three-star quarterback Clay Millen.

The Snoqualmie (Wash.) Mount Si standout had been committed to Arizona since June when he made his pledge to then-coach Kevin Sumlin and then-offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone.

But Sumlin was fired and Mazzone was not retained by new Arizona coach Jedd Fisch, who had talked with Millen but it was a situation that did not work out.

Late last week, the three-star quarterback opened up his recruitment and it was a little surprising since Arizona has lost some quarterbacks to the transfer portal since Sumlin’s departure.

Millen, whose father Hugh spent nine years in the NFL mostly as a backup quarterback after playing at Washington, has other Power Five options and many schools are still looking for a quarterback to round out their class heading into National Signing Day. As for Arizona, Fisch and his staff might be heavily pursuing players in the transfer portal to beef up the quarterback depth in Tucson.

“Millen had been one of the most intriguing commitments in Arizona’s class. Quarterback was one of the positions Sumlin’s staff recruited reasonably well for the Wildcats with Mazzone being a big part of the draw for quarterbacks to Tucson. When Arizona made the decision to fire Sumlin and his staff, the attention quickly turned to commits like Millen since he is one of the recruits in the class who had Power Five offers before picking the Wildcats. Quarterbacks Grant Gunnell and Rhett Rodriguez both entered the transfer portal shortly after the program parted ways with Sumlin.

“Both have since decided to leave for other programs, resulting in only two scholarship quarterbacks on the roster, Will Plummer and Kevin Doyle. It felt like the perfect opportunity for a player like Millen to step in and compete for a chance to play right away, so it does come as somewhat of a surprise to see him step away now.

"Arizona still needs at least one more quarterback and I would expect Fisch to look to the transfer portal for a replacement.” - Matt Moreno, GoAZCats.com

Sting Factor: 7

“Because of the lack of numbers at QB, this stings a bit more than it would, but with Fisch in a transitional year as the new head coach and the transfer portal loaded with quarterbacks, they should be fine. Millen is a solid quarterback but not a roster changer.” — Mike Farrell, National Recruiting Director, Rivals.com

Sting factor: 5