Arizona Football Recruiting: Burmeister flips Commitment from Arizona to Oregon

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:03 a.m. ET

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Fansided, Kevin Jiang/FanSided via Zona Zealots

With the start of the new year and new semester on the University of Arizona campus, the Arizona Football program would like to put this past season and this current recruiting period behind them.

University of Arizona students have recently returned from winter break just in time to watch their basketball team dismantle their in-state rivals. For spring enrollees, it is truly a magic time on campus as they get their first taste of Wildcat school spirit. Some of those students are play on the Arizona Football team.

Some of the spring enrollees include newcomers to the school’s football team—running back Nathan Tilford, athlete Tony Fields, tight end Bryce Gilbert, linebacker Jose Ramirez and JuCo defensive tackle Sione Taufahema. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, there is one big name missing from the expected early enrollees of the 2017 season—four-star quarterback Braxton Burmeister.

The La Jolla Country Day School (San Diego, CA) product was touted as the centerpiece of this year’s Arizona football recruiting class. According to Scout.com, Burmeister is ranked as the 24th best quarterback in the 2017 recruiting class and the third best in his position from the state of California.

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The 6’1″ 195lb dual-threat quarterback toyed with his high school competition, accumulating 4461 passing yards and 53 touchdowns as well as 1470 rushing yards along with another 27 touchdowns on the ground. Burmeister’s tremendous senior season peaked the interest of many college programs as he received offers from seven Pac-12 teams.

Initially, it seemed as though the prospect of playing Arizona Wildcat football was tantalizing enough for Burmeister as he verbally committed to the Cats last year. With the potential of becoming the next great dual-threat RichRod quarterback, many had penciled in Burmeister as a competitor for the starting position when he announced that he intended on enrolling early. However, after the recruiting process lingered on and Oregon hired new head coach Willie Taggart, the Ducks recently offered a scholarship to Burmeister.

After taking several days to decide, it became official today that Burmeister will commit to Oregon and enroll this semester in Eugene. The news of this de-commitment comes days after former Arizona starting quarterback Anu Solomon announced that he would transfer as a graduate to Baylor University for this upcoming season. Nevertheless, the Cats have experience and promise at the position as they return redshirt junior Brandon Dawkins and sophomore Khalil Tate while welcoming RichRod’s son Rhett Rodriguez to the quarterback depth chart.

Meanwhile, Arizona quarterbacks coach Rod Smith made a bold move today and offered Dorian Thompson-Robinson, a four-star dual-threat class of 2018 recruit out of No. 1 nationally ranked Bishop Gorman High School.

Class of 2018 already has a quarterback commit in Jamarye Joyner, a three-star athlete out of Tucson, Arizona (Cienega). But the Arizona coaching staff needs some insurance for the 2017 season.

While the Burmeister recruiting saga did not end the way Cats fans had hoped it would, it seemed unlikely that Burmeister would assume starting duties as a true freshman with Tate and Dawkins in the mix. Furthermore, it does not seem likely that Burmeister will start for the Ducks either as Taggart will likely start sophomore quarterback Justin Herbert, who enjoyed some success down the stretch this past season. That being said, we wish Braxton the best moving forward unless the Ducks play the Cats. And we wish Coach Smith luck in filling Burmeister’s spot in the 2017 class.

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