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CATCH UP ON THE COUNTDOWN BY VISITING: ARIZONA’S TOP 100 INDIVIDUAL RECORDS
Only 33 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.
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:
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Ka’Deem Carey’s school-record 48 career rushing touchdowns rank tied for fifth in the Pac-12 record books.
ARIZONA CAREER RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS
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No. 33
Most Rushing Touchdowns, Career: 48, Ka’Deem Carey, 2011-13
Pac-12 record: 59, Ken Simonton, Oregon State, 1998-2001
NCAA record: 77, Montee Ball, Wisconsin, 2009-12
Ka’Deem Carey averaged 16 rushing touchdowns a year which means he could have finished with 64 in his career if he returned for his senior season and kept that pace.
RECORD WATCH: Depending on how many reps junior Nick Wilson gets and if he remains Arizona’s featured back, he has a shot at Ka’Deem Carey’s career rushing touchdown mark that is a school record.
Carey rushed for 48 touchdowns, an average of 16 per season in his three years in the program from 2011-2013. Wilson achieved 16 rushing touchdowns in his freshman season in 2014 but had half of that last year in a season marred by injuries. Wilson is already seventh on the Arizona career rushing touchdown chart with 24, which puts him on pace to catch Carey’s 48. That all depends, again, if Wilson will continue to produce at a high rate over the next two seasons.
Sophomore Orlando Bradford should challenge Wilson for reps. He is coming off a New Mexico Bowl appearance in which he rushed for 61 yards on 11 carries. In the last scoring drive that lead to a field goal for the Wildcats against New Mexico, Bradford had eight rushes for 28 yards and racked up three first downs. Redshirt junior Zach Green will also challenge for some playing time.
True freshman J.J. Taylor may have to redshirt with the talent stacked ahead of him but his time should come.
PAC-12 CAREER RUSHING TOUCHDOWN
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Other Carey records at Arizona listed before in this countdown:
37. Most Rushing Yards, Career: 4,239, 2011-13 (743 rushes)
41. Most Touchdowns Scored, Career: 52, 2011-13 (36 games, 48 rushing, 4 receiving)
58. Most Games Gained 100 Yards Rushing, Career: 22, 2011-13 (36 games)
59. Touchdowns Scored, Game: 5, vs. Colorado, 2012, tied with Art Luppino, vs. New Mexico St., 1954
60. All-Purpose Yards Gained, Career: 5,483, 2011-13
73. All-Purpose Yards Gained, Game: 400, vs. Colorado, Nov. 10, 2012
80. Most Rushing Attempts, Game: 48, vs. Oregon, Nov. 23, 2013
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.
