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CATCH UP ON THE COUNTDOWN BY VISITING: ARIZONA’S TOP 100 INDIVIDUAL RECORDS
Only 62 days separate us from the start of Rich Rodriguez’s fifth season, when the Arizona Wildcats football team plays Brigham Young on Sept. 3 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.
As is customary on this Web site, we will count down the days with an interesting element associated with each day. This year the topic is the top 100 individual records in Arizona’s storied football past.
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Ricky Hunley remains active with his support of the Wildcats (Original Retro Brand photo)
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Compiling the list was no easy task, but it was feasible to do with the information provided in the record books by the Arizona media relations department, and we appreciate that.
In past years, we have counted down the top games and highlighted players and some of the top plays in Arizona Wildcats football history. A couple of years ago in our top 100 countdown, we showcased the 1914 team that was responsible for Arizona becoming the “Wildcats”.
Back to this year’s countdown of the top 100 individual records in the 117 years of Arizona football:
No. 62
Most Assisted Tackles, Career: 243, Ricky Hunley, 1980-83 (44 games)
NCAA record: 290, Travis Freeman, Ball St., 2009-12 (49 games)
Ricky Hunley is not only the best tackler to ever play at Arizona, he is the best football player, period, to strap the pads on for the Wildcats.
Byron Evans came close to Ricky Hunley’s assisted-tackle career record as a senior in 1986, but Hunley remains atop that list on the Arizona records chart going on 33 years now.
Ball State’s Travis Freeman holds the NCAA record for assisted tackles with 290, which is 47 more than Hunley in five more games played.
Hunley’s name will be prominently mentioned more in this daily ranking in terms of tackling. His name deserves to be at the top of all Arizona players in the history of the program. Hunley’s teammates throughout his career share in his assisted tackles record because they shared in the accomplishment.
Some of the standouts who shared the defensive front seven in his Arizona career include Sam Giangardella, Jack Hously, Gary Gibson, Julius Holt, Glenn Perkins, Joe Drake, Steve Boadway, John Kaiser, David Wood, Ivan Lesnik and his brother Lamonte Hunley.
ARIZONA CAREER ASSISTED TACKLES
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
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