Elijah Rushing picked Arizona on Thursday over a host of top programs from around the country. He sat down with 247Sports and talked about what made the Wildcats stand out on Friday.

Rushing is a 5-star edge rusher from the 2024 class. He is the No. 3 edge rusher and No. 1 recruit from his home state of Arizona per the 247Sports Composite.

Rushing wants to be remembered as someone who didn’t take the easy road. He is wanting to build something at his hometown school from the ground up.

Do you want to be remembered as just one of the guys that took the common road? Or do you want to build something from the ground up, with your own hands? For me, it’s something that became really important. I want to build something special at the next level and what better way to do that than at my hometown school for a community I love.

Rushing is the gem of Arizona’s 2024 class as the only 5-star commit so far. The Wildcats have the No. 3 2024 class in the Pac-12 after Rushing’s pledge.

Arizona will be trying to reach a bowl game for the first time since 2017 this season. With recruits like Rushing joining, a bowl game could be in the future.