Junior college cornerback Clarence Ward verbally committed to Arizona on Friday, becoming the second member of the Wildcats’ 2008 recruiting class.

Ward is enrolled at Santa Rosa Junior College after a tumultuous start to his college career.

As a true freshman with Florida State in 2005, he tore a medial collateral ligament in preseason workouts. Instead of taking a redshirt year, he was granted release from the school to live with his girlfriend and young son in Texas.

He accepted a scholarship from Texas Tech a few months later and stayed a year before learning he was academically ineligible this semester.

If Ward earns an associate degree from Santa Rosa in December, he can enroll at Arizona in January. He plans to play this season for Santa Rosa’s football team, which would leave him with two years of eligibility.

Ward (5-foot-11, 190 pounds) was a four-star recruit coming out of high school. He played his senior season at Pensacola (Fla.) High School after being kicked off his team at La Marque (Texas) High.

He was named the most valuable player of the North-South All-Star Game in December 2004, as he intercepted two passes and returned one for a touchdown.

Ward joins Chandler quarterback Gerell Robinson as verbal commitments for Arizona’s ’08 class. Verbal commitments are non-binding until national signing day in February.

Attempts to reach Ward yesterday were unsuccessful.

Information from goazcats.com was used in this report.