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Arizona Wildcats linebacker great Ricky Hunley, the best player to wear the uniform in the program’s history, sent the above picture to my Twitter account after he helped coach Memphis to a victory tonight in the Miami Beach Bowl over BYU.
Memphis, of the American Athletic Conference, beat BYU 55-48 in double overtime to finish 10-3. It’s the first time Memphis has achieved double-digit victories in a season in 76 years.
Hunley completed his first season at Memphis as the defensive line coach. He was a two-time All-American linebacker and a Pac-10 Co-Player of the Year at Arizona. He was also inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997.
The Tigers evolved into one of the best defenses in college football with Hunley an important contributor to defensive coordinator Barry Odum. Hunley and Odum share a past with the late Larry Smith, Arizona’s former coach who made the Wildcats competitive in their formative years in the Pac-10.
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Odum was a four-year letterman at Missouri as a standout linebacker playing under Smith and Hunley. Hunley was the linebacker and defensive line coach for the Tigers under Smith. Odum, in his third season at Memphis, convinced head coach Justin Fuente to bring Hunley on board this year.
Memphis ended the regular season ranked No. 22 by allowing only 343.3 yards per game. The Tigers ranked fifth in the nation in scoring defense, allowing only 17.1 points a game.
Hunley started making an impact with Memphis when fall camp started and was a subject of a feature published by the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
“There’s some great potential with these players,” Hunley was quoted as saying. “There are some guys here who get your attention. The key has been trying to get them to do it all the time.
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“If you lose your temper, or lose your cool, if you don’t feel you can finish (a play), those are signs of inconsistency. Those are things that can make a good team a bad team.”
Hunley and former Arizona cornerbacks coach Ryan Walters were the first changes on the staff under Fuente, who came to Memphis from TCU, where he was co-offensive coordinator. Walters, who coaches Memphis’ secondary, was also hired this season.
Walters was a member of Mike Stoops’ at Arizona at the same time as BYU offensive coordinator Robert Anae. They reunited for the Miami Beach Bowl.
ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He also has published articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.
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