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The Arizona Wildcats’ football season was completed more than a month ago but Monday was buzzing with news.
— 247Sports first reported former quarterback Anu Solomon will play his graduate season next year at Baylor.
— Former Arizona linebacker Cody Ippolito, who is seeking a sixth season of eligibility because of past injury issues, announced through Twitter he is transferring to Utah. The Salt Lake Tribune quoted Ippolito’s father, Jerry Ippolito, that his son would play as a walk-on with the Utes in 2017 if necessary.
“If they have one (scholarship), it’s OK, but if they don’t, it’s OK — it’s just for one year,” Jerry Ippolito told the Tribune. “They don’t know right now. Any school he wanted to go, that was going to be up in the air.”
Playing my last season at University of Utah. Want to thank Coach Whittingham for taking me into their program. #GoUtes
— Cody Ippolito (@CodyIpp57) January 9, 2017
Ippolito, 6’2″ and 240 pounds, played in 27 games for Arizona, totaling 80 tackles, 10.5 tackles for a loss and two fumble recoveries. He suffered three ACL injuries, which kept him out for two full seasons.
— Arizona quarterback prospect Braxton Burmeister has yet to make his mind up whether to attend Oregon or play for Rich Rodriguez. Burmeister, a four-star talent from La Jolla (Calif.) Country Day, plans to enroll early at either school and start attending class with the hope of competing for the quarterback job during spring practice. As a senior at Country Day, Burmeister passed for 4,461 yards, 53 touchdowns and eight interceptions while rushing for 1,470 yards and 27 touchdowns.
— The Star reported that former Arizona walk-on linebacker John Kenny is no longer with the team. Kenny has earned his degree and will pursue other opportunities.
Solomon’s transfer out of Arizona’s program ranks as the most high-profile departure to another school inasmuch as he became the school’s fourth-leading career passer with 6,922 yards.
ARIZONA CAREER PASSING YARDS LEADERS
[table “” not found /]Arizona is generally a transfer destination, not vice-versa.
Some of the more notable Wildcats to leave the program for another:
RB Larry Croom
He was rated as the No. 5 transfer to play for UNLV by the Las Vegas Review-Journal two years ago. He rushed for 932 yards in 2003, one year after gaining 605 yards. His most memorable game for UNLV occurred in the 2002 season finale when Croom rushed for 222 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries to lead the Rebels to a 36-33 upset victory at 16th-ranked Colorado State. Croom played one season in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals in 2004.
QB Tom Savage
He attended Arizona in the fall of 2011 after transferring from Rutgers. He transferred to Pitt in the spring of 2012 after never playing for the Wildcats to be closer to home for family reasons. Savage is now a Houston Texans quarterback who took the starting role from Brock Osweiler toward the end of the regular season.
LB Patrick Onwuasor
— He transferred to Portland State in 2013 after he was dismissed from Arizona for violating team rules. After excelling with Portland State from 2014 through 2016, Onwuasor was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent this season. After beginning the season on the practice squad, he played 11 games for Baltimore this season with one start. Onwuasor played in 12 of 13 games in 2012 as a freshman reserve for the Wildcats. He had 36 tackles.
WR Tyler Slavin
Slavin is known for catching the winning pass in Arizona’s dramatic New Mexico Bowl comeback win over Nevada in 2012. He also transferred out of the Wildcats’ program for personal reasons in 2013 and landed at New Mexico Highlands. At the end of his senior season in 2014, Slavin was honored with the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year award and was named first-team all-conference after making 119 receptions for 1,418 yards and 17 touchdowns. He has been on and off of the Seattle Seahawks’ practice squad the last two seasons.
WR ANDRAE THURMAN
After being one of Arizona’s better players from 2000 to 2002, Thurman was forced to transfer to Southern Oregon for school-related matters. He started 17 of 34 games at Arizona, catching 105 passes for 1,530 yards and five touchdowns while adding 93 yards and a score on three punt returns (31.0 average) and 497 yards on 27 kickoff returns (18.4 average). With Southern Oregon, he had 105 receptions, 1,530 receiving yards and 4 receiving touchdowns along with a kickoff return touchdown. Thurman went on to play professionally for 12 season most notably playing 17 games in the NFL with Tennessee and Green Bay.
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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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